[Gllug] Sun SparcStations

[chris.wareham at btopenworld.com]

Dylan <dylan at dylan.me.uk> wrote:
> 
> I have the opportunity to 'come into' 2 or three SparcStation 4 or 5's (I 
> think that's what they're called...)
> 
> Now, I notice the monitor socket is significantly different from the PC 
> 'standard' type: are they compatible, given a converting cable, or is using a 
> PC monitor a non-starter? Likewise for the keyboard.
> 
> Also, how does the performance relate to ix86 performances? They've got 
> SparcII chips (I think) with 1G scsi drives (which I figure I can change for 
> some larger ones I've got knocking around.)
> 
> I was thinking one could be pressed into service as a gateway (with pkt 
> filter/mail relay/squid...)
> 

To use a PC monitor you need a 13W3 converter. Somewhere like Maplin may stock them, failing that look on the web. I seem to remember they're not that cheap (around the £20 mark). I don't think you'll be able to use a PS/2 keyboard, but it's worth googling for a converter.

You could always forego the Sun monitor and keyboard, and simply use a serial console, especially if you want to use the machines a s an "edge" device (firewall, etc).

As for performance, my 110Mhz SparcStation 5 is used as a desktop development machine. It runs NetBSD 1.6, Mozilla compiled from source (GTK  2.0 interface), the Gimp and a few other X applications. For edge applications, they are ideal machines. Quiet, very sturdy and built from premium components. In ten years of using Sun kit I've had one component fail (a second hand SCSI hard disk that endured delivery by Parcel Force).

As for running Linux on them, look for Aurora Linux, the unofficial version of recent RedHat releases. Forget Debian, it wouldn't even install the several times I tried it, and most other distros only offer (poor) support for 64bit Sparc hardware.

Chris

-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at linux.co.uk
http://list.ftech.net/mailman/listinfo/gllug