[geeks] PCI ultra 1 on ebay

[Ken Hansen]

Well, as long as the PROM issue is a non-issue (and I suspect you are right, but would the standard PROM support the PCI bus), the coolness factor is obvious.

Take it from a guy with 2x SPARCbooks and 1x Voyager that *never* leave my house (i.e. do not get used portable, I am not that anal about my collection ;^) - I can appreciate the coolness factor...

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Bradford [mailto:mrbill at mrbill.net]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 12:48 PM
To: geeks at sunhelp.org
Subject: Re: [geeks] PCI ultra 1 on ebay


On Fri, Apr 20, 2001 at 12:17:03PM -0400, Ken Hansen wrote:
> I'm concerned about the PROM issue the seller discusses...
> Is it possible the PROM image has a "stop working after" date 
> (since this was never meant to be a public machine)?

No.  Its just got an old PROM, and needs to be updated before Sol8
will run in 64-bit mode.  Common "problem" with older machines, is
software fixable/upgradeable in about five minutes.

> Seems to me, this machine is almost the worst of all worlds:
> 	- Ultra machine uses expensive RAM
> 	  (compared with Sun Blade 100)
> 	- Slowest of the Ultra CPUs (170 MHz)
> 	- Most expensive of expansion options
> 	  (PCI SPARC cards cost more than SBUS versions)
> 	- Solaris 8 is not supported (as shipped)

Its supported, it just runs in 32-bit mode instead of 64-bit.

> 	- And, an OpenBoot PROM that may expire soon,

No such thing.

> 	  with almost no chance of an upgrade  available
> 	  from Sun ("How'd you get one of those boxes?")
> Beyond novelty, this is *less* valuable than a stock Ultra 1/170e IMHO.
> Ken

Its the cool factor.

Bill

-- 
Bill Bradford
mrbill at mrbill.net
Austin, TX
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