What os to run?

[W6PJJ]

Greetings:

Even though I detest the term Newbie, Novice sounds so much more refined, I will post here because this it the Portal for all Novices to pass before they can become "Old Timers" That used to take 30+ years...no more, 5 is plenty to qualify on technology and software. I purchased a Sun Ultra 5 about five years ago and shelved it because I never had time to start my 1000th project for that year. I have been doing some reading regarding Linux and one of it's variation's GNU/Linux. For me it's a wash between them but for someone who learned some Cobol and Fortran and plenty of 1's and Zero's nearly 40 years ago, I sill want to dabble in a real language.

What OS would be the better choice for someone who just graduated to getting the prompt to show on the Ultra 5? The actual applications software?... I will go down that road as necessary. I'm interested in your comments, recommendations or questions if need be. As far as applications for the Ultra 5? I am considering using it to manage a Small LAN Switch and possibly a Networked Mass Storage Box.

Thank you in advance for your remarks,

Don

[reed9]

That's a SPARC processor right? I think your options are fairly limited for distros that officially support the SPARC architecture.

Debian has an official SPARC port, which I think might be your best bet.

If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of the operating system, Gentoo also supports SPARC.