[geeks] Can someone sell me a cheap ultra sparc :-)

[Scott Howard]

On Sat, May 31, 2003 at 01:17:07AM -0400, Kurt Mosiejczuk wrote:
> On Fri, 30 May 2003, Brian W. wrote:
> 
> > Careful how cheap you go, rumor is the u1 wont be supported in the next
> > version of solaris..
> 
> I'd check the source of that rumor.  Sun has always declared end-of-support
> BEFORE unsupporting platforms. 

>From http://docs.sun.com/db/doc/816-5030/6mb6vudd7?a=view :

Features That Might Be Removed in a Future Release
Solaris 32-bit Sun4U Kernel
Many installations of the Solaris 7, 8, and 9 software use the default
64-bit kernel to support 32-bit and 64-bit applications. Customers who
use the 32-bit kernel on UltraSPARC systems should read this notice.

In the Solaris 7, 8 and 9 operating environments, all systems that are
based on the UltraSPARC I and UltraSPARC II processors allow administrators
the choice of booting a 32-bit kernel or a 64-bit kernel. The UltraSPARC
III and later systems support only the 64-bit kernel. 

In a future release of the Solaris operating environment, the 32-bit kernel
might not be available for the UltraSPARC I and UltraSPARC II systems.

The primary impact of these changes are to systems that rely on third-party
32-bit kernel modules: firewalls, kernel-resident drivers, and replacement
filesystems, for example. These systems must be updated to use 64-bit
versions of those modules.

Another impact of these changes is that UltraSPARC systems that contain
UltraSPARC I processors with clocks that run at 200MHz or lower frequencies
might not be supported in a future release. 

> Also, why would they still support non-ultra machines but not an ultrasparc?

>From the same page :
sun4m Hardware
sun4m hardware might not be supported in a future release of the Solaris operating environment.

sun4m is the only non-Ultra hardware supported in Solaris 9, so take that
out and all you've got left is sun4u.

  Scott.