🚀 go-pugleaf

In <4l2qaj$ibi@grumpy.fl.net.au> skeeve@apic.net (Cyberia Kami Sama) writes:

>ok.. got an old box here.. i wanna do somethign with it... does it run
>any other OS, like bsd or linux even? how well does it work as an xterm
>and could i xterm it off a linux box.. i dont have a hard drive for it
>at the moment, can it boot directly off a linux X server? can it
>be a unix temrinal.. blah blah

Howdy Skeeve!

Ok, it will run SunOS 4.1.1, but if you want a modern, up-to-date
operating system for it (since SunOS 4.1.1 is circa-1990!), think about
the Sun-3 port of NetBSD. Lot's of people on the Sun-3 NetBSD port mailing
list have 3/50's or 3/60's. 

Check http://www.netbsd.org for all the info.

You can also use it as a cheap monochrome Xterminal, using software 
available from ftp.ctr.columbia.edu in the /Xkernel directory. I have a 
3/50 here which I've used as an Xterminal from time to time.

The limitations with a 3/50 are slow CPU speed, and lack of memory
expansion capacity. A 3/50 has 4 meg of RAM *soldered* to the board (which
is good for reliability, if nothing else), and no way to fit a colour
frame buffer (it has no P4-bus socket). On the plus side they are
extremely reliable, and very easy to use as an Xterminal thanks to the
software I outlined above. 

>ok how useful is it ;)

Compared to current generation machines, not very! 8-) 3/50's were
designed in the mid-1980's, but for experimenting, or for a cheap mono
Xterminal, they're great. 

>oh yeah.. anyone know some sparc 1's going?

I know where I can get some in the US, but not here at the moment.. If you
can find an old Sun 3/80 system (built into exactly the same case as the
SS1), it's possible to get SS1 boards from surplus dealers in the US very
cheaply. 

Regards,

Craig.
-- 
        Craig Dewick - craig@zeta.org.au - http://www.zeta.org.au/~craig  
                          Located in Sydney, Australia.
          Sun Ripened Kernels - http://www.zeta.org.au/~craig/srk.html
                Surplus and pre-loved Sun Microsystems equipment.