[geeks] Hardware recommendation for odd project?

Sandwich Maker adh at an.bradford.ma.us
Mon Apr 24 06:22:31 CDT 2017


" From: Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com>
" 
" On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 7:22 AM, Cory Smelosky <b4 at gewt.net> wrote:
" > Hi all,
" >
" > What would be the lowest power, smallest, and quietest system to use to run up
" > to 64-bit Solaris 9? I need to run an old copy of Sybase for a silly project.
" 
" How hefty is the Sybase instance? You could use an Ultra 5/10;
" arguably the cheapest 64-bit Solaris systems. The Netra T1 and Sun
" Blade 150s also occupy that space. The only system not to use is an
" Ultra1. Although it had a 64-bit CPU there was a well-known CPU error
" which had the OSes default into 32-bit mode.
" _______________________________________________

i have to chime in - sound advice on options, but the u1 bug is
somewhat overblown.  yes, it caused dire effects, and solaris
defaulted to 32-bit installations out of an abundance of caution, but
iirc the compiler could not be made to emit the particular instruction
sequence save by assembly handcrafting nor could it come up in system
operation, and i've not heard of any exploits in the wild.

i've had a u1 for about 10y now and i've always run it in 64b mode,
without incident.

and just fwiw, afaik the smallest and lowest power 64b system would be
a ultrasparc-20, an aurora-chassis-size board sun's industrial side
made to replace ss20 boards in embedded systems.  it took 1G of ram
and a us2-style cpu module; 300mhz was the top supported.  it has 2
sbus slots and no onboard video, as fits its industrial role.

they're rare; the product apparently didn't go anywhere and was
quickly canned.  i got mine with 300mhx cpu for $50, and the only
manual i could find at sun was marked preliminary.  it works just fine
in an aurora chassis, which maxes out at 150w.
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
adh at an.bradford.ma.us                       and think what none thought


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