🚀 go-pugleaf

In <31e1a864.93054184@nntp.world.net> SamKenny@cit.com.au (Sam Kenny) writes:

>1.	I've read in a FAQ that these machines came with only 4MB, but
>there are third party boards that allow more memory, could someone let
>me know who made them, how this works,  and whether they are still
>floating around?

Apparently there are. If you can obtain a 3/60 board, these take up to 24
meg of standard 1 meg x 9 30 pin SIMM's. 

>2.	Can I add the 68881 FP chip to the motherboard in the socket,
>and do I need to fiddle with anything else to get it to work?

Yes, you can just plug one in. The kernel doesn't use it - only
applications. If you'll be doing anything math-intensive, it's a good
idea. 

>3.	All sorts of people seem to be using 1.XX GB SCSI HDs with
>their Sun 3/60s etc. Is there any limit in the size of SCSI HD I can
>hang off the system? The PROM Monitor Guide (thankfully I received
>every confusing Sun manual that came with SunOS 4.1.1) seems to
>indicate somewhere that in the PROM it stores the size of the first
>SCSI disk and the manual furnished a table something like:
>	0x01	107MB
>	0x02	267MB
>	0x03	530MB
>So does this mean that I can only use 530MB HDs on the system?

The largest drive you can use with SunOS 4.1.1 is 1.08 gigabytes. At least
this is what I've been told by others. I could be wrong. 8-)

>4.	In a FAQ I read that the 3/50 has no bus, and only uses the
>bus connector for power..Is this the case with the motherboard or just
>the backplane? I've noticed there is a set of solder pads above the
>main backplane connector that another bus connector could be soldered
>into.

The backplane only routes power. The 3/50 and 3/60 boards are actually
full height Sun VME cards with two-slot back panels, but since they have
no VME bus support, the other two connectors are omitted. The other
connector location on the backplane is apparently another power connector
spot. 

The 3/50 and 3/60 cases are what I call 'phantom' 2-slot VME cages. They
are two-slots high, but have no VME bus wiring on the backplane. 

>5.	There is an empty chip socket just towards the back of the
>machine from the processor, does anybody know what goes there (I think
>U1001, but I'm probably mistaken)?

It's for the DES chip, which is presumably only available in the US thanks
to the US government's draconian view of the data encryption issue.  The
kernel can be configured to include software DES support anyway. 

Regards,

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