[rescue] mystery machine

[Dave McGuire]

On January 20, bluecanary at shaft.shaftnet.org wrote:
> I've just joined the list on a friend's advice.
> I found a place with an "old" (no actual date) 6-processor Sun with 6 1-G 
> drives. It's big and heavy-- maybe about 400 pounds, and the size of a 
> small table. They want $250 for it. That's all I know.  Any idea what it 
> might be? What's useful, and could be that old? Anything I should avoid?
> I'm going to go look at it tomorrow, and would love some background 
> knowledge.

  Welcome to our twisted little gang!

  There are useful computers that are much, much older than even the
very first Sun, my friend.  Keep that in mind.

  A multiprocessor Sun the size of a small table sounds like a
4/670MP, but the 4/600 CPU board can have a maxumum of four
processors.  If it's only got 1GB drives in it, it's likely not
anything UltraSPARC-related.  I suppose it *could* be an SS1000 with
multiple chassis, but I wouldn't really describe that as table-sized.

  Depending on what it is, $250 may or may not be a reasonable price.
Likely not, however, since the bottom dropped out of the computer
hardware resale market some time ago.

  If it is indeed a 4/670MP, it's got up to four processors, and is a
very nice machine.  Quite useful indeed.  I'd definitely replace the
1GB drives with something more modern, though..."Obsolete" is a word
that's thrown around a lot by PeeCee-selling assholes who want you to
buy a new machine every six months whether you need it or not...but
even I will say a 1GB drive is pretty much bad news these days.

  Go take a look at it, write down the model number of the machine and
the part numbers on every board you see, and let us know what it is.
Then we'll be able to tell you everything you ever wanted to know
about it and more, and suggest possible applications for it.

     Good luck,
     -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
St. Petersburg, FL         "Less talk.  More synthohol." --Lt. Worf