Mac Mini… Server?

I don’t know how I missed this, but it is quite intriguing. Apple introduced a Mac Mini Server in October – running Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server.

This is fascinating – and makes it just that much more affordable to run Mac OS X Server.

ComputerWorld discussed the Mac Mini Server at the time, but also had an article just this week about how the Mac Mini Server is an excellent choice for the home office.

There is also macminicolo.com, which has provided Mac OS X Server on Mac Minis for a long time. The really nice thing about macminicolo.com is that you can purchase the system over time and they keep it on the net for you. I still want to sign up with them… some day… sigh.

OpenSolaris on a MacBook

OpenSolaris is very interesting, and since the introduction of dtrace and ZFS has enthralled many. I tried to install it onto my HP Compaq E300 laptop (which it was unsuitable for), and tried to install it onto an HP Compaq 6910p laptop. In this case, the networking was unsupported: both the ethernet and the wireless drivers were not included with OpenSolaris Express (Developer Edition).

In any case, I expect I might just be shopping for a laptop in the next year – and it’s nice to see that OpenSolaris does run on the Apple MacBook.  This article goes into detail about how the writer got it to work, and each of the steps that were taken to make it happen.  Paul Mitchell from Sun discusses dual-partitioning a MacBook in this context as well.  Alan Perry (also from Sun) had done the same thing with a Mac Mini, and Paul extended it to the MacBook.  Both entries are detailed and have to do with MacOS X and Solaris dual-booting.

An a different note, check out the graph of library calls from dtrace in this article.  From what I’ve heard of dtrace, it’s the ultimate when it comes to debugging…