On 2008-11-27, Christopher Tidy wrote:
DoN. Nichols wrote:
[ ... ]
I have one of the PCI SCSI cards for an Ultra 60 lying around, waiting
to see if I ever get chance to use it.
Not just for an Ultra-60. It will work with the Ultra-30 (half
of an Ultra-60 -- only one CPU), Sun Fire 280R (my current file server),
Sun Blade 1000 and 2000 (my current workstations) the cheap Sun Ultra 5,
Ultra-10, and Sun Blade 100 (all three of these last machines use IDE
drives, not SCSI or FC-AL drives.
My recollection is that the Ultra 5, Ultra 10 and Blade 100 are all
slower that a maximum specification Ultra 2. I think many people thought
that the machines with higher model numbers would be faster, when
actually they were not. For its time, the Ultra 2 was a very fast machine.
O.K. Ultra-2 CPUs available:
167 MHz
200 MHz
250 MHz
300 MHz
360 MHz (Ultra 60 only)
400 MHz
450 MHz (Ultra 60 only)
Ultra-5, Ultra-10 CPUs available:
270 MHz (Ultra 5)
300 MHz (Ultra 10)
333 MHz (Ultra-5, 10)
360 MHz (Ultra-5, 10)
400 MHz (Ultra-5)
440 MHz (Ultra-10)
So a single threaded process can run faster on the Ultra-10 than
on the Ultra-2, and equally fast on the Ultra-5 -- assuming that CPU
speed is the only limiting factor. Ultra 60 can go a bit faster than
the fastest Ultra-10.
But The Sun Blade 1000 and 2000 series started at 600 MHz, then
750, 900, then the switch to Cu (copper conductors in the chip instead
of aluminum) 900, 1050, and 1200 MHz.
Of course -- the Ultra-5 and Ultra-10 have the slower IDE bus
instead of a nice fast SCSI bus.
[ ... ]
True enough. A few years back I was given one of those monitors and I
carried it about 1/4 mile home. It nearly killed me :-).
It *would* have killed me -- to carry it that far. I'm an old
phart these days. :-)
Fortunately I've got space to put my monitor next to the Ultra 2, rather
than on top of it. Instead, I end up piling CD-Roms and books on top :-).
That helps. The CD-ROMs and books can be moved one or two at
a time, so the total weight is a lot less. :-)
[ ... ]
Probably so. I've gotten an Ultra-2 (back when I was using
them) from a local used computer vendor for something like $50.00 US.
Well, I think I scored a good deal:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=260318379668
O.K. Looks nice -- as long as the description given is the
actual configuration, rather than a listing of the manufacturer's
maximum which I have seen in some auctions.
Disks are small -- but no problem if you have others to swap in.
However -- I don't see a mention of the framebuffer, which may
mean that it is an "Enterprise" version -- no framebuffer, intended to
be a server, and the console is a serial terminal connected to TTYA.
Even with the shipping (which is a bit overpriced, but given the low
opening bid I wasn't worried) it's less than $50.
:-) (Of course, several years after my $50.00 Ultra-2. :-)
It hasn't arrived yet, so there are still ways in which the deal could
turn bad, but I'm hopeful that this will be an economical solution.
The lack of a framebuffer means that you will have to swap in
one from your current system.
And the access to the less expensive units falls victim to the
costs of shipping across the pond.
What speed CPUs are you running on your Ultra-2? You can move
them into the Ultra-60 if you want to.
At the moment I've got the following in my Ultra 2:
* 2 x 400 MHz processors
O.K. The max.
* 1280 MB RAM
Can be expanded -- with the replacement system.
* 2 x 36 GB hard disks
Better than the drives in the auction system.
* 32x CD-Rom
O.K. Not a DVD ROM then. I can't be sure what is in your
auction machine. The DVD-ROM would be nicer -- especially when
installing the latest Solaris 10 U6
One of the good things about the Ultra 2 I've bought on eBay is that it
has 2 GB of RAM. Not that I'm convinced that this will speed the machine
up a lot, but it's something I've yet to acquire.
If you do memory intensive things -- like image processing, the
more RAM the better.
As for moving the Ultra 2 processors into an Ultra 60, I have been
variously told that:
* You can.
* You can't.
* Sun says you can't, but actually it works.
I believe that the third one is correct, based on past postings
in comp.sys.sun.hardare.
I have not looked at an Ultra 60 closely enough to know if it uses the
same processor slot, as I don't know anyone who owns one.
I do own both machines, and they do use the same slot. Since
both of my Ultra-60 machines came with two 450 MHz CPUs, I did not have
any reason to move the 400 MHz ones from the Ultra-2 into the Ultra-60.
But I don't
think I've ever heard of an Ultra 60 with 400 MHz processors.
My Sun FEH (Field Engineer's Handbook) says that there were 400
MHz CPUs for the Ultra-60. (501-5446 and 501-5500), while the ones for
the Ultra-2 were 501-5445 (one lower than the first of the Ultra-60
ones). The Ultra-2 ones had 2MB Cache, and the Ultra-60 ones had 4MB
Cache.
The 300 MHz CPUs (in both systems) had problems co-existing with
one version of the Creator-3D framebuffers.
They all
seem to be 360 or 450 MHz. I'm pretty sure that the hard disks can be
interchanged, though.
Yes, no, and maybe. :-) It depends on the direction. All use
the SCA 80-pin interface. The Ultra-2 has clearance only for 1" high
drives, while the drive bay in the Ultra-60 can handle 1.6" drives with
no problems.
Incidentally, I have more 300 MHz Ultra 2 processors than I know what to
do with, if you know of anyone who wants some.
Given the poor cooperation with the Creator-3D, I don't think
that I do. :-)
I am not sure whether to pull the NVRAM chip from this new machine and
plug it into my existing machine, or whether to take my disks and SBus
cards from the existing machine and put them into the new machine. The
former is much less work, but the latter seems a safer bet. Any thoughts?
First -- just try bringing the system up as it is shipped. It
appears to have some version of Solaris pre-loaded, though it is not
clear which version. I have my doubts about a fill load of Solaris 10
with only two 9GB drives. :-) But this will tell you whether the
computer *as shipped* works, before you change anything. If it does not
have a framebuffer, you'll want a null modem cable between the new
machine's TTYA and one of the two TTY ports on your old machine, just so
you can see what it says during boot -- including total memory
installed. If your old machine won't work well enough -- you can use a
PC or a stand-alone terminal for seeing what it does.
I hope that you don't have any licensed software installed, as
that is keyed to the hostid (and possibly the MAC address) in the NVRAM,
and IIRC you were having problems with your current NVRAM.
Once it passes that test, then you can see what else to move.
CPUs (move in pairs), framebuffer (if the new one does not have one),
disks, and any sBus cards which may be of utility.
It is a pity that the vendor in the auction did not feel it worth
while to put up a bigger image -- and one of the back as well.
What does RTB stand for in
"The unit comes with 30 days RTB warranty."? I hope
that it is saying that you can return it if it does not work. (Though
at that prince -- it is worth it for parts. :-)
Anyway -- first time you boot it -- write down the hostid and
the MAC address -- to put into the other NVRAM after surgery to give it
a fresh battery.
[ ... ]
The Sun Type 5 keyboard is the best I have ever seen. I have heard that
the later keyboards are less solid. I don't want to lose that great
keyboard.
I like the Type-6 keyboard, which has a clip-on shelf on the
near side of the spacebar which serves nicely as a wrist rest when
typing in my reclining chair with the keyboard in my lap (which is how I
normally type.)
They were still grey/cream keyboards, weren't they?
Yes. I don't use the Sun USB mouse, however. this finally
allows me to use the Logitech "Trackman Wheel" trackball -- much easier
to use on the arm of my chair. Anything which needs a mouse pad does
not work well on the chair arm. :-)
I don't think I've
tried the later grey/cream keyboard. But I tried a blue one and hated it.
I've never had a blue one to try. Is that the Type-7?
[ ... ]
The final batch (lenses and spare bodies) was in exchange for a
50mm f0.95 for the Cannon-7 rangefinder. He found the camera to fit the
lens before I found one. I got the lens at a hamfest for about $15.00
many years ago. I did make a mount for the lens, and tried it on a
vidicon at work for a project -- and it was quite soft and prone to
flare -- but it was *still* fast. :-)
Sounds like an interesting lens. However, I get the impression that many
purchases of the fastest lenses were influenced to some degree by their
poser value. I don't imagine that too many people regularly used those
lenses wide open :-).
Well ... if I had the camera body to fit it, I would have used
it. I tended to do a lot of low-light shots without flash to avoid
calling attention to myself.
The D70 (digital Nikon) has the advantage that it will start at
200 ISO (ASA), and work its way up to 1600 ISO if needed to keep the
shutter speed reasonable. And while the image is a bit noisier at 1600
ISO, it is not as bad as the grain in a color slide or negative film
pushed to 1600 ASA. :-) Most of the time, I don't need faster than the
f:3.5 on the zoom lenses which I use -- though I have the 50mm f:1.4
autofocus, and a 180mm f2.8 which has been coverted to add a chip so it
will handle auto-exposure properly, even though it does not have
autofocus.
Enjoy,
DoN.
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