[Sunhelp] Newbie Tips

[Michael Radtke]

Thanks for the help so far.  Here are the specs as best as I can get them

	The machine, which is a square pizza box chassis is labeled on the front
as a Sparc station 1.  The label on the bottom says it is model 147,
service code 4/60, part number 600-2461-02.  The date is listed as Jan,
5th, 1990.  I opened up the box, and found 2 hard drives, a floppy, a
processor, and a Weitez chip.   The floppy has a number on it:
0005180-8908029520 and another number on it 3701207-01.
	The HD's don't concern me much at this point (I don't have anything to put
on them yet!), but the floppy does.  How can I tell if it's a 720k or 1.44
MB drive?  Also, all the memory slots are empty.  Is there supposed to be
some memory installed, or is there memory onboard elsewhere?  The MB has
the number 5011382061137 on it, if that helps. 
	As far as the monitor is concerned, it is an HP, model A0288A.  I realize
that this may not be the ideal listserv to find out about the monitor, but
I guess it matters for the video card.

	So, given the above, I need to find:
		1)  A CHEAP graphics card
		2)  Info on the type of floppy drive, mostly so I know how to install the
OS, (it will probably be NetBSD)
		3)  What to do about memory

To any who can help me out, my hearty thanks.

Michael Radtke
mradtke at nwu.edu

At 12:00 PM 7/2/99 -0700, you wrote:
>On Fri, 2 Jul 1999, Michael J Radtke wrote:
>
>> 	I just acquired an old Sparq workstation, but I have no idea how
>> to get the thing running.  The main problem is that there is no video
>> card.  How can I go about getting a really cheap graphics card,
>> preferrable on that would work on the old HP 19" BW monitor I have, (with
>> 1 BNC connection).  Or, is there a way to remotely access it, (maybe even
>> install the OS?) with a PC?  I can't get both on the net at once, but
>> maybe there is a way to do it with a direct connection.
>
>The first thing to do is to find out exactly what it is that you have.
>Try to find out:
>
>Any model number that may be present either on the front or (usually) on a
>sticker on the bottom.  Failing this, find out the approximate case
>dimensions and try to describe the case.
>
>Any part numbers that are on the motherboard or ancillary cards.  Look for
>long numbers starting with 501 with barcodes next to them.
>
>Any Sparc can use a serial port as a console.  If no keyboard is plugged
>in, it should default to using serial port "A" at 9600bps.  Get a
>null-modem cable going from your PC to this serial port, run a
>communications program (Terminal or somesuch) and see if you can get any
>life out of it.
>
>Depending on how capable your monitor is, you may be able to find a cheap
>framebuffer to drive it.  Does it require sync to be combined with the
>video signal (which I would suspect, given that it's got only one BNC
>conenector)?
>
>-James
>
>
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Michael Radtke
mradtke at nwu.edu