[SunHELP] Sun Netra T1 105 as a workstation?

[markbenson]

On 19 Jul 2013, at 03:17, Cory Smelosky <b4 at gewt.net> wrote:

> Evening all,
>
> Before you say it; I know this is crazy, almost impossible, and not what
this
> system was designed for...which is all the more reason for me to try! ;)

My only criticism is the t1 105 is a bit loud. If you don't mind that then
it's a reasonable box if you can find a PCI framebuffer. Being a single-CPU
it's not the fastest Solaris bvox the world ever knew but they do a decent job
with Sol 10. Your biggest issues is RAM, as they use the mezzanine boards, not
DIMMs.

> Im thinking Id try older Solaris on this...what versions wouldnt be too
> heavy on this?

9 or 10 is okay, 9 is probably a better bet. 10's not fast but it's workable,
although I've never run 10 on mine with a GUI, that will probably take a big
chunk out of the performance.

> As there are no USB ports, my options are: special sun mouse on a Sun frame
> buffer card (which I am in need of...would need to be PCI.  VGA card
> preferred) or a SCSI mouse.


The T1 105 has no Sun keyboard port. Your options are limited to finding a Sun
compatible framebufffer with USB ports and I'm not sure they ever existed. The
unit has 2 serial ports, however, so a serial keyboard and mouse might work
but you'll have to knock up roll-over adapters for them as the ports are
RJ-45. Lastly, it has dual ethernet so you may be able to muster a remote X or
VNC system once it's booted.

In all honesty they just aren't suited for it. You could pick up an older
system, like a U5 and a Symbios SCSI card, on eBay or Cragslist or similar for
next to nothing. It'd be a much better bet IMHO. If you need to rack-mount it
U5s can be de-plasticed down to a 2 or 3U height IIRC, but you'd need a
shelf.

--
Mark Benson

My Blog:
<http://markbenson.org/blog>
Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/mdbenson

"Never send a human to do a machine's job..."