Please advice regarding Solaris

Greetings all,

My name is Miguel and Im a new member. I post this question because I didnt find an answer for it after googling for an hour (if you do find the answer, please point me to it)

My problem is that I have a job interview and theyre requiring basic knowledge of Solaris. Now, Ive never seen a SPARC machine or Solaris other than at a friends office. I use Linux (Debian) and have tinkered with FreeBSD on an old x86 machine, having no problems with it.

My questions are: is there a big difference between FreeBSD and Solaris? If I know my way around BSD and/or Linux, can I see id feel comfortable with Solaris?

Im thinking about installing a x86 version of Solaris and installing it on a virtual machine to check it out, but Ive yet to completely understand how/where to install it.

If you could recommend me some literature or give me any advice on the subject, id most appreciate it.

Thanks a bunch in advance for your time and help.

Respectfully,
Miguel.

Either you squat your friend's office, either look on Ebay etc.. for a box and install CDs:
some aspects of solaris may differ in open solaris...

Books: "Solaris 10 System Administration Essentials" (Prentice Hall) is a good start...

little servers second hand start around 200 Euros... Pity I had to throw awy a couple of V120 and V210...

http://www.fr.ricardo.ch/acheter/ordinateurs-et-reseaux/serveurs-et-accessoires/autres-serveurs/sun-server-fire-v210-2x-1-6ghz-etlt/v/an688061756/