[SPARCbook] no boot?

[Kurt Huhn]

> Related question: How is one supposed to "store" the SPARCbook?
> If I am going to not use my SPARCbook for, say, a few weeks, should
> I leave it plugged in (and off) to keep the battery charged, or should I
> pull the battery out of the unit for the duration?
>
> How about if I leave the unit off longer (greater than 10 weeks say)?
>
> Is there a concern about an internal battery "dying?"
>

Well, if your not using it, perhaps you'd be willing to part with it?  Send
it to say - me?  Just so it can get some use istead of sitting around doing
nothing.

Of course I'm kidding - and your concerns are real ones.  For quite a while
I was unable to put the Tadpole patches on my system to get it to run
Solaris 2.6.  It sat for quite some time, about 2 months if memory serves.
When I finally pulled it out to work on it and get it running the internal
battery was still holding a 33% charge - not to shabby.  However, I've heard
that if the unit (and any sparc) is turned off it begins to use the NVRAM
battery to hold system info.  This is a concern with tadpoles, since the
NVRAM/battery is not the same as another sparc (correct me if I'm wrong).

I've not heard of any issues with dead NVRAMs in Sparcbooks, but that
doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Kurt