Problems installing Solaris 2.4 on SPARCstation LX

From: Ethan Dicks <ethan_dicks_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri Jul 13 09:42:31 2001

--- Bill Pechter <pechter_at_bg-tc-ppp724.monmouth.com> wrote:
> > Hi folks!
> >
> > I'm a newbie - I just subscribed. ;-)
> >
> > I'm having some difficulty with a SPARCstation LX I rescued from the
> > dumpster at work. It's got SunOS 4.1.3_UI installed on it, but it expects
> > to find a server on a network. I can boot to the "#" prompt with "boot -s"
>
 
> Ugh.
> Solaris 2.4 was no bargain... I wouldn't use anything less than 2.5.
> I'd probably try 2.6. On IPX's and Sparc2's I'd prefer the SunOS
> 4.1.3_U1.

Agreed. For a flood of reasons, I'd consider 2.5.1 to be the baseline for
experimenting with old Solaris unless you are aiming for something historical.

> The LX should (iirc) run Solaris 8 as well. I believe the
> architecture is Sun4m rather than Sun4c.

It is and it will. My main server at home was an LX until the SCSI died; now
it' a Classic (same basic internals, lower-end audio and video than an LX).

> > I'm open to any suggestions that you folks might give me...
> >
> > Here's my setup:
> > Sun SPARCstation LX, 48MB RAM, 450MB internal hd, external 411 hd (ID 1) -
> > not sure of the capacity but I think it's ~500MB, and a Matsushita (LaCie
> > rebranded) CD-R at ID 6.
>
> BTW -- the LX will take standard 72 pin true parity simms
> if you want to update the memory.

You can also stuff a pair of 32Mb 72-pin parity SIMMs in the first bank (it's
all done in pairs), giving you a maximum of 128Mb on a Classic or LX. Mine
has 2 x 32Mb + 2 x 16Mb + 2 x 4Mb for a total of 108Mb. That and a couple of
9Mb SCSI-narrow drives and it hums along nicely under Solaris 7. It will never
set any speed records, to be sure. It's about the same level of responsiveness
as a SPARC2 or IPX even though it's a 50Mhz MicroSparcII chip (QFP soldered,
no upgrade possible, unlike the SPARC2 and IPX), but the big benefit is that
it is sun4m and has a longer useful life if you don't need to wring any speed
out of it.

The next rung up on the ladder is a SPARC5 70Mhz. Those are nearly at "haul
them away" status, but they take SCA connector drives internally, have a
short CD-ROM bay, etc.

There is a suns-at-home list that people with personal SPARC hardware might
consider joining. General information about the mailing list is at:

  http://www.net-kitchen.com/mailman/listinfo/suns-at-home


-ethan



=====
Visit "The Seventh Continent"
http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
Received on Fri Jul 13 2001 - 09:42:31 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:33:51 BST