From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Re: Speed and capabilities of Sun 3/* machines
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 02:11:41 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

In article <1992Nov22.002217.8639@olaf.wellesley.edu>
lhawkins@olaf.wellesley.edu (Lee Hawkins) writes:

| I've recently been thinking about buying a Sun 3/something for home use,
| but have had little luck in finding any info on the capabilities of the
| various models.  Could some kind soul out there answer the following
| questions, or at least point me to a good reference?

Well, I can answer some of the questions WRT to the Sun-3/60, since I have
several for home use.

| 	0) What are the numbers for all the Sun 3 models (3/60 & what
| 		else)?

There's a Sun-3/80 which is MC68030 based; the Sun-3/50 is MC68020 16MHz;
the Sun-3/60 is MC68020 at 20MHz ("rumors" suggest it can be operated 25MHz).

| 	1) What are the MIPS and SPEC ratings of the various 3/*'s?

A "guess" would be 2-3 MIPS for the Sun-3/60.
	
| 	2) How many and what type expansion buss slots do they have?

SCSI for the Sun-3/60

| 	3) What is the max memory with each model?

24MB for the Sun-3/60; 4MB with the 3/50 though there are 3rd party add-ons.

| 	4) What is the max amount of disk with each model?

Stock, generic kernel for 3/60: 4 disks.  You can configure otherwise.
1GB disks work fine with no patches required; one of mine has multiple
HP97549 SCSI-2 disks; another has multiple Quantum 425S disks.

| 	5) How many expansion slots are left on each model after a
| 		frame buffer and disk controller are added (ie
| 		how much of this stuff is on the system board) ?

"Essentially", the frame buffer(s) is(are) on board in that they plug in
directly.  SCSI is on board.

| 	6) What is the latest version of SunOS that runs on Sun 3's ?

SunOS 4.1.1

| 	7) Will that version support X? How about Motif?

Yes; I'm running X11R5pl19 on ALL of mine.  Motif 1.1 and 1.2 work, too,
though I use other tools which convert Motif to OpenLook as required.  You
can see this at the SUG meeting Dec. 7-10.  :-)

| 	8) What are the graphics options for each model?

Sun-3/60 has bwtwo0, bwtwo1, cgfour0.  Two of my systems are bi-headed (one
mono and one color monitor).

| 	9) Do they have ethernet on board? AUI or thin?

Yes; both the AUI and BNC (ThinNet) connectors.

| 	10) How many drives can go internal in each model?

None.  All external on SCSI bus.

| 	11) How many serial ports does each model have? Parallel ports?

2 serial ports, no parallel ports.

| 	12) What are reasonable prices for each model with, say a 19"
| 		color monitor, 600Mb of disk and 16Mb of memory?
| 		For comparison, what should a used SPARC 1+ with
| 		the same stuff go for?

Damifino.  I'm looking at the invoice for the first 3/60 we bought back in
1989.  $18,500 for Sony Triniton, 8MB RAM, 300+ MB HD, C-dev, Fortran, etc.

I've since bought used systems for about $1,200 with 19" mono and 16MB RAM
and tape and disk; also $1,000 for 19" mono with 8MB; also $1,100 for 19"
Hitachi color and 8MB RAM; but these were all special deals.  Many leasing
companies offer reasonable prices circa $1,500 - $2,000.  Expect to pay a
premium for the 19" Sony monitors (and they're worth it).

I have NO complaints about my 3/60 systems; I use them for CAD work, PC layout,
schematic capture, learning X, general programming and hacking, etc etc and
they're just great.  Nearly everything off the net and from archive sites
works just fine.  And their SCSI and Ethernet performance is exemplary.  And
the machines are reliable.  RAM expansion is inexpensive since they use the
same SIMMs (1MBx9) as are used in mass-market PCs.

Personally, as much as I like the Sun-3/60 systems, given today's Sun prices
for the SparcCLASSIC (under $5,000 NEW), I might consider that route for home
use today.

Thad Floryan [ thad@btr.com, thad@cup.portal.com ]