[SPARCbook] SparcBook FAQ v1.10
Hugo van der Kooij
Hugo.van.der.Kooij at caiw.nl
Wed Sep 1 14:34:12 CDT 1999
SparcBook F.A.Q.
Hugo van der Kooij
Support Engineer
Q&I Nederland
1 September 1999
Revision History
Revision 1.10 1 September 1999
Revision 1.9 27 August 1999
Revision 1.8 17 August 1999
Revision 1.7 12 August 1999
Revision 1.6 5 August 1999
Revision 1.5 9 June 1999
Revision 1.4 4 May 1999
Revision 1.3 6 April 1999
Revision 1.2 3 April 1999
Revision 1.1 30 March 1999
Revision 1.0 20 February 1999
This FAQ is dedicated to the SparcBook machines and all mysteries
surrounding them. It is posted to linux.redhat.sparc,
comp.unix.solaris, comp.sys.sun.hardware and the sparcbook
mailinglist (See also: www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/sparcbook) on
an irregular basis. It is normally online on:
home.kabelfoon.nl/~hvdkooij/SparcBook-FAQ/sparcbook-faq.html
_________________________________________________________________
1. Where is that STOP button hidden?
You might want to note these special keys in the SparcBook:
* PAUSE A acts like STOP A (or L1 A for the real diehards ;-)
* PAUSE R will reboot the machine.
* PAUSE O will act as Power-Off.
* PAUSE PageUp will zoom in on the CDE screen.
* PAUSE PageDown will zoom back out on the CDE screen.
A number of these keys will not work properly under all circumstances.
A proper list can be found in the manual. See also: Section 27
_________________________________________________________________
2. What are the specs of the SparcBook 3 series?
An extensive summary is listed on:
www.dementia.org/~shadow/t-s3_tech.html.
_________________________________________________________________
3. What memory does the SparcBook 3 use?
Last change: 19990901
According to the manual: A matched pair of low profile 60ns 72pin
parity SIMMs. You can by these at any good computer store (they are
not Sun proprietary). They are located under the panel in the battery
compartment and are user replaceable. (Unless you want 256MB!)
However it seems that life just ain't that easy. People have reported
that 32MB modules (8M x 36) that are just 1 inch (25mm) high seem to
work. Many others types didn't work out.
The following are the possitive reports:
*
+ www.memoryx.com
+ 32mb 72pin Memoryx (1pc) 8mbx33-6
+ Results in 64MB RAM
*
+ www.spartantech.com
+ a pair of 32Mb ***LOW PROFILE 1" HIGH **** 72 pin true parity
SIMMS
+ Results in 64MB RAM
*
+ www.rave.net
+ 64 MB memory kit. $310 (USD) (Kingston Memory)
+ Results in 64MB RAM
The following are the negative reports:
*
+
+ generic 64MB parity SIMMs
+
The MicroSPARC processor in the Sun5 (and the SPARCBook) supports
multiple 32 MB SIMMs. Larger SIMMs than the 32 MB are not supported by
the processor. Since the SPARCbook only have two SIMMslots (instead of
8) only 64 MB is supported. (I haven't seen schematics and chip specs
myself but at least this seems to clarify the issue pretty much.
Thanks, Ulf.)
Warning
Make sure you shutdown the system completely before changing the
SIMMs. If you change the SIMMs when you suspend you may find that the
machine goes banana's.
If you forget to do it properly there is still no big problem. Just
replace the SIMMs with the original ones. Shutdown properly and go
again for the new SIMMs.
If you run Solaris 2.5.1 (or lower) you must adjust slice 4 according
to the new RAM size. (See also: Section 23) Some suggest you should
ditch Solaris 2.5.1 in favor of Solaris 2.6 but your milage may vary.
_________________________________________________________________
4. What OS does the SparcBook 3 run and do I need to purchase from Tadpole?
The SparcBook 3 will run Sunos 4.1.3-u1 and any Solaris version up to
Solaris 2.6! Not all of the original distributions from SUN will work
fine. But apparantly Solaris v2.6 (5/98) seems to install fine. But
note that you still need the add-on's listed below.
The Tadpole version does have some add-on's to pause and resume the
SparcBook, the Fax program or the PCMCIA drivers but rumour has it
that legal owners of Solaris 2.6 can get a copy per FTP.
One can download the additional packages required to let Solaris 2.6
run on your sparc book from:
ftp.tadpole.com/pub/sbu/S3-patches/Solaris_2.6/
The file that contains all of them is:
ftp.tadpole.com/pub/sbu/S3-patches/Solaris_2.6/TTI_Solaris_2.6_packag
es.tar.Z
How ever this does not include the NCE graphical utilities. These are
not around at present times but may be available in the future.
(Unlikely for Solaris 2.6 now that Solaris 7 is out.)
Alternatives are Linux and NetBSD. (See also: Section 12, Section 14
and Section 13)
_________________________________________________________________
5. What is the architecture of the Sparcbook3?
It's a sun4m.
_________________________________________________________________
6. What kind of connectivity does the Sparcbook3 have?
14.4 fax/modem builtin (not upgradable), ISDN (needs a NT1 to work)
and 10mbps ethernet (which needs a special cable to go to a AUI
interface on the 3GX).
The AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) cable is identical as the one used
by other Sparc systems like the Sparc5, Sparc10 and Sparc LX. For most
networks you need a transceiver to connect to an existing 10base-T
(UTP) or 10base-2 (coax) network and these transceivers can be bought
in any good computer hardware store.
These cables can be quite expensive if you can't find the proper
place. A few suggestions to find them are:
*
+ Tadpole
+ P/N 908030
+ $75.00
*
+ Ultraspec Cables, Inc.
40 Riordan Place
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702-4305
USA
Tel: 1-800-222-5337 (USA only) Tel: x-1-(732)-450-1900
www.ultraspec.com
+ Slimline D26M to D15 (AUI Only) AUI Cables for SPARCstation
Models 4, 5, 10 & 20, SPARCclassic & LX Ethernet port adaptor
Cable (#2610) - 1 foot
+ $52.00
*
+ A-1 Net Inc.
135 Commerce Way
Walnut, CA 91789
USA
Tel: x-1-(909)595-0450 FAX: x-1-(909)594-7617
+ Sun Micro SPARC 10 / AUI SUN-615F 6' HDB26M to AUI DB15F
+ $18.00 (However this one has not yet been tried.)
The SUN partnummer is X981A.
An AUI to Thinnet (10base-2) or AUI to UTP (10base-T) transceiver
could be bought in any decent computershop. A lot of shops may charge
you amounts that may be stunningly high. So it's well worth to
checkout multiple shops before rushing for one.
_________________________________________________________________
7. What about PCMCIA (PCcard) cards for the Sparcbook3?
It can take 2 type I/II or 1 type III cards. Just about any modem card
will work (so you can get your 56K connection :). But watch out with
hard disk, some early (maybe still) hard disk cards had incompatable
firmware. (A Western Digital 40M didn't work, but the Maxtor 170M and
Eiger 340M did).
In order to work well with disks you must at least load the T030004-02
patch.
Among the known PCMCIA cards that are reported working are: 3C589B
(device: pcelx) and 3C589C (device: pcelx)
_________________________________________________________________
8. Can I use external disk and cd-roms with my Sparcbook3?
Yes, the Sparcbook3 uses standard (Fast-)SCSI (II) devices. The
interface does provide power to special (read: Tadpole) external
devices but standard SCSI devices should work perfectly.
Proper SCSI cables can be bought in any good computer hardware store.
To boot from an external SCSI CD-ROM the SUN CD-ROM FAQ is the proper
document to read.
_________________________________________________________________
9. What is the maximum speed on the serial interface?
38,400 is the maximum supported. There might be a kernel hack to get
it to do a little faster, but the implementation of hardware flow
control on Sun and Tadpole serial ports is software dependant, so very
limited.
_________________________________________________________________
10. Does the type 4 keyboard work with the SparcBook?
It does! Any type 4 or type 5 keyboard should work.
_________________________________________________________________
11. What about patches with Solaris 2.6?
The following list of patches (with URL) should help you out.
From sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/
* Solaris 2.6 (Sparc) Recommended patches (~ 19MB)
From: ftp.tadpole.com/pub/sbu/S3-patches/Solaris_2.6/
* T030000-01 Fixed 16 bit X server problem (bus error)
* T030001-01 System may hang while PCMCIA device is present
* T030002-02 Enhanced generic power management features
* T030003-01 Changing PCMCIA cards does not work well
* T030004-02 PCMCIA ata disk
* T030005-01 Formating PCMCIA disks results in core dumps
* T030006-01 Disks won't keep spundown very long
* T030007-01 'Spurious Interrupt' messages on console
* T030008-01 nitloc fails when TZ contains a / (slash)
* T030009-01 US Robotics Modems do not work in SPARCbooks
This might seem kinda obvious, but ..... The T03000xxx patches should
be installed AFTER installing the Tadpole Packages.
_________________________________________________________________
12. Any word on Solaris 7?
It seems that Solaris 7 does run on the unit but the tadpole specific
items are not there.
Do NOT (repeat: NOT) attempt to install the Tadpole add-on packages
for Solaris v2.6 on a Solaris 7 installation! (For some this advise
may sounds stupid as it seems so obvious to them but at present it is
all I can tell about Solaris 7. {I didn't try this myself!!!})
Tadpole does NOT plan to put patches for Solaris 7 on the FTP site
like they have with the 2.6 patches. They want us all to drop $400+
for the CD from them with Solaris 7... Ugh. (Mind you that SUN is not
as fortcoming to Tadpole as we might have liked in regard to Solaris
support.)
_________________________________________________________________
13. Does it run Linux?
Last change: 19990827
You can get Linux on it but with some restrictions if you are
installing it. In short:
* You need to use the serial interface as the video chip isn't
supported during bootup if you use 2.0.x kernels. It does work
with 2.2.x kernels.
* Use of an external CDROM that works fine with Solaris didn't work
well with Linux. (But this could be just my problem with my
Ultraplex drive and not a generic thing.)
Linux can use the screen (on a TadPole SPARCbook 3GX) with Red Hat
Linux 5.2 (the only 2.0.x kernel distribution I tried) if you observe
the following guidelines:
* Use a Linux kernel 2.0.33 or 2.0.35 source. (The default one
shipped with Red Hat Linux 5.2 does work with these small fixes.
So get clean kernel sources.)
* Replace the original suncons.c and weitek.c files with the changed
ones.
* Configure and compile your own kernel. (Don't allow SparcBook 1
support as it will break things for you!)
* Edit /etc/inittab to allow a init process on the screen.
* Now reboot with the new kernel.
This is not meant for people who are not familiar with making their
own kernels.
Thomas M. Roerh wrote the changes in the files stated above.
Alternatively it seems that 2.2.x kernels work fine for console work.
Thomas reported success with kernel 2.2.5 and is now looking into the
XFree stuff.
Installing Red Hat Linux 6.0 for the Sparc does not need the fix
mentioned above. However the display handling is a bit akward now. It
realy feels like you are using a 2400 bps terminal.
The current state of things that (may) work:
* the console, as a general PROM console (which is why it sucks so
hard)
* the serial, parallel ports (parallel port driver in linux was
fixed quite recently, and new 2.3 kernels will have a parport
module which should work with these, I intend to try momentarily)
* dbri audio should work but not well yet (some of the interface
"knobs" are missing, like the ability to change volume, but
someone's working on it)
* dbri isdn *may* work, but I don't have any way to try so I can't
say. You need the amd79c30 module in the ISDN4Linux stuff since
the same guy worked on support for those and for this, and he
reused code.
The current state of things that don't work (yet) or are not
investigated:
* the mouse
* console
* pcmcia
* onboard modem
_________________________________________________________________
14. NetBSD
NetBSD-sparc version 1.4 works fine on the SPARCbook 3GS and 3GX, and
can be installed easily from the distribution CD. However, this
version does not support X11, pcmcia, power (microcontroller)
management, the internal modem, audio, or ISDN. Thus, you're
restricted to a text-only interface, although using a utility like
`screen' makes this much less painful; see
http://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/utilities/screen/ for the latest
version.
If you really want X11 and NetBSD, and if you're not afraid of a bit
more work, NetBSD-current (11 aug 1999 and later) is the answer. It
adds native X11 support and some basic power management functionality
(like powering down the lcd screen when the lid is closed or X11 does
a screenblank). You'll want to follow the instructions on the NetBSD
website for installing the latest sparc binary snapshot, and for
compiling the TADPOLE3GX kernel. A good starting point for this can be
found at http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/current/index.html but
the basic steps are usually something like this:
1. Install the latest release distribution.
2. Download the NetBSD-current source; tarballs can be found at:
ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-current/tar_files/src/.
3. Compile and boot a NetBSD-current TADPOLE3GX kernel.
4. Download the latest NetBSD-sparc binary snapshot from:
ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/sparc/snapshot/
The snapshots live in directories with names of the form YYYYMMDD
which indicate the -current source from which they were built.
5. Rebuild the entire system from -current source.
The support currently in NetBSD-current will most likely be first
available in a real release as of NetBSD-1.5. However, drivers for the
currently unsupported devices are appearing quickly; if you continue
to track the -current development, you can get device support almost
as fast as it appears (pcmcia development is underway).
_________________________________________________________________
15. Is there a mailinglist?
There are a multiple mailinglists dedicated to the Sparc Books. The
first one started by Rich is called: sparcbook-owners. Use it at your
own risk. No further info is recorded for this list anymore.
Displease with the lack of (web)archive and the not quite open
policies on the list another one has been started and is just called:
Sparcbook mailing list
Note that much of the following can also be accomplished via the World
Wide Web, at: www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/sparcbook/
In particular, you can use the Web site to have your password sent to
your delivery address.
List specific commands (subscribe, who, etc) should be sent to
<sparcbook-request at sunhelp.org>.
About the descriptions - words in "<>"s signify REQUIRED items and
words in "[]" denote OPTIONAL items. Do not include the "<>"s or "[]"s
when you use the commands.
The following commands are valid:
* subscribe [password] [digest-option] [address=<address>]
Subscribe to the mailing list. Your password must be given to
unsubscribe or change your options. When you subscribe to the
list, you'll be reminded of your password periodically.
'digest-option' may be either: 'nodigest' or 'digest' (no quotes!)
If you wish to subscribe an address other than the address you
send this request from, you may specify "address=<email address>"
(no brackets around the email address, no quotes!)
* unsubscribe <password> [address]
Unsubscribe from the mailing list. Your password must match the
one you gave when you subscribed. If you are trying to unsubscribe
from a different address than the one you subscribed from, you may
specify it in the 'address' field.
* who
See everyone who is on this mailing list.
* info
View the introductory information for this list.
* help
Just in case you realy want to see al the commands available ;-)
_________________________________________________________________
16. What do the green and flashing orange lights mean?
The green light means that the Sparcbook is running on external/AC
power. If the orange light next to it starts flashing, this means that
a shutdown is emanate. This usually happens when the battery gets down
to 15-20%.
One person reported this happening even when the battery was at 100%.
The SB had an old battery and we suspect that it didn't have enought
"push" to keep running the SB and that is why it was giving a shutdown
warning even though the battery said 100%.
_________________________________________________________________
17. If my computer hard hangs and STOP-A doesn't work, what can I do?
The little pin hole to the right of the LCD display on the keyboard is
a hard reset button. Use a pin or nail to push it.
Even this may fail and you have to disconnect AC power AND remove the
battery to stop the machine the very hard way. (I needed this at least
once during some Linux kernel juggling!)
_________________________________________________________________
18. Is it ok to remove the battery for long periods of time?
No, the battery powers the RTC (Real Time Clock). You shouldn't remove
the battery except when replacing it or upgrading the memory chips.
(This info has not been verified and some argue the validity of this
statement.)
_________________________________________________________________
19. How do I open the case of the Sparcbook?
You bether don't. Laptop casings are designed to be small. Never to be
easy to service ;-) Even experienced service people find most laptops
a real pain to service.
_________________________________________________________________
20. How do I remove the hard disk?
The removeable hard disk is located on the left side (looking at the
SB from the front). Push the little cover down a bit and then side the
disk straight out. (Of course, you should only do this when the SB is
turned off!)
_________________________________________________________________
21. Where can I get more sleds/enclosures for the hard disk?
They are very hard to find. Of course, Tadpole will sell you a disk
drive that is in a sled, but they charge a rather large price for
them. You're pretty much on your own for this one.
_________________________________________________________________
22. Can I use PC IDE notebook hard disk in my Sparcbook?
Yes and no. The SB uses SCSI drives, however, there seems to be a
company in Japan that sells an IDE to SCSI converter. It is a 4.5mm
high card that fits on top of the 2.5" IDE drive. Some Apple notebooks
use this converter. (As does the 2GB drive from TadPole which is also
a IDE disk with SCSI-to-IDE convertor!)
You may checkout: www.powerbook1.com/pbharddrives.html#scsi or
www.powerbookguy.com/drives.html or http://www.adtx.co.jp/english/
_________________________________________________________________
23. What is slice 4 (partition e) on my disk used for?
It is the save area used when you suspend your SB. It should be the
exact same size as the RAM in your SB. When you PAUSE-O (suspend) the
SB, the contents of RAM are written to this slice. If you never want
to use the suspend feature, this slice can be formatted and used like
any other slice of the disk.
Solaris v2.6 does not need this slice as it handles suspend
differently. It justs saves it's own state to a partition that has
enough space to hold it. The state file (.CPR) is not that big as it
is rather compressed.
_________________________________________________________________
24. Will my SparcBook work on AC only (without a battery)?
Unfortunatly for some it doesn't for others it works fine. So just be
carefull if you give this a try. However I got this working just fine
without the battery.
_________________________________________________________________
25. Can you upgrade the tadpole's maxed-out 2GB drive to something a bit
larger?
So it seems. Just pop the drive & converter assembly out of the caddy,
move the converter to a new 2.5" 12.5mm IDE drive, reassemble the
caddy, pop back in and format!
Worked fine for IBM 6.4 (IBM Model DADA-26480 4200RPM 13420 Cyl+2Alt
16 Hd 63 Sec) with new install of SOLARIS 2.6 with above-mentioned
patches... No reason to think larger drives would not work...
Note: Please note that this only works for the 2GB disk as it
allready has a SCSI to IDE convertor. All smaller disks are fully
SCSI and lack the convertor.
_________________________________________________________________
26. Is my SPARCbook Year 2000 compliant?
The following units are: Voyager IIi, UltraBook 170 / 200, SPARCbook 3
/ 3LC / 3TX / 3GX / 3XP / 3000 ST / 3000 XT
The following units are not: SPARCbook 1 / 2
See also: www.tadpole.com/support-trdi/y2k/sparc.html
_________________________________________________________________
27. Where can I find manuals?
Our prayers have been heard. Tadpole has made them available on their
FTP server. Don't hessitate to say thanks to them for this service.
You can find the manuals on ftp.tadpole.com/pub/pdf/. The manuals you
will find most interresting are SPARCbook Portable Workstation User
Guide SPARCbook 3000 and SPARCbook 3 Families with 256 pages and
SPARCbook"3 Series Technical Reference Manual 980327-02 with 216
pages.
_________________________________________________________________
28. Where can I find more info?
Here are some URLs to explore for more info.
* Solaris Central has a good lists of FAQ's:
http://www.solariscentral.org/
* TadPole: http://www.tadpole.co.uk/
_________________________________________________________________
29. Why isn't my question in the FAQ?
It may be any of the following reasons:
* No one asked. (so it's not a FAQ ;-)
* No one answered. (So either no one knows or no one bothered to
answer ;-)
* The given answer was incorrect or may be misleading. (I am still
no guru but go a long way with these computer things and can
usually tell wether or not this may happen.)
* I didn't like the answer. (The use of profane language and such
will definitly be a reason to dislike the message and in such
event it will not make it to the FAQ.)
But If you want to contribute to the FAQ feel free to send a clear
question and answer to me. I just might put it into the next edition
provided I have time for it. If you want to add info to an existing
question you MUST quote the full question as numbers are irrelevant to
me as the source document is not numbered at all. (It's added
automagically!)
Warning
Please don't start sending me questions without answers. I am still
not a guru and just hope this FAQ may educate others and not just me.
Besides that some portions are things I can't verify myself.
Important: The preferred way is to make a copy of the SGML source;
make the required changes and send in the diff (diff -ur) of the
SGML source.
Important: FAQ entries should be send in a message exclusively to
me and not to one of the mailinglists or contain a copy to one of
them as they will be handled differently by my mail handling
software and it's likely I may overlook them in such case.
Some of these questions are plain obviously if you happen to have the
manual in front of you. But aparantly there are still lot's of units
out there without a manual. Now thay are online there is not an excuse
not to have them. (See also: Section 27)
_________________________________________________________________
30. Contributers
* Hugo van der Kooij (hvdkooij at caiw.nl)
* Andre (no further info recorded)
* Robert Barnes (barnesr at erols.com)
* Mark G. Thomas (Mark at Misty.com)
* Rich Kulawiec (rsk at gsp.org)
* Thomas M Roehr (troehr at interactive.net)
* Ian Spray (Tadpole)
* Bill Strange (wstrange at polarisdata.com)
* Alan Barclay (alan at escribe.co.uk)
* Simon Adams (simon.adams at wcom.co.uk)
* Shawn Ferry (lalartu at obscure.org)
* Mike Kopack (makopack at yahoo.com)
* Hugh Crawford (hugh.crawford at webline.com)
* James Garnett (garnett at suod.cs.colorado.edu)
* Derrick J Brashear (shadow at dementia.org)
* Mike Jacobi (mike at engg.ksu.edu)
* Sunder (sunder at brainlink.com)
* Jon Pile (Jpile at EnerTel.nl)
* Robert Bagnall (Robert.Bagnall at toyota-europe.com)
* Ulf Samuelsson (ulf at atmel.com)
--
Hugo van der Kooij; Oranje Nassaustraat 16; 3155 VJ Maasland
hvdkooij at caiw.nl http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~hvdkooij/
--------------------------------------------------------------
Use of any of my email addresses for unsollicited (commercial)
email is a clear intrusion of my privacy and illegal!
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