dnichols@d-and-d.com (DoN. Nichols) writes:
>> I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
>> I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.
>> The problem is that the machine doesn't boot and it even doesn not
>> print anything at all: monitor is blank.
>> Moreover monitor's led initially becomes green then it starts
>> blinking... as if just no signal reaches the monitor.
>> I thought that video board is not working. Am i right or wrong?

EKP <palazzinaro@gmail.com> replied:
> You don't mention lights blinking on the keyboard, so I'm going
> to presume that you don't have a Sun keyboard connected to it. In that
> case, the behavior you have observed is normal. It initializes the
> monitor (when the LED turns green), and then shuts it back down when it
> discovers that there is no keyboard, and shifts all input and output to
> the TTYA serial port. (IIRC, on that box, the two serial ports share a
> single DB-25 connector, with TTYA being on the normal pins, and a
> special connector needed to access TTYB.

I believe it was the "pizza boxes" (Sparcstations 1 and 2) that had the
DB-25 connectors that needed a splitter cable if you wanted to use both.
The IPX has separate DIN-8 plugs for TTYA and TTYB, so you needed either a
"hardware flow control capable" Apple Mac cable or a Sun cable to convert
to a DB-25 connector.

I agree that if you don't have a Sun keyboard, monitor, and 13W3 cable,
unplugging the Sun keyboard and using TTYA is probably your best bet for
getting started. Try 9600 bps, even parity, and 1 stop bit first.

> And -- the monitor which you use (once you add a Sun keyboard)
> needs to be able to display 1152x900 resolution, as that is the default
> of the video card.

Usually, but not exactly. The on-board cg6 (GX) expected there to be a
Sun 13W3 cable connecting it to the monitor. That cable has three "sense
bits" which the monitor was expected to use to indicate its capabilities to
the GX/cg6 framebuffer. Resolution is determined at boot up / reset time
from the sense pins. EEPROM/setenv overrides are ignored.
--------------------------------------------------
13W3 cable pinout (signal type: analog)
Pin A1 - Red / Red Ground
Pin A2 - Green / Green Ground
Pin A3 - Blue / Blue Ground
Pin 1 - N/C
Pin 2 - N/C
Pin 3 - Sense 2
Pin 4 - Sense Return
Pin 5 - Composite Sync
Pin 6 - N/C
Pin 7 - N/C
Pin 8 - Sense 1
Pin 9 - Sense 0
Pin 10 - Composite Sync Return

Monitor Sense Bits Defined:
Value S2 S1 S0
0 GND GND GND 1024x768 77hz
1 GND GND 1600x1280 76hz
2 GND GND 1280x1024 76hz
3 GND 1152x900 66hz
4 GND GND 1152x900 76hz 19"
5 GND 1024x768 60hz
6 GND 1152x900 76hz 16-17"
7 1152x900 66hz
where GND is pin 4.
--------------------------------------------------
If you use a 13W3 to DB9 adapter, I think you get case "7" (since none of
the sense lines will be grounded).

>> I mean... if another video board is pluggable to the expansion's
>> slots... or... i don't know...

> Yes -- you can install an alternative framebuffer

Agreed. The IPX is designed so that any frame buffer you've added as an
SBUS card will be "found" as the system default before the on-board frame
buffer. Some of these other frame buffers also obey EEPROM settings.
For example, the TGX+ frame buffer can do up to:

setenv output-device screen:r1280x1024x76

See http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/faq_f...amebuffer.html
for more.
-WBE

wbe wrote:
>> the TTYA serial port. (IIRC, on that box, the two serial ports share a
>> single DB-25 connector, with TTYA being on the normal pins, and a
>> special connector needed to access TTYB.

> I believe it was the "pizza boxes" (Sparcstations 1 and 2) that had the
> DB-25 connectors that needed a splitter cable if you wanted to use both.
> The IPX has separate DIN-8 plugs for TTYA and TTYB, so you needed either a
> "hardware flow control capable" Apple Mac cable or a Sun cable to convert
> to a DB-25 connector.

Stokely/SunHELP have a list (although I don't see a SS1 on
there.. same as SS2? and the SS5 stuff seems inconsistent)

http://www.sunhelp.org/unix-serial-p...erial-pinouts/

Nether the IPX or the SS2 use a dual signal serial port.

I always forget about the DIN-8 ports. I used to have a ton of useful
cables from old Mac serial work, but I'll bet I'd have a hard time
finding one now...

--
Darren Dunham ddunham@taos.com
Senior Technical Consultant TAOS http://www.taos.com/
Got some Dr Pepper? San Francisco, CA bay area
< This line left intentionally blank to confuse you. >

HI,

John Reddie wrote:
>> EKP wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
>>> I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.
>
>
> I'm running a Classic (next model on) as a single database web-server
> with Debian 3.1, Apache 1.3, MySQL4 and PHP4 - it's slow but for the
> occasional queries it serves it's robust and sits unnoticed in a corner!
>
> I agree there's a certain satisfaction to be had from keeping these
> retro things going, and show me a Windows box or even a Mac of that age
> that can hack it with (almost) the latest software and still do
> something useful...
>
> RAM was the critical issue to get anything useful running. Mine has 72Mb
> out of a possible 96, I think 64 should be seen as a minimum for
> anything like my configuration.
>
> Now if anyone has some 16Mb SIMMs lying around... ???
>
> I think the IPX/IPC will be similar and if I'm not mistaken I think I
> read somewhere that there's a potential cpu upgrade for these older
> machines (Weitek???) that takes them past the Classic/LX spec machines.
> But it'll still be slow!!!
>
> John
Yes there was a CPU upgrade(2xclock) for IPC/SS2, I purchased a couple
of them must have been 93-94 I guess.

Did come with a very nice and expensive CPU mounting tools which
included a screwdriver and a flashlight, I stillhave the flashlight

For normal work Idid not notice that much speed improvement but during
compilation and simulation it almost did make it twice as fast.

48MB is max RAM on a IPC and 64 on a IPX/SS2.

/michael

HI,

EKP wrote:
> Really thanks to everyone answered my questions in a so short time!
> I'll try to do everything you suggested.
> I'm going to get a mouse and keyboard very soon, and I'll try to get
> the null-modem serial cable in the meanwhile.
> Thanks again.
>
> ..and of course if you have other advices i'll be grateful!
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Bye, Lele
>
Hook up the serial line and see what you get using kermit or similar
from your linux box.

I don't know where you are located I am in Sweden and I have brand new
CMOS memorys which I could post to you if you need one.

/michael

I really didn't think a so big help!
You all are great.
I'm in Italy, Rome.

>I don't know where you are located I am in Sweden and I have brand new
>CMOS memorys which I could post to you if you need one.

By the way before disturbing you I want to try to connect with serial
line.
I hope to find a Mac cable or I'll make one my own as soon as possible.

Thanks again,

Lele

HI,

EKP wrote:
> I really didn't think a so big help!
> You all are great.
> I'm in Italy, Rome.
Almost perfect, I you would be in Milano(Arese) it would be perfect
since I now and then need spareparts for my Alfa's

>
>
>>I don't know where you are located I am in Sweden and I have brand new
>>CMOS memorys which I could post to you if you need one.
>
>
> By the way before disturbing you I want to try to connect with serial
> line.
> I hope to find a Mac cable or I'll make one my own as soon as possible.
>
> Thanks again,
Let me know if you need assistance in some way, anything shipped out of
the house is a blessing for my wife

/michael

According to Darren Dunham <ddunham@redwood.taos.com>:
> DoN. Nichols <dnichols@d-and-d.com> wrote:
> > Hook up some other computer or terminal to it with a null-modem
> > cable (connect pin 7 straight across to both, pin 2 on one to pin 3 on
> > the other and vice versa. I *think* that you may need the CTS or DSR
> > terminals pulled true by default as well.
>
> Usually unnecessary. I've done a lot of work with "3 wire" cables (only
> TX, RX, and GND).

Probably so -- but IIRC the earlier systems wanted to see CTS or
DSR (I forget which) from the terminal, or from a jumper wire on the
connector to the computer's RS-232 port.

IIRC, on at least some of them, you could convince it to ignore
that pin, once you could talk to the OBP -- but if you need the serial
port to talk to it, you may be in a catch-22. :-) That is why I
suggested pulling CTS or DSR true.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

According to Winston <wbe @ubeblock.psr.com.invalid>:
> dnichols@d-and-d.com (DoN. Nichols) writes:
> >> I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
> >> I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.

> EKP <palazzinaro@gmail.com> replied: ( ??? was this who started the
thread?)

> > You don't mention lights blinking on the keyboard, so I'm going
> > to presume that you don't have a Sun keyboard connected to it. In that
> > case, the behavior you have observed is normal. It initializes the
> > monitor (when the LED turns green), and then shuts it back down when it
> > discovers that there is no keyboard, and shifts all input and output to
> > the TTYA serial port. (IIRC, on that box, the two serial ports share a
> > single DB-25 connector, with TTYA being on the normal pins, and a
> > special connector needed to access TTYB.
>
> I believe it was the "pizza boxes" (Sparcstations 1 and 2) that had the
> DB-25 connectors that needed a splitter cable if you wanted to use both.

Not just them. My LX (same basic case style as the IPX, but
newer system and different connector arrangement) uses the split-use
DB-25 as well. I never had an IPX, but I did run an IPC for a while.

> The IPX has separate DIN-8 plugs for TTYA and TTYB, so you needed either a
> "hardware flow control capable" Apple Mac cable or a Sun cable to convert
> to a DB-25 connector.

O.K.

> I agree that if you don't have a Sun keyboard, monitor, and 13W3 cable,
> unplugging the Sun keyboard and using TTYA is probably your best bet for
> getting started. Try 9600 bps, even parity, and 1 stop bit first.

Agreed.

> > And -- the monitor which you use (once you add a Sun keyboard)
> > needs to be able to display 1152x900 resolution, as that is the default
> > of the video card.
>
> Usually, but not exactly. The on-board cg6 (GX) expected there to be a
> Sun 13W3 cable connecting it to the monitor. That cable has three "sense
> bits" which the monitor was expected to use to indicate its capabilities to
> the GX/cg6 framebuffer. Resolution is determined at boot up / reset time
> from the sense pins. EEPROM/setenv overrides are ignored.

Yes -- but as you show in what I'm trimming, if you don't have a
Sun monitor (or have an older one with BNCs and a separate cable) you
don't have the sense pins connected to anything, so the default is
1152x900.

[ ... ]

> If you use a 13W3 to DB9 adapter, I think you get case "7" (since none of
> the sense lines will be grounded).

Agreed.

> >> I mean... if another video board is pluggable to the expansion's
> >> slots... or... i don't know...
>
> > Yes -- you can install an alternative framebuffer
>
> Agreed. The IPX is designed so that any frame buffer you've added as an
> SBUS card will be "found" as the system default before the on-board frame
> buffer. Some of these other frame buffers also obey EEPROM settings.
> For example, the TGX+ frame buffer can do up to:
>
> setenv output-device screen:r1280x1024x76
>
> See http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/faq_f...amebuffer.html
> for more.

Aha -- a good resource.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

EKP wrote:

|> By the way before disturbing you I want to try to connect with serial line.
|> I hope to find a Mac cable or I'll make one my own as soon as possible.

Look on www.stokely.com for "Unix Serial Port Resources".

--

"I'm a doctor, not a mechanic." Dr Leonard McCoy <mccoy@ncc1701.starfleet.fed>
"I'm a mechanic, not a doctor." Volker Borchert <v_borchert@despammed.com>

In article <43d12f0e$0$5008$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk>,
John Reddie <john@REMOVETHISalconbury.net> wrote:
>> EKP wrote:
>>>I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
>>>I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.
>
>I'm running a Classic (next model on) as a single database web-server
>with Debian 3.1, Apache 1.3, MySQL4 and PHP4 - it's slow but for the
>occasional queries it serves it's robust and sits unnoticed in a corner!
>
>I agree there's a certain satisfaction to be had from keeping these
>retro things going, and show me a Windows box or even a Mac of that age
>that can hack it with (almost) the latest software and still do
>something useful...
>
>RAM was the critical issue to get anything useful running. Mine has 72Mb
>out of a possible 96, I think 64 should be seen as a minimum for
>anything like my configuration.
>
>Now if anyone has some 16Mb SIMMs lying around... ???
>
>I think the IPX/IPC will be similar and if I'm not mistaken I think I
>read somewhere that there's a potential cpu upgrade for these older
>machines (Weitek???) that takes them past the Classic/LX spec machines.
>But it'll still be slow!!!

Heavens, those Classics ans LXs are still quite viable in
some server applications. Unfortunately, the IPX is probably
at end-of-life: It tops out at Solaris 7, whereas the Classics
will go up to Solaris 9, and it only takes 64 Mb of memory.
If you really want to run an IPX today, I'd look at loading
one of the free *BSDs, perhaps NetBSD?

I run several Classic/LXs in various capacities. They have a
small footprint when run headless, draw only about 30 watts,
are rock solid, and for small sites handle email, simple web
serving, and serving up DNS with aplomb.

Were you aware that the first slots (physically the 1st and 4th)
can take a pair of 32 Meg memory DIMMs (as long as it is with
parity)? That allows up to 128 Meg total on the box -- a quite
serviceable amount if you aren't running an X-server.

Sure, they certainly are slow -- something that must be taken
into account. Any an attempt to run something like PHP or a
DB engine is likely to be painful. But, don't sell these
machines short -- in the right environment they can still be
real workhorses.

Rob