[SPARCbook] Upgrading GS to GX?

[Ken Hansen]

You can custom-order crystals - try Jan Crystals (1-800-JAN-XTAL, or
1-800-526-9825, they are in Florida) - they ask you to specify the crystal
as
best you can, or send a sample. Cost appears to be $10 for the crystal, and
$10 for the analysis.

HTH,

Ken

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sunder" <sunder at anon7.sunder.net>
To: <sparcbook at sunhelp.org>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: [SPARCbook] Upgrading GS to GX?


> Yeah, you shouldn't have any problems unless you have commercial software
> that registers itself to your hostid.  In which case, you would have to
> move the NVRAM. :)
>
> The reason for this is that my old 3GS has a working mouse pointer, which
> I've repaired by replacing the mouse pointer from an IBM keyboard and
> splicing the wires in.  The 3GX which is my main machine, had a dead
> pointer and was swapping the two.
>
> Out of curiosity, since I'm using the 3GS for parts, I popped up the CPU
> board.  I've noticed that some of the chips on the motherboard were
> labeled 3XP - as in the 640x480 85Mhz, version of the Sparcbook 3 series.
>
> So apparently all the parts from the 3XP, 3GS, 3GX are interchangeable
> (except of course for the 640x480 display on the 3XP's, and possible Open
> Boot PROM version differences.)
>
> Also the keyboard in the 3GX said "S3XP/US" as well.  I did get something
> interesting out of the 3GX keyboard.  There's a second sticker that says
> "Product Converted to 600515-US by Keytronic 1996"
>
> So for those of us in search of replacement keyboards that 600515-US might
> be useful.  (I recall someone here tracking down the last store of
> replacement keyboards and finding out that they too were out of
> stock.  Maybe with this info, we can find another source?)
>
> Meanwhile, since I did take the old 3GS CPU out, I'm considering
> attempting to clock chip it up to at least 100MHz.  The crystal on these
> is half the CPU speed.  So the 3GS has a 42.500MHz crystal, and the 3GX
> has a 55MHz crystal.  I wasn't able to find a 55Mhz crystal, but I was
> able to find a 50MHz one at www.jdr.com.  If I have the time and
> inclination, I might just try it.  I don't expect it to work as these
> aren't PC's, but it's worth a shot at least.
>
> ----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos---------------------------
>  + ^ + :Surveillance cameras|Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\
>   \|/  :aren't security.  A |share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\
> <--*-->:camera won't stop a |monitor, or under your keyboard, you   \/|\/
>   /|\  :masked killer, but  |don't email them, or put them on a web  \|/
>  + v + :will violate privacy|site, and you must change them very often.
> --------_sunder_ at _sunder_._net_------- http://www.sunder.net ------------
>
> On Mon, 5 Jun 2000, Rainer Canavan wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I just recieved a (broken) SPARCbook 3GX to replace the display of my
> > 3GS, and I was wondering if I could replace the CPU, once I have that
thing
> > open - which is a lot easier than I thought, as one really only has to
> > remove the screws and unplug a few wires.
> >
> > The quarz is on the board with CPU+memory, so this is not a problem, but
> > I wonder if I have to change the hostid, like one has to do when
upgrading
> > a SPARCClassic X to something that really talks to SCSI devices.
> >
> > I'd guess that the bus multiplier is fixed by the CPU board, so I'm not
> > expecting problems in that direction. What\s the bus clock anyway for
the
> > SPARCBooks?
>
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