[SunRescue] Q: SS/20 fan kit, other...

[Gregory Leblanc]

Is line wrapping a little messed up, or is it just me?


> My SS/20 auction special arrived over the weekend, and I have a few
> additional questions:
> 
>       Does Sun still supply internal fan kits for SS/20s upon request? I
> seem to recall
>       it was tied to the serial number of the unit, but I don't know if
> this is still available.


I think they do, but I can't find the FRU number.  They did ask for your
serial number when they sent out the fan.

>       My system has a 4 Meg VSIMM, I have seen references that make me
> think
>       I can add a second VSIMM, but that makes no sense (MB only has one
> 13W3
>       connector) - can I? Was there an SBUS card that carried a second
> 13W3 out
>       of the box to support dual-headed operation?


I seem to recall there being "something" which would allow you to run
dual VSIMM Frame Buffers in the SS20, but I don't have a part number or
anything fun like that.

>       This system appears to have been an embedded system - when these
> units were
>       new (1995), was a VSIMM cheaper than a 24 bit SBUS card? I am
> wondering why
>       the folks that spec'd this system decided to go for the VSIMM
> framebuffer...


There were (almost) no 24-bit SBUS frame buffers, so if you wanted
24-bit you pretty much got an SS20 or an SS10sx.  


>       Is the internal framebuffer (4 Meg VSIMM) supported by the open OSs
> (linux,
>       *BSD, etc.) at 24 bit depth, or do I have to run Solaris to take
> advantage of the
>       framebuffer?


I know that I've seen support for the CG14 under Linux, but I don't
think any of the hardware acceleration has been implemented, and I'm not
sure how well it works.


>       How well do the open OSs (Linux, *BSD, etc.) support SMP on
> SuperSPARCs?


SMP on Linux is quite good for the number of processors you can put in
an SS20, but I don't think it scales all that well right now.  

>       How pokey is an SM50 in relation to an SM41 or an SM51? I don't know
> what I
>       will use the system for, but I do have an SM41 on the shelf (as well
> as 2 SM30s).
>       Most likely it will be used for general interactive use and maybe as
> a file server. 


Actually, the SM50 should be the fastest of those processors.  The SM50
is capable of using the 50MHz MBUS speed of the SS20, while the other
two are limited to 40MHz.  Once you get multiple processors in there,
the SM50 will start to get choked down because of the limited
bandwidth.  The SMx1 modules are less affected because they've got
onboard cache.

> And on related topics:
> 
>       Can an SS/20 CD-ROM be installed in an SS/5 case?


It depends.  Which SS20, and which SS5?  There were two cases for those
machines, the Aurora 1 and the Aurora 2.  The Aurora 1 had a 1/3 height
CDROM drive (purple) while the Aurora 2 had a normal 1/2 height CDROM
drive.  

    Greg