🚀 go-pugleaf

In <3368FA32.5989@arrakis.colorado.edu> Alice Bertini <bertini@arrakis.colorado.edu> writes:

>I've been asked to help configure 3 Sun 4/470's that were donated to us
>straight out of the box. Only problem is they didn't come with a
>monitor, keyboard, or mouse. I don't even think there's a video card
>installed. Is there some way that I can just connect a monitor to a
>serial port and have it be the console without getting caught in a catch
>22 where I need to have a Sun compliant monitor/keyboard/mouse/video
>card installed before I can configure the serial port?

Hi Alice,

You shouldn't need to do anything other than plug a serial terminal into
serial port A using a null-modem cable, set it to 9600 bps, 7 data bits and
even parity, and when you turn the machine on it should automatically send
console output to the serial port.

Sun machines are almost universal in this regard. If there is no Sun
keyboard plugged in, and no framebuffer, serial port A is usually used at
the console by default. It's a good idea to make sure that if any of the
machines do have framebuffers, they shouldn't be pushed all the way into the
card cage so they don't plug into the backplane connectors. Or you can take
them out of the card cages altogether and put them aside somewhere.

> Does someone have a good reference they can point me to that describes the
>old 4/470 architecture? 

The most complete reference work is James Birdsall's Sun Hardware Reference,
which is available for FTP from ftp.picarefy.com in '/pub/Sun-Hardware-Ref'.

If you have any questions which aren't answered by James' material, feel
free to ask in these newsgroups. That's what we're here for.

> Are there companies out there that sell old Sun
>components like those that I'm looking for at a good price?

Yes. I can recommend two Sun surplus dealers in the US right away:

 - Case Electronics,
   Suite D,
   4770 Soquel Drive,
   Soquel, CA 95073.

   Operated by David Case (dcase@case.com).

   Phone (408)479-0759

 - TK Technologies,
   535 Norton Drive,
   Hartland, WI 53029.

   Operated by Tobias Keidl (tkeidl@execpc.com).

   Phone (414)367-7545

There are quite a few more places - check in 'comp.sys.sun.wanted' and
'misc.forsale.computers.workstation' every once in a while to see what sort
of equipment is available for sale.

Regards,

Craig.

PS. I'm posting and emailing this reply.

--
            Craig Dewick. Send email to 'cdewick@lios.apana.org.au'
   Point a web browser at 'http://lios.apana.org.au/~cdewick/sun_ark.html' to
       access my collection of Sun information and links to other places.