What Unix differences? :-)

[Jason]

Don Harrop wrote:
> 
> All the Unicies share a lot in common.  Most of my background is with
> Linux flavors but recently I've been interviewing for a job as an HP-UX
> admin so I've been playing around with it to see the differences.  Not
> many in my opinion.  Why people are demanding 3+ years experience in any
> specific flavor of Unix (Solaris, HP-UX, Linux, whatever) just seems
> stupid to me.  They're not THAT different.

Well, for admin jobs anyways.. As a guess, right off hand, I would bet
its because many of the problems users run into may be very related to
the hardware itself. For example, resolving the cause of a problem
with a hard disk will most likely lead the admin down very different
paths when you compare a Linux box with a Solaris box. On the other
hand, someone with strictly solaris experience might have zero
experience setting up BIOS on a PC.

For programmers, it doesnt make that much difference, your right. But
for admins, who's job is often to fix the mistakes made inteligent
people (like programmers for example) who are capable of making REAL
mistakes and not "the mouse isnt plugged in" mistakes, hardware level
experience is probably quite critical.

If nothing else, it certainly makes a huge difference in how quickly
problems are resolved, as the "ive seen this before" factor often
changes a 5 hour diagnosis into a 5 minute one.

-- 
jkenner @ mindspring . com__
I Support Linux:           _> _  _ |_  _  _     _|
Working Together To       <__(_||_)| )| `(_|(_)(_|
To Build A Better Future.       |                   <s>