[SPARCbook] Ultrabook OBP Flashing

[Borgen_Gary]

Since I haven't seen this documented before, I thought I would.

I had trouble flashing the OBP update to 3.1.8 on my UltraBook I.   I
downloaded the UBI-Sol8.tar.gz file from the Tadpole ftp site, ran the
install_pcimem update and followed all provided instructions.  Yet the
update would not take.  Every time I ran it and rebooted, the OBP revision
would stay at 3.1.5.

In the instructions, Tadpole tells you how to select a different firmware
file if you wish.
The command is: flash-update -y -f /tmp/new_obp.bin

The -y is the key.

If you have followed all instructions and type: flash-update -y
the update will happen properly.

Not sure why they didn't document it or even provide a command line help
option in the flash-update program.  But anyway, it worked.

The update did cause problems with the ATI video in Openwindows (Solaris
2.5.1) .  But running the latest patch for the m64 graphics from Sun
(103792-32.tar.Z) solved that problem.

The are no problems running OBP 3.1.8 on disks less than 8 GB as was stated
before (I presently have 2 - 5GB drives).  There may, however, be a problem
installing Solaris 8 on smaller than 8GB drives.  I won't find out, since I
am planning on upgrading the drives to 14GB and 20GB before I install 8.