[geeks] Needed: A good sparc workstation

[Joshua Boyd]

On Mar 8, 2009, at 11:38 AM, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> (Lionel said:)
>>> SPARC desktops have small memory capacities, based on current
>>> standards.
>>
>> ...which says more about current standards than it does about SPARC
>> desktops.  They still do everything they ever did, after all.
>
> Agreed, the person posting the query was looking for guidance on  
> SPARC hardware, I assume they have some background in other  
> platforms, and I was setting expectations about memory capacity in  
> these 'mature' systems.
>
> I could happily "kick it old skool" with an SS5/170, but I'd have  
> limits on what I could do, compared with an x86 box running either  
> Solaris or OpenSolaris. As I see it, unless you need the SPARC  
> instruction set (and the OP wanted it), a $200 PC[0] can likely  
> best a free Ultra 60 loaded with RAM, Dual CPUs and fast SCSI HDs  
> for normal desktop usage of current software, and if you have to  
> pay for power and AC/cooling, it won't take too long for the $200  
> PC to have a lower total cost of operation.

I disagree about a $200 PC besting a free Ultra 60, unless you mean  
unimportant things like how many FLOPs it can do.  No amount of power  
savings can equal the cost to my soul.  Oh, and having Solaris JUST  
WORK has to be something.  I see a lot of complaints about NIC and  
SATA problems with PC using Solaris users.

Obviously I'm feeling defensive.

BTW, I wouldn't call 4 gigs a small capacity, which is what my U80  
has.  I don't recall who said that above, and I suppose a U60  
probably only goes to 2 gigs, which I still wouldn't call terribly  
small.  Despite the 4 gigs, the U80 still runs Firefox sluggishly.  I  
want to see a good GNOME (or KDE, or XFCE, I don't care) webkit browser.