HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sandiway@research.nj.nec.com (Sandiway Fong)
Subject: Re: LX and SUNOS 4.x - how ?
Originator: sandiway@gb
Reply-To: sandiway@research.nj.nec.com
Organization: NEC Research Institute
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 22:51:52 GMT


In article <15841@auspex-gw.auspex.com>, guy@Auspex.COM (Guy Harris) writes:
|> >According to postings within the Sun corporation's internal newsgroup(s),
|> >software engineers stated that making the Classic and LX use 4.1.3 would
|> >require very little time and expense to change the drivers that work with
|> >the new I/O on the microSPARC.  The powers-that-be pronounced that it will
|> >not be discussed again and to do so could result in termination of employment.
|> [Parts deleted]
|> I.e., it's not as if doing a 4.1.4 would have been a slam-dunk; the
|> desire to get everybody onto 5.x might have *contributed* to the
|> decision not to do a 4.1.4, but I've yet to hear anything credible to
|> indicate that it was *purely* a case of wanting to get everybody onto
|> 5.x.

Well, how about still wanting to clear out the remaining IPXs for another
motivation? I know if I was in the market right now for buying a bunch of
Sparcs, I would definitely choose the IPX over the LX, despite the cost and
(smaller) performance disadvantages, simply because of the 4.1.X capability.

Sandiway

---
Dr. Sandiway Fong
NEC Research Institute Inc.
4 Independence Way
Princeton NJ 08540

(609) 951-2733
(609) 951-2482 (FAX)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: ppan@nobeltech.se (Per Andersson)
Subject: Re: SPARCclassic and SunOS 4.1.x
Organization: NobelTech AB
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:20:19 GMT

In article <8457@btr.BTR.COM> bfong@btr.btr.com (B Fong) writes:
>
>Can someone verify (positively) if the SPARCclassic will run SunOS 4.1.x?
>
>Does anyone know this for sure?  That is, actually installed one?

No it won't run 4.1.3. Not only because SUN says so, but it gives a
'data exception' when starting the generic 4m kernel after booting off
the 4.1.3 CD. It runs the boot program OK though, both from CD and from
network.

Now 2.1 is on its way onto the disk .....

/Per
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Per Andersson - ppan@nobeltech.se (perand@stacken.kth.se on free time)
Managing networks at, but not speaking for Nobeltech AB, J{rf{lla, Sweden
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: bfong@btr.btr.com (B Fong)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: SPARCclassic and SunOS 4.1.x
Date: 13 Dec 92 03:03:37 GMT
Organization: Internet


Can someone verify (positively) if the SPARCclassic will run SunOS 4.1.x?

The SPARCclassic is really cheap but most of us in the real
world are still running 4.1.x applications. (and many real apps just
don't work in BCP mode)

Does anyone know this for sure?  That is, actually installed one?

Thanks in advance!
From: devil@diablery.10A.com (Gil Tene)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: 1600x1280 monitors and VRAM for LX ?
Date: 11 Dec 92 06:26:28 GMT
Organization: Diablery, cloud seven, Hell. (also 10A Inc.)

I'm getting an LX, and I've noticed that by adding a VRAM option
(X101R @ ~$300) you can get it to drive 1280x1024 and 1600x1280 (!!!)
screens.

Sun does not sell a 1600x1280 color screen for the LX, and even if 
they did it would be outrageously priced, so I'm thinking of getting 
a third party screen. Anyone know of good, nicely priced color 
monitors that can handle 1600x1280?

Also, does anyone know what the VRAM simm specs are? Seems like you 
can buy 1MB of VRAM at a much better price and stick it in...

AdvThanks,

-- Gil.
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Gil Tene			"Some days it just doesn't pay     -
-- devil@imp.HellNet.org	   to go to sleep in the morning." -
-- devil@diablery.10A.com 					   -
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: gord@jericho.uucp (Gord Wait)
Subject: Re: Sun's GUI and OS mistakes (was Re: LX and SUNOS 4.x)
Organization: S-MOS Systems, Inc. (Vancouver Design Center)
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 21:57:45 GMT


I prefer Openlook over Motif as well. Seriously, the stick pins to
make popups hang around are the greatest thing since popups were
invented..

The Motif vs Openlook propaganda war is amazingly like the war between
Verilog and VHDL (hardware design languages). Verilog until recently
was available from only one vendor (Cadence; and as a result is a
standard) but is a well established language owning over 75 % of the
market. All the other guys have banded together to support VHDL, and
have managed to convince a large number of magazine editors, potential
customers, experts (etc) that VHDL is what everyone is using, so don't
buy Verilog! Both Verilog and VHDL are now in the public domain, so
the 'more open' arguement is moot in this case.

The answer in the electronics market is of course that there is lots
of room for more than one language, and in fact I would hope that even
more options become available. Same goes for the window market. None
of the current window systems are what I would call the final
solution! We need more competition in window markets so the vendors
keep improving what they offer!
-- 
Gord Wait 	SMOS Systems Vancouver Design Centre
uunet!jericho!gord
gord%jericho@uunet.uu.net

Xref: sparky comp.sys.sun.hardware:6415 comp.sys.sun.misc:5940
From: paulr@fulcrum.oz.au (Paul Rosham)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware,comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: LX and SUNOS 4.x - how ?
Keywords: Enterprising opportunity
Date: 20 Dec 92 23:03:57 GMT
Organization: The Fulcrum Consulting Group


In article <lma.724397841@dayton.Stanford.EDU> lma@dayton.Stanford.EDU (Larry Augustin) writes:
>Exactly.  And until all of our apps are ported to 2.x, and we're given
>free upgrades to those apps, 2.x is useless to us and we can't switch.
>Since it looks like it's going to be a while before that happens, we
>need 4.1.x on the new machines.

Which commercial applications that you need to run your business are we
talking about, Larry? Do you have maintenance contracts on them? Who are the
vendors of the packages?

ppan@nobeltech.se (Per Andersson) writes:
>Sun obviously wants to sell enough machines that run 2.x to force software 
>firms to provide packages for them. On the other hand, HP, IBM, Dec might
>already have the software ported to their platform, without the hassle of
>waiting for Sol2 to reach the critical mass, and to have all bugs mangled
>out. So perhaps Sun is making you choose other vendors ? How do you act ?
>You don't want to buy a Sun you can't use just to wait for your application
>to eventually be ported do you ?

Sun spent a lot of time encouraging software vendors to port to UNIX in the
first place. Did IBM or DEC? Not until very recently. Did HP? Only when the
software didn't compete with it's own products. These software vendors feel
that they have an investment in Sun for making this UNIX software market
possible. Sun is the vendor that said all along "Standards, standards,
standards!"

I think that the move to Solaris 2 will not be as bad as everyone thinks.

-PaulR.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: scoggin@opus.ee.udel.edu (John K Scoggin)
Subject: Solaris 2.1 Complaints
Organization: Delmarva Power & Light Company, Newark
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 20:53:04 GMT

It is absolutely amazing to me to read the complaints about an operating system
change.  Are we still running CP/M on Z80's out there?  No, most folks have
moved on to MS/DOS, OS/2, SCO *nix, or some other OS on their 8-/16-/32-bit
desktop machines.  

Change is part of computing - the vendor who sits dormant dies.  Whether Sun
did the Right Thing (tm) is open to question, but the Market will decide that.

As for my shop, we have budgeted time and money to make the transition next
summer.  My major network management system vendors have committed to having
their apps ported by 2Q93.

Technology marches on ...  If nothing else, look at it as job security!

	- John

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
John K. Scoggin, Jr.			Email:   scoggin@udel.edu
Supervisor, Network Operations			 scoggin@delmarva.com
Delmarva Power & Light Co.		Voice:	 302-451-5200
P.O. Box 6066				Fax:	 302-451-5321
Newark, DE 19714-6066
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your milage may vary.  Void where prohibited by law (or common sense).
From: deraadt@newt.cuc.ab.ca (Theo de Raadt)
Subject: Re: Sun 3/60 / Archive QIC-150 boot problems
Organization: little lizard city
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 19:45:43 GMT

In article <BzAHv7.CoB@pix.com> lidl@pix.com (Kurt J. Lidl) writes:
   In article <eric.724211784@roundtable.cif.rochester.edu> eric@roundtable.cif.rochester.edu (Eric Volpe) writes:
   >Hi... I'm having a problem using a Sun 3/60 (prom rev lvl. 1.6) with
   >an Archive QIC-150 SCSI tape. 
   >
   >When I try to boot a SunOS 4.1.1 boot tape (60 Mb format) from the
   >prom monitor ("b st()") it fails with a complaint about "sense" or
   >something, or sometimes with "dma never completed". 

   I was told once by a fairly reliable source that all the sun3
   series computers didn't have support for booting off 150meg drives.

This will work with a new enough revision of the bootrom. Older versions
of the bootrom would not handle this properly.
 <tdr.
--

This space not left unintentionally unblank.		deraadt@newt.cuc.ab.ca
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: gaarder@well.sf.ca.us (Steve Gaarder)
Subject: Sparc 2 panics with Fast SCSI/buffered ethernet installed
Organization: AC Technology
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 15:05:19 GMT

I have actually succeeded in getting a Fast SCSI/Buffered Ethernet (FSBE)
card, but have not succeed in getting it to work.  When it is installed
in my SparcStation 2, I get 2 errors.  During the probe time, the
message "esp1: no dma controller" appears.  Later, I get:

le1: panic: can't initialize chip

and the system dumps core and halts.  I've talked to Sun tech support;
sending me a new board didn't work, and now they're pretty clueless.
Any clues?

Steven Gaarder                              Network and Systems Administrator
gaarder@actech.com                          A C Technology, Ithaca, N.Y., USA
From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Re: Sun 3/60 / Archive QIC-150 boot problems
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 22:50:50 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

In article<eric.724211784@roundtable.cif.rochester.edu>
eric@roundtable.cif.rochester.edu (Eric Volpe) writes:

|  Hi... I'm having a problem using a Sun 3/60 (prom rev lvl. 1.6) with
|  an Archive QIC-150 SCSI tape. 
|  
|  When I try to boot a SunOS 4.1.1 boot tape (60 Mb format) from the

Wellll, you didn't say what the PROM revision level was on the other
Sun-3/60 upon which that tape WILL boot.

As a matter of reference, one NEEDS prom level 1.8 or greater for SunOS 4.*
(per the info in the PROM Manual and the info in the SunOS 4.* manuals).

To date, I've seen only 1.6, 1.9 and 3.0.1 on Sun-3/60 systems (and 1.8 on
a Sun-3/160).

Given that the boot PROM is only a 27C512 (64Kx8), one could easily dupe the
prom from a more-recent Sun-3/60 and see if that solves the problem.

Thad Floryan [ thad@btr.com, thad@cup.portal.com ]
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: jeff@dsp.sps.mot.com (Jeff Enderwick)
Subject: 2 Heads under X on a SS1?
Organization: Motorola DSP Compilers
Distribution: comp
Date: 16 Dec 92 16:52:27


hey! I've got a SS1, X11R5, a GX, an older GX (2 Sbus slots), and two 
16" color monitors. I'd like to get the dual-screen single display thing
running (not adjacentscreen). Has anyone tried this? 

	Jeff Enderwick
	jeff@dsp.sps.mot.com
From: guy@Auspex.COM (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Re: Sun's GUI and OS mistakes (was Re: LX and SUNOS 4.x)
Date: 19 Dec 92 19:23:52 GMT
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara

>This is correct.  I did a similar survey at LISA, and found similar
>numbers.  Since the opportunity to ask clarifiying questions was
>there, I did -- a startling large number of sites flip back and forth
>depending on what application they need.

Sounds like the ICCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCM needs to have some more stuff
added to it, so Motif and OPEN LOOK applications don't have to be
running their favorite window manager to be completely happy....
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: drl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (David R. Linn)
Subject: Re: Sun's GUI and OS mistakes (was Re: LX and SUNOS 4.x)
Organization: Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, Nashville, TN, USA
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 14:13:03 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.185356.17158@midway.uchicago.edu> epc1@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <BEAULIEU.92Dec16084643@piranha.bose.com> beaulieu@bose.com (Larry Beaulieu) writes:
>>
>>> Oh my god, first OpenLook and now UNIX.  Sun better remember what
>>
>>	Oh, you mean 'BrokenLook'.
>
>I wholeheartedly agree with this.  I mean, what is Sun's problem?  No one
>I know uses OpenLook or wants to.  The last several surveys I've seen
>showed that Motif on Suns are more popular than OpenLook on Suns.
>We use Motif.  Our lives would be so much easier if Sun got rid of olwn
>and supported mwm.  At least Sun supports X11.  They have some nice
>utilities such as Tooltalk but all in all, Sun's attempts to lead
>the open systems marketplace has really been a failure.

Ah, ... surveys ...

I'll publicly state that I prefer OPEN LOOK* to Motif and I know several
other people who also prefer OPEN LOOK to Motif.  A lot of people were
strongarmed into using Motif by being told "that's what *everyone* is
going to use; you don't want to make the *wrong* choice, do you?"

What a bunch of lemmings. :-(

	David

* I'd prefer for OPEN LOOK to be called Open Look but, US laws being
what they are, I understand the need for CAPS.

-- 
David R. Linn, System/Mail/News Manager	| INET: drl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
Disclaimer: I speak only for myself	| Phone: [+1] 615-343-6164
      "Some do, some don't and that's the way of the world."
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: mjewison@nereid.sal.ists.ca (Mike Jewison)
Subject: SMD drives and the Sparc 690MP
Organization: Space Astrophysics Laboratory, ISTS, Toronto, Canada
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 15:32:30 GMT

I am relatively new to the system administration world, and I've got a
question I hope someone can answer.  We are currently running a
Sun 4/280 server with three disks connected via an SMD controller.
There are plans to upgrade the 4/280 to a Sparc 690MP in the near future.
Sun isn't very interested in taking back our old disks, so we would, if
possible, like to make use of them with the new server.  Is it possible
to take the SMD controller card from the 4/280 and plug it directly into 
the 690MP?  If not, does anyone know of a card which would plug into the
690 and allow us to make use of the SMD drives?

- Mike Jewison, Systems Manager
  SAL/ISTS
  mjewison@nereid.sal.ists.ca
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: Richard.Kooijman@dnpap.et.tudelft.nl (Richard Kooijman)
Subject: Re: Sun's GUI and OS mistakes (was Re: LX and SUNOS 4.x)
Organization: Delft University of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 22:31:33 GMT

drl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (David R. Linn) writes:

>>We use Motif.  Our lives would be so much easier if Sun got rid of olwn
>>and supported mwm.  At least Sun supports X11.  They have some nice
>>utilities such as Tooltalk but all in all, Sun's attempts to lead
>>the open systems marketplace has really been a failure.
                                   
olwm and mwm are just window managers. They have nothing to do with the
underlying libraries that were used in the programs.

>Ah, ... surveys ...

>I'll publicly state that I prefer OPEN LOOK* to Motif and I know several
>other people who also prefer OPEN LOOK to Motif.  A lot of people were
>strongarmed into using Motif by being told "that's what *everyone* is
>going to use; you don't want to make the *wrong* choice, do you?"

>What a bunch of lemmings. :-(

I also prefer Open Look over Motif.

Motif reminds me of Windows on the PC. Yugh.


Richard.

--
-- ir Richard Kooijman ------------------- Email: R.Kooijman@ET.TUDelft.NL --
-- Intelligent Network Management Project (INEMA) ---------------------------
-- CARDIT, Delft University of Technology ------------ Tel: (31)-15-786209 --
-- P.O.Box 5031, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands ------ Fax: (31)-15-784898 --
From: scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
Subject: Re: Sun's GUI and OS mistakes (was Re: LX and SUNOS 4.x)
Organization: Inland Sea
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 17:08:56 GMT

rmilner@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Ruth Milner) writes:

>The survey that was posted here recently indicated that 60+% of "seats" use
>olwm, *and* 60+% of "seats" use Motif. I'd really love to know how that works.
>Looks like more of the old "lies, damn lies, and statistics" stuff to me.

This is correct.  I did a similar survey at LISA, and found similar
numbers.  Since the opportunity to ask clarifiying questions was
there, I did -- a startling large number of sites flip back and forth
depending on what application they need.
-- 
 "When Dexter's on the Internet, can Hell be far behind?"
		-- Steve Simmons, scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us
From: vincent@cad.gatech.edu (Vincent Fox)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Anyone know what this is/does? VPC 2200?
Date: 11 Dec 1992 15:52:00 -0500
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology, CAE/CAD Lab
NNTP-Posting-Host: cae.cad.gatech.edu

I've got this board out of our old Sun 3/160. 
It has a 37-pin DB connector labelled VERSATEC LLO, a DB-25 port
labelled LINE PRINTER, and a toggle switch labelled VPC 2200.

What I'm trying to figure is if this LINE PRINTER port is an ordinary
Centronics parallel port. So would I be able to in theory pop this
baby in my newer Sun 3/260 and hook up a parallel printer?
Any problems with this type board in a 3/160?

Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: pjm@isis.cshl.org (Pat Monardo)
Subject: Re: Solaris 2.1 Complaints
Organization: Cold Spring Harbor Labs
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 21:49:42 GMT

In article <1992Dec20.205304.19412@udel.edu> scoggin@opus.ee.udel.edu (John K Scoggin) writes:
>As for my shop, we have budgeted time and money to make the transition next
>summer.  My major network management system vendors have committed to having
>their apps ported by 2Q93.
>
>Technology marches on ...  If nothing else, look at it as job security!
>
>	- John
>

actually i look on it as job survival. i dont want to learn
VMS,NT,OS/half. i believe this is the final chance for Unix
to gain marketplace support on a survivable scale. Microsoft
would love to have OSF/1,Ultrix,AIX,AUX,HPUX keep the Unix
camp on the road to self annihilation.
-- 
-- Pat Monardo
-- pjm@cshl.org
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: zhu@athena.mit.edu (Erin Zhu)
Subject: SBus Printer card problem
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 21:19:59 GMT

Sorry if this has shown up before, but it didn't make onto my newsreader,
so I'm reposting it.

I am trying to install a printer card onto my Sparcstation 1, but after
plugging the card into slot 1 and installing the device drivers, I get
told that no such card was detected.  The same thing happened when I
switched the card to slot 2.  Has anyone had the same problem?  Is there
any way of diagnosing exactly what went wrong, other than giving up the
card?  Any help would be much appreciated.

  --Erin

Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: mgrice@athena.mit.edu (Matthew Grice)
Subject: SPARCloners
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 22:05:41 GMT

I posted this a few days ago, but got no real answer, so I will try again.

What are the phone numbers/addresses of the major sparc clone makers?

You know, like Hyundia, Tatung, Samsung, Solbourne, and Compuadd.

Thanks in advance,
Matt


Xref: sparky comp.sys.sun.hardware:6195 comp.sys.sun.misc:5817
From: gah00@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Gary Hladik)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware,comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Need info on IPX, 1+ cache
Date: 12 Dec 92 00:09:53 GMT
Reply-To: gah00@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Gary Hladik)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

I need some technical information on the SPARC 1+ and IPX workstations.
We're trying to improve a compiled-code logic simulator, and we want to
know if we can make better use of the IPX cache.  BTW, we're also looking
at other options such as event-driven code, so please limit responses to
the following areas:

(1) What are the differences between the 1+ and IPX?  Our benchmarks show
slight improvement on the 1+ when memory access is sequential (instead of
random), and a big improvement on the IPX.  This indicates to me that the
IPX cache (64K?) is much bigger than the 1+.

(2) Is the IPX cache split into partitions for instructions and data,
or is it unified?  One of our simulators has ~450K of instructions vs.
only 12K for data, yet seems to access the data much faster on the IPX
than on the 1+.

(3) Does anyone know the algorithm for evicting lines from the IPX (data?)
cache?  Is it least-recently-used only, least-recently-modified, or what?

(4) Is it possible to get an IPX with expanded cache, or is its cache size
fixed?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Hladik, Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale, Ca. USA
gah00@duts.ccc.amdahl.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware,comp.sys.sun.admin
From: vhalkka@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Vesa Halkka)
Subject: Re: How to add SCSI peripherals -- CHEAPLY?
Organization: University of Helsinki
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:09:53 GMT

In <1992Dec11.184126.7611@dtint.uucp> tom@dtint.uucp (Thomas R. Kimpton) writes:


>>What more do I really need than a SCSI-2 disk and powersupply?

You need to keep the disk cool enough.. a case and a fan.

>I've never tried this with a SUN:  What you can do is get a pc
>tower case, get a cable built at a local cable builder, install
>the drives into the case, and plug a cable from the SUN to the case.

We have used this.. but then we bought a digital thermometer
and measured disk case temperatures at various cases.

A Seagate Elite 2 reached 77 degrees centigrade in a normal desktop PC
case with a fan only in the power supply.

In a PC tower case with 3 fans and two Elite 2 disks 
- lower of the disks was cooled but 
- the upper one went again over 70 degrees, 
and there was no easy way to force any airflow around it.

We had also a HP disk case, which takes 7 half height or 3
full height disks. The temperature with 3 full height disks
was about 40 degrees centigrade at every disk.

The case comes with *three* SCSI cables: a telco-telco, a sunHD50-telco,
and maybe a sunHD50-D50, i can't remember.

The catch is that HP disks have a special 'tray' under them, and
the case is made for them.. the mounting hardware is not included
in the case.

The case was not very expensive, if you can use the sun cables. 

--
Vesa Halkka                       -O___/ 
University of Helsinki CC:         (  /   	 vhalkka@helsinki.fi 
Centre for scientific computing:  ~~~~~  	 vhalkka@csc.fi