This chapter provides information you'll need before you begin installing Red Hat Linux on a SPARC system.
If you need more information, the UltraLinux Web page at http://www.ultralinux.org provides a wealth of information for people using Red Hat Linux/SPARC.
Red Hat Linux/SPARC supports a variety of hardware based on the SPARC architecture. The most recent list of hardware supported on Red Hat Linux/SPARC can be found on Red Hat's Web site at http://www.redhat.com/hardware.
The following list was current at the time this manual was produced:
sun4c architecture machines (IPC, SS1, etc)
sun4m architecture machines (Classic, SS5, SS10, etc)
sun4u (UltraSPARC-1, UltraSPARC-2, UltraSPARC-5, Ultra-SPARC-10, Enterprise UltraSparc servers)
bwtwo, cg3, cg6, TCX frame buffers (24 bit on the TCX)
Creator, Creator3D, and Elite3D frame buffers (on UltraSPARC systems)
Mach64/PGX24/PCI and PGX32/PCI frame buffers (on UltraSPARC systems)
LEO frame buffer (on sun4m systems)
cg14 frame buffer (in cg3 mode)
SCSI and Ethernet on all of the above
type 4, type 5 and type 6 keyboards and mice
external SCSI drives
CD-ROM drives (external and internal)
SCSI/Ether SBUS expansion cards
Any original equipment Sun monitor for the frame buffers listed
Unsupported Hardware -- The following list contains hardware that is currently unsupported:
VME-based sun4m machines, such as the 4/690
SPARC 5 Model 170 machines
sun4d (SS1000, SS2000)
sun4 architecture
Eurocard sun4c machines, called the "sun4e" under Solaris2.4 and others, are not supported. These are VME-bus sun4c machines, to which the kernel has not been ported yet.
The following types of CD-ROMs are unsupported (for more information on CD-ROM compatibility issues, please visit http://saturn.tlug.org/suncdfaq):
All NEC models
Some Toshiba XM-4101B revisions
Toshiba XM-3201B
AppleCD 300 Plus on older SPARC PROM
Apple CD600i