ewaguespack@gmail.com wrote:
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>
>>ewaguespack@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I have a sparc station model 544, but I dont think it's going to run
>>>solaris 10.... what would you recommend as a cheap server that will run
>>>solaris 10 (sparc).
>>>
>>>I would like to spend at the most 200-500$
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>
>>
>>If you just want a Sun box that will run Solaris 10, Sun Ultra 10s are
>>dirt cheap on e-Bay. You'll pay a little more for the "Creator-3D"
>>versions but the better graphics may be worth it. Even the Creator-3D
>>shouldn't cost more than $100 US.
>>
>>If you really need a "Server", you might try for an Enterprise 250. Or
>>just search e-Bay for "Sun Server" and see what pops up.
>
>
>
> no, I don't need a "server" I was using the term incorrectly and
> generically, I need a sparc workstation that will run solaris 10.
>
> Thanks.
>

In which case, I think you need one of the following.

Ultra 5 (IDE = cheap disks)
Ultra 10 (IDE = cheap disks)
Ultra 30 (SCSI, never a very popular machine, cheap)
Ultra 60 (up to 2 CPUs, SCSI)
Ultra 80 (up to 4 CPUS, SCSI)
Blade 100 (IDE, cheap)
Blade 150 (IDE, cheap)
Blade 1000 (FC-AL SCSI, upto 2 CPUs)

All of them would do - but the ones lower down the list will cost more and give
you better performance. The Ultra 5 is not much bigger than your SPARC 5. The
Ultra 10, 30 and 60 are about the size of a typical tower PC. The Ultra 80 and
Blade 1000 are like quite large tower systems. They are wider, deeper and
heavier than any normal tower PC I have met.

I can't speak for the Blade 100 or 150, as I have never seen one, but I get the
feeling they are probably similar size to the Ultra 5. You should be able to get
all the size/weight/noise specs if you look around. Also look on spec.org for
benchmarks. Look at the prices they have actually *sold* for on eBay. *NOT* the
prices people are trying to sell them at. You will often find people trying to
sell machines at 4x what they typically sell for. I bought an Ultra 60 a few
months back on eBay and at the time I bought it someone else was trying to sell
one on eBay at about 5x the amount I paid.

--
Dave K MCSE.

MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually.

ewaguespack@gmail.com wrote:

> no, I don't need a "server" I was using the term incorrectly and
> generically, I need a sparc workstation that will run solaris 10.
>
> Thanks.
>

I just noticed the title - SCSA cert.

You might want to get something with a fairly late OBP in that case, as some of
that is based on the OBP. That might make a newer machine more suitable.

--
Dave K MCSE.

MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually.

The problem is that none of the SPARC based SUN computers in the last
10 years will be acceptable for your wife in the living room. They are
all extremely noisy - the U5/U10 are the only one that you can modifiy
with standard silent PC parts.

Maybe what you want is one of the small silent PC barebone's and run
Solaris 10 x86 on it.

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:35:31 -0800, llothar wrote:

> The problem is that none of the SPARC based SUN computers in the last
> 10 years will be acceptable for your wife in the living room. They are
> all extremely noisy - the U5/U10 are the only one that you can modifiy
> with standard silent PC parts.

Horsefeathers! My Ultra 60 is quieter than any of my tower PeeCees even
with two 10K rpm drives in it.

> Maybe what you want is one of the small silent PC barebone's and run
> Solaris 10 x86 on it.

The SCSA exam requires knowledge of the OBP. The OP will not learn a damn
thing about OBP running Solaris x86.

llothar wrote:
> The problem is that none of the SPARC based SUN computers in the last
> 10 years will be acceptable for your wife in the living room. They are
> all extremely noisy - the U5/U10 are the only one that you can modifiy
> with standard silent PC parts.
>
> Maybe what you want is one of the small silent PC barebone's and run
> Solaris 10 x86 on it.
>

Given the Suns are rated for use at fairly high input temperatures and fairly
high altitudes, if you live nearer sea level and keep the room temperature down,
you can probably reduce the cooling air and hence noise.

The think the fans in Suns are likely to be standard sizes so could be replaced
by temperature controlled ones. Of course, this is all a bit more risky.

I've got a pair of Pentium II 450 MHz here which I removed the fans and a Sun
PCI card from which I have also removed the fan. In each case I removed them
when the fans failed. I was told by a PC technician that P II 450 was OK without
a fan and I decided myself the Sun PCi card was in the Ultra 80, since there is
a lot of cooling air in that and I was convinced the little fan on the heatsink
was next to useless.


--
Dave K MCSE.

MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually.

Dave Uhring wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:35:31 -0800, llothar wrote:
>
>
>>The problem is that none of the SPARC based SUN computers in the last
>>10 years will be acceptable for your wife in the living room. They are
>>all extremely noisy - the U5/U10 are the only one that you can modifiy
>>with standard silent PC parts.
>
>
> Horsefeathers! My Ultra 60 is quieter than any of my tower PeeCees even
> with two 10K rpm drives in it.

Do you have the low-noise kit installed in that machine? They are not easy to
find on the used market. Of course, you could get lucky (as I recently did) and
buy one with it in, despite it was not advertised as such.


--
Dave K MCSE.

MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually.

On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:56:48 +0100, Dave (from the UK) wrote:

> Dave Uhring wrote:

>> Horsefeathers! My Ultra 60 is quieter than any of my tower PeeCees even
>> with two 10K rpm drives in it.
>
> Do you have the low-noise kit installed in that machine? They are not easy to
> find on the used market. Of course, you could get lucky (as I recently did) and
> buy one with it in, despite it was not advertised as such.

No idea about the kit. The 120 mm. fans are quiet as are the Seagate
Cheetah drives.

On Sat, 1 Apr 2006, Dave (from the UK) wrote:

> I've got a pair of Pentium II 450 MHz here which I removed the fans and a Sun
> PCI card from which I have also removed the fan. In each case I removed them

WHat SUn PCI card did you remove the fan from? I gave a SUn PCi IIpro, and
removing the fan seems like a good way to get rid of some of its noise.

--
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006, llothar wrote:

> The problem is that none of the SPARC based SUN computers in the last

That's "Sun", not "SUN".

> 10 years will be acceptable for your wife in the living room. They are

Nonsense. My Sun Blade 1000 is very quiet.

> Maybe what you want is one of the small silent PC barebone's and run
> Solaris 10 x86 on it.

Solaris x86 is of no use for someone needing to learn OBP...

--
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich

Rich Teer wrote:
> On Sat, 1 Apr 2006, Dave (from the UK) wrote:
>
>
>>I've got a pair of Pentium II 450 MHz here which I removed the fans and a Sun
>>PCI card from which I have also removed the fan. In each case I removed them
>
>
> WHat SUn PCI card did you remove the fan from? I gave a SUn PCi IIpro, and
> removing the fan seems like a good way to get rid of some of its noise.

It was a Sun PCi II pro with a 733 MHz Celeron. I removed the plastic cover on
the heatink too. The fan is supposed to force air by the heatsink, but I think
the cover will create a lot of back-pressure so the flow must be pretty small.
However, I might be less inclined to do it in a machine with less airflow than
the U 80.

I had no problems. I've even run it for a few hours on one of these utilities
that make the CPU work flat out.

Someone else copied the idea too and as far as I know he had no problems. He
wrote some web pages on it, but they are in French.


http://www.sunwizard.net/html/articles/gt007.html

If you look at his pictures you can see where the fan is supposed to force the
air - along the length of the heatsink then out the ends. But look at all the
restriction with the heatsink. I don't have a PhD in the dynamics of airflow,
but I don't believe the fan can work very well against that back pressure, so I
think removing the cover and fan is quite sensible if you have airflow around it.


My machine is pretty packed - 4 GB, 4 CPUs, HVD SCSI card, SE SCSI card, GPIB
controller card, CD, tape drive, two disks ... but it works fine.



--
Dave K MCSE.

MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually.