🚀 go-pugleaf

In <3640CC1F.EC5ED74C@geocitties.com> relax1 <relax1@geocitties.com> writes:

> I'm not familiar with Sun hardware and I have some questions about Sun
>hardware as follows. If you have some spare time please help me answer
>them:

>1. What are the differences between these model number(ex: Sparc2,
>Sparc5,UltraSparc,...). Are they how we call the CPU 386,486,... in
>Intel architecture?

Sort of. The Sparc 2 comes from the sun-4c line, which is the oldest series
of machines supported in current versions of SunOS.

The Sparc 5 comes from the sun-4m family, which is newer than the Sun-4c',
but older than the Ultrasparcs, which are the sun-4u family.

>2. Can a program written on an old machine run on new machine?

If it's in C, and doesn't use too much that's hardware or OS-dependent, more
than likely yes.

>3. Which model number is the newest one right now?

The Ultrasparcs are the current family of machines. I'm not sure what the
very latest bleeding-edge model is called though.

>4. Can I assemble my own system? If so, where  can I buy parts?

You can, esp. the older systems since they are extremely prevelant in
surplus dealer inventories.

But unless you know a lot about Sun hardware I don't recommend it. You're
better of talking to a surplus dealer and letting them build a system that
suits you.

>5. Can I plug hardware for Intel architecture(ex: SCSI card,harddrive)
>into Sun system?

Sun's don't need SCSI cards or ethernet - it's all on the motherboards. Some
systems also have an on-board framebuffer (equivalent to a display adaptor).

The very latest Ultrasparc's have a PCI bus, but you can't use PC-based PCI
cards unless Sun have drivers for them (not very likely).

>6. How much is the whole Sparc system that its performance is about
>equavalent to Pentium II 300MHz?

You can't compare Sun's to PC's since the hardware is radically different.
I have no idea what machine would be roughly equivalent in the PC-sense to a
Pentium box with a single 300 MHz CPU.

>7. Where can I buy Sparc system that is equivalent to Pentium II  300MHz
>with the best price?

No idea sorry... 8-)

Hmmm,

Regards,

Craig.
-- 
            Craig Dewick. Send email to 'cdewick@lios.apana.org.au'
  Point a web browser at 'http://lios.apana.org.au/~cdewick/sun_shack.html' to
    access my archive of Sun information and links to other places. For info 
      about Sun Ripened Kernels, go to 'http://www.zeta.org.au/~craig/srk'