Suse on Sun

I personally run Suse 10.2 on a Sun Ultra 20 and the performance is impressive even on the older 148 processor and DDR1 memory. I also ran SLED 10, however I prefer the more up to date opensource version.

We have successfully installed Ubuntu on the UltraSPARC T1, and it recognized all 32 threads and 32GB of memory with little difficulty.


This from desktoplinux

It sounds unlikely, but Novell and Sun Microsystems have partnered to bring SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 to Sun's Ultra Workstations: the Sun Ultra 20, Ultra 20 M2, Ultra 40, and Ultra 40 M2.

These workstations are powered by AMD Opteron chips. The older 20 and 40 models use single-core processors, while the newer M2 line uses dual-core CPUs. Novell is not the first to bring Linux to the Ultra line. Canonical, following on up the deal that brought Ubuntu to the UltraSPARC T1 processor on Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers, started testing Ubuntu on Sun's AMD-powered Ultra series last November.

RHEL 4 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) is also available on these systems as an option. The newest Red Hat Linux, RHEL 5, however, is not yet available on them.

Typically, the Ultra series is sold with Solaris 10. However, David Simmons, Sun senior director of x64 Server/Workstation marketing, stated, "Sun is very pleased to extend our broad Linux OS offering on the Sun Ultra 20 and Ultra 40 Workstation to include SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10."

This marks the first time that Novell has offered its SUSE Linux OS on Sun hardware. In the past, Sun has primarily partnered with Red Hat, despite their differences, when it came to Linux.

Roger Levy, Novell VP and general manager of open platform solutions, added, "Sun engineering workstations and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop are ideally suited for each other, focusing on speed, reliability and value for end-user customers. This match is another example of Novell's commitment to providing desktop-to-data center solutions that meet customer needs."

Levy noted that these engineering workstations will target engineers working on EDA (Electronic Design Automation), CAD/CAM, oil and gas, and other high-end desktop workloads.

Terri Hall, AMD vice president of software alliances and solutions, added, "AMD is pleased that Novell and Sun are able to provide these high-performing AMD processor-based workstations for customers. Sun workstations ... will address a growing market segment that is demanding the benefits of Linux on high-performance personal workstations."

If you want to take one of these SUSE/AMD-powered Sun workstations for a spin, they are now available from Sun Microsystems. For more information, visit Sun's desktop and workstation site.