[rescue] "New" SPARCserver 20

[rescue at sunhelp.org]

Brian Hechinger wrote:


> > rebooting, but I'll have to boot from new drive before removing old
> > one).
> > So not all in one night.
> 
> but easily done anyway, yes?


Yes. I've just got this habit of not wanting to wipe drives that have my
data on them. I've still got an OS/2 drive around here somewhere. I
think I thought I would boot it again someday. Still got a Slackware
linux drive with a .9something kernel too.



> > when it got to the installation prompt asking me what language I wanted,
> > it didn't take.
> 
> hmm, that's too bad.


Yep. Solved it, though. I went to meet a new client for a project, and
they'd just gotten rid of a bunch of SPARCs (on ebay, could be some of
them ended up here). A bunch of parts laying around, and I asked if they
had a framebuffer left. The guy said probably, let's go look in storage.
So we went. Turns out there's a Sparcstation 20 sitting all by itself.
He said it didn't boot, but if what I needed was in there, I could have
it.

I didn't even try booting it. Ripped the RAM out (2x16, 1x32 3(!)x4M
VSIMMS) and swapped the system boards. Now it works like a charm. And I
got three 4M VSIMMS, and an extra 32M RAM in the deal.

Question. This thing had a small framebuffer that plugs in to the little
white header on the right side of the board, taking up the bottom SBUS
space. What is it for? Just so I can run a dual headed system? Shame I
don't have a second Sun monitor

So Solaris 8 is installing right now. Woo-hoo!

So, with the VSIMMS, I assume this thing willspeed up a bit and maybe be
worth keeping on the desktop? Or is it better off on the rack?


> the sparc20 is never going to have the snappy graphics of the PC for a price
> that you would enjoy.  the SX is an ok 24-bit framebuffer, but dog slow.


Even with 8M of VSIMMS? Or is that the price you meant I wouldn't enjoy?
I see these things go for ~$75 on ebay.


---sambo

They've got a bunch of Classics, too, if anybody's interested.