Newbie alert. I've got an Ultra 10 (300 MHz) that wont' run at the
color depth and resolution I prefer because the on-board video lacks
the memory. Aa newbie, I've had a difficult time translating Sun's naming
conventions. Briefly, assuming a limited (but not severely so) budget,
which of the dozen-odd graphics card listed on SunSolve is "best"? I'm
mostly doing 2D stuff here, so fancy OpenGL hardware acceleration is
not necessary.

Thanks,

Kurt

On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 kwall@kurtwerks.com wrote:

> Newbie alert. I've got an Ultra 10 (300 MHz) that wont' run at the
> color depth and resolution I prefer because the on-board video lacks
> the memory. Aa newbie, I've had a difficult time translating Sun's naming
> conventions. Briefly, assuming a limited (but not severely so) budget,
> which of the dozen-odd graphics card listed on SunSolve is "best"? I'm
> mostly doing 2D stuff here, so fancy OpenGL hardware acceleration is
> not necessary.

Price-wise, it's hard to beat the Creator 3Ds.

--
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-online.net

get a Elite 3D $50 Call me 847-468-8900
<kwall@kurtwerks.com> wrote in message
news:7bedncJBh9J0XYTdRVn-uw@speakeasy.net...
> Newbie alert. I've got an Ultra 10 (300 MHz) that wont' run at the
> color depth and resolution I prefer because the on-board video lacks
> the memory. Aa newbie, I've had a difficult time translating Sun's naming
> conventions. Briefly, assuming a limited (but not severely so) budget,
> which of the dozen-odd graphics card listed on SunSolve is "best"? I'm
> mostly doing 2D stuff here, so fancy OpenGL hardware acceleration is
> not necessary.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kurt



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Rich Teer <rich.teer@rite-group.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 kwall@kurtwerks.com wrote:
>
>> Newbie alert. I've got an Ultra 10 (300 MHz) that wont' run at the
>> color depth and resolution I prefer because the on-board video lacks
>> the memory. Aa newbie, I've had a difficult time translating Sun's naming
>> conventions. Briefly, assuming a limited (but not severely so) budget,
>> which of the dozen-odd graphics card listed on SunSolve is "best"? I'm
>> mostly doing 2D stuff here, so fancy OpenGL hardware acceleration is
>> not necessary.
>
> Price-wise, it's hard to beat the Creator 3Ds.

Thanks. I'm not terribly price-sensitive.

I'm beginning to suspect that I might have purchased unwisely - this
Ultra 10 came with a 375-0009 system board, which won't let me beef up
the CPU to the 440MHz level. The 300MHz CPU evidently doesn't speak
FFB+, either, so the space between Scylla and Charybdis is getting
tighter and tighter...

Thanks again,

Kurt

In <86KdnUlhFa2CVYbdRVn-jg@speakeasy.net> <kwall@luther.speakeasy.net> writes:
[...]
>I'm beginning to suspect that I might have purchased unwisely - this
>Ultra 10 came with a 375-0009 system board, which won't let me beef up
>the CPU to the 440MHz level. The 300MHz CPU evidently doesn't speak
>FFB+, either,

Dunno about FFB+ (is that a "Creator" without the "3D"?), but my 300 MHz
Ultra 10 has been running happily for many moons with a Creator3D Series 3
(FFB2+, I believe) -- IIRC it came that way as an official configuration
from Sun. I have run Solaris 7, 8 and 9 on it, and yesterday when I left
the office I left it upgrading to s10_b48.

http://www.sunhelp.org/faq/FrameBuffer.html#23


>so the space between Scylla and Charybdis is getting tighter and tighter...

Yeah, but that's only a problem if you have to sail between them, i.e.
you are constrained to 2D, whereas if you have the Creator3D then you can
fly over them, right?


Thomas Maslen
maslen@pobox.com

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 09:22:07 -0600, <kwall@luther.speakeasy.net>
wrote:

>Rich Teer <rich.teer@rite-group.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 kwall@kurtwerks.com wrote:
>>
>>> Newbie alert. I've got an Ultra 10 (300 MHz) that wont' run at the
>>> color depth and resolution I prefer because the on-board video lacks
>>> the memory. Aa newbie, I've had a difficult time translating Sun's naming
>>> conventions. Briefly, assuming a limited (but not severely so) budget,
>>> which of the dozen-odd graphics card listed on SunSolve is "best"? I'm
>>> mostly doing 2D stuff here, so fancy OpenGL hardware acceleration is
>>> not necessary.
>>
>> Price-wise, it's hard to beat the Creator 3Ds.
>
>Thanks. I'm not terribly price-sensitive.
>
>I'm beginning to suspect that I might have purchased unwisely - this
>Ultra 10 came with a 375-0009 system board, which won't let me beef up
>the CPU to the 440MHz level. The 300MHz CPU evidently doesn't speak
>FFB+, either, so the space between Scylla and Charybdis is getting
>tighter and tighter...
>
>Thanks again,
>
>Kurt
I think flashing the Boot Prom to the latest Sun offers will allow you
to upgrade the CPU on the 375-0009 system board. At least this page

http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub...Ultra5_10.html
under OBP Notes says something about the version of OBP required using
the 440 MHz module , this was under the 375-0009 board.

Gary K8IZ
Washington State Resident
Registered Linux User # 312991

Thomas Maslen <maslen@pobox.com> wrote:
> In <86KdnUlhFa2CVYbdRVn-jg@speakeasy.net> <kwall@kurtwerks.com> writes:
> [...]
>>I'm beginning to suspect that I might have purchased unwisely - this
>>Ultra 10 came with a 375-0009 system board, which won't let me beef up
>>the CPU to the 440MHz level. The 300MHz CPU evidently doesn't speak
>>FFB+, either,
>
> Dunno about FFB+ (is that a "Creator" without the "3D"?), but my 300 MHz

Oops. FFB2+ it is. Too many blasted TLAs and ETLAs. Thanks for bearing
with a PC guy coming over from the Dark Side.

> Ultra 10 has been running happily for many moons with a Creator3D Series 3
> (FFB2+, I believe) -- IIRC it came that way as an official configuration
> from Sun. I have run Solaris 7, 8 and 9 on it, and yesterday when I left
> the office I left it upgrading to s10_b48.
>
> http://www.sunhelp.org/faq/FrameBuffer.html#23

I haven't yet made it very far through the sunhelp site, as you can see.
Okay, I can live with a Creator3D. Seem to be lots of them on eBay...

>>so the space between Scylla and Charybdis is getting tighter and tighter...
>
> Yeah, but that's only a problem if you have to sail between them, i.e.
> you are constrained to 2D, whereas if you have the Creator3D then you can
> fly over them, right?

Indeed. That z-buffer action takes right out of 2D space, presuming
Scylla and Charbydis don't extend vertically. :-) Thanks for the help.

Kurt
--
"Every time I think I know where it's at, they move it."

Gary P. Fiber <g.fiber@verizon.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 09:22:07 -0600, <kwall@luther.speakeasy.net>
> wrote:
>
>>I'm beginning to suspect that I might have purchased unwisely - this
>>Ultra 10 came with a 375-0009 system board, which won't let me beef up
>>the CPU to the 440MHz level. The 300MHz CPU evidently doesn't speak
>>FFB+, either, so the space between Scylla and Charybdis is getting
>>tighter and tighter...
>>
>>Thanks again,
>>
>>Kurt
> I think flashing the Boot Prom to the latest Sun offers will allow you
> to upgrade the CPU on the 375-0009 system board. At least this page
>
> http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub...Ultra5_10.html
> under OBP Notes says something about the version of OBP required using
> the 440 MHz module , this was under the 375-0009 board.

So it does. I looked at this page last night but missed the key
sentence:

"5. Modules 501-5568, 501-5148, and 501-5149 require OBP >=3.19v4."

I flahsed the OBP to 3.31.0 a couple of nights ago (and thought it
would be nice if PeeCees were so built).

Kurt
--
"Every time I think I know where it's at, they move it."

Thomas Maslen <maslen@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> Dunno about FFB+ (is that a "Creator" without the "3D"?), but my 300 MHz
> Ultra 10 has been running happily for many moons with a Creator3D Series 3
> (FFB2+, I believe) -- IIRC it came that way as an official configuration
> from Sun. I have run Solaris 7, 8 and 9 on it, and yesterday when I left
> the office I left it upgrading to s10_b48.
>
> http://www.sunhelp.org/faq/FrameBuffer.html#23

Okay. So, before I start bidding on eBay, it appears to me that
the Creator3D Series 3 (501-5690) is the one I want, provided I have
the latest OBP revision (I do). Does this sound correct to the other
greybeards out there?

[deletia]

Thanks again, all, for the help,

Kurt
--
First Law of Bicycling:
No matter which way you ride, it's uphill and against the
wind.

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004, Kurt Wall wrote:

> Okay. So, before I start bidding on eBay, it appears to me that
> the Creator3D Series 3 (501-5690) is the one I want, provided I have
> the latest OBP revision (I do). Does this sound correct to the other
> greybeards out there?

I have two of those in my Ultra 60 - they're very nice. However,
if you want something more fancy, and can live without the 1600x1280
maximium resolution of the C3D, I have an Elite 3D-m6 that I'm looking
to sell. (This frame buffer came with this Ultra 60, but I wanted
the higher resolution of the C3D.)

Drop me a line if you're interested.

--
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-online.net