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What's New in the Solaris 8 Operating Environment

IA Hardware

This section describes new features in the Solaris 8 operating environment specific to the IA platform.

IA: ACPI

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is a new, more flexible way to configure and control IA hardware. ACPI obsoletes Plug and Play BIOS and the Intel Multi-Processor Specification (MPSPEC). If a valid ACPI configuration is available on your IA based system, the Solaris 8 operating environment automatically uses it to configure the hardware. The Solaris 8 operating environment does not yet support ACPI-based power management.

IA: PCI Hot-Plug Support

This feature enables standard PCI adapters to be hot-plugged into a machine with the hot-plug capability that is running Solaris Intel Platform Edition. You can now add (hot-add) or remove (hot-remove) adapters from a system while the system is still running.

For more information, see the System Administration Guide, Volume 1 and Writing Device Drivers.

This feature was first available in the Solaris 7 11/99 release.

IA: Universal Serial Bus Support for Keyboards and Mouse Devices

Solaris Intel Platform Edition now provides Universal Serial Bus (USB) support for keyboards and mouse devices. USB is an emerging I/O bus standard that supports a wide variety of peripherals, such as speakers, modems, printers, and cameras, as well as keyboards and mouse devices. While a fairly new standard, USB is quickly gaining wide acceptance in the Intel market. USB ports are becoming a standard on many IA based machines, and USB support is being integrated into all Intel PCI chip sets.

IA: X Server Video Driver Enhancement

Solaris Intel Platform Edition now provides support for the following video devices:

For more information, see the Solaris 8 (Intel Platform Edition) Hardware Compatibility List.