Memory (was RE: [rescue] Ultra?)

[vraptor at employees.org]

On Fri, 2 Aug 2002, Loomis, Rip wrote:

>Grossly incorrect statement--most folks reading the list know this
>(I hope) but just so it gets into the archives, there are three
>problems:
>1.  Memory speed--memory for SS10 is 80ns, and it does not IME
>    work reliably on faster systems.  SS20 and up memory is 60ns
>    and works happily on SS10s as well.
>2.  Supported sizes--SS10 can use 16 or 64 (32 only with very later
>    OBP revisions), SS20 can use 16/32/64 but no larger, U1 adds
>    support for 128MB DSIMMs, etc.

Not having worked with all-original SS10's I didn't realize there
was a speed difference.  I was working from being able to take
smaller memory sizes from newer machines and back them into SS10s
as "upgrades".

I believe (but can't verify) but the later SS20's will take 128MB
memory, and perhaps larger.  It's been quite a while since I worked
on "big" SS20's, but I'm pretty sure I cranked out a user home
dir/mail machine to 1GB back around 1999.

(Often the manfacturer says a computer can't do something when
in fact it can.  My Powerbook G3 (aka "Firewire" or "Pismo") is
not *supposed* to support memory over 256MB in size, with a max of
512MB.  In actual fact, though, you can expand the Pismo to 1GB
with 2 512MB modules.  Mine is at 576MB right now as I type.
Perhaps Apple set this 512MB limit because of a bug in the
classic OSs (and it is still in OS 9) with accessing memory
>512MB.  Or maybe they just thought no one would ever need/
want that much memory in a laptop?)

>3.  Number to make a "set"--SS10/20 use singles, U1 uses pairs,
>    U2 requires sets of 4 DSIMMs, etc.

Not true.  I have worked on a number of U2s, and had one on
my desk to test memory.  U2s can take single DSIMMs, but they
can interleave, so it's better to use sets.

>Please try to keep postings from sounding authoritative when they're
>incorrect.

My apologies for the incorrect information about speed.  Most of
my experience working with older Sun hardware is from hands-on
trial-and-error work.  We had to keep a lot of old junk running,
so we tried a lot of things we might not of had we had a set
of field engineer manuals around.

>Your fine, should you choose to accept it, is one pair of 128MB
>DSIMMs or one refurbished 36GB drive--I can rarely touch the
>prices you mentioned here in Maryland (eBay's about the best bet
>and the prices are 20%-30% higher).

:-)  If you have any Solaris sys admin (or *BSD or Mac) or
tech trainer job leads out there, I'll bring you a present when
I move east.  I seem to be in the same situation as Dave, broke.
:-/

Seriously though, you can get the memory from www.weirdstuff.com
(they don't have good prices on disks though--not enough volume).
Call the store and ask what they have on hand--the web site can't
keep up.

I can get you the number for the store that handles *huge* quantity
of refurb (and not all are refurb--some are OEMs that went back to
the factory b/c they were not used by Sun, HP, etc.--they may be
new) disks.  I don't know if they will ship, though.

=Nadine=