Getting Unix (for Free)
Solaris may be
downloaded for free, or ordered for a nominal charge on DVD. The easiest method
is to just purchase the media, which costs considerably less than Windows. As of
this writing, Solaris 10 can be purchased, on DVD, for around $30. In
addition to saving the user time and frustration, the DVD set includes a
number of development tools, and is quite a bargain. The
install is pretty simple, and uses a menu driven system, not too different than
that of the Windows installation sequence. The SPARC installation is incredibly
easy. The X86 install is also quite easy, though there can be hardware
incompatibilities. Still, this is nothing that Windows installers do not
have to deal with. The software can be found at:
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/get.jsp .