[SunHELP] OpenBoot version/updating

Mon Jan 15 05:09:59 CST 2001

On Mon, 15 Jan 2001 02:32:03 -0800 (PST), you wrote:

>If you're referring to an Ultra, SunSolve has this information
>(sunsolve.sun.com).  Search on your model name and "obp".  If it's a
>pre-Ultra, the OBP is not flashable and requires a chip swap.
>
>Unless you have a particular reason to update there will be no benefit.
>Once an OS is running the OBP is almost completely out of the picture.

Hardware support is one reason. I had fun with several ATI boards getting
recognised only after a flash update on 270 MHZ U5s. Solaris reads the OBP
device tree, and if a device is missing from there (or improperly recognised)
the Solaris driver won't load.

Another reason is 64 bit support on UltraSparc1.

mfg

Dipl.-Ing. Frank-Christian Krgel
IstDa Kommunikationssysteme