🚀 go-pugleaf

In <5kp9eb$cev@folderol.jlw.com>,
Jeff Woolsey <woolsey@jlw.com> wrote:

> I thought I'd add some info based on my SPARCbook 2...
> 
> In article <E9KG9C.2ny.0.ocelot@ocelot.demon.co.uk>,
> Tim Thorpe <tim@ocelot.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >"suzan" <suzan@islandnet.com> said:
> 
> >Yes, it uses standard Mostek NVRAM chip. I had a problem, though. The
> >chip I obtained as an equivalent was physically slightly too large. I
> >made it fit by filing bits off, but this is obviously a bit risky.
> 
> I don't recall seeing the usual MK48T02 (or whatever) inside my SB2.
> I _did_ see the EPROM.
> 
> >> Can I replace the 174M internal 2.5" IDE drives with larger capacity
> >> drives?
> >
> >My experience says "sort of", though others seem to have done better.
> >I put in a 540Mb Seagate. 
> >That meant it could only go in the second (expansion disk) slot. I was
> >not able to make it IDE slave/disk2 (no, I dont really know what I mean).
> >It refused to work as a place to save memory for fast save/restore.
> >I had to move the memory save partition to the remaining original 174Mb
> >disk. 
> 
> You know, I could swear that the disks in my SB2 are 2.5-inch SCSI disks,
> the kind you can't get no more for love nor money.  I could especially

I don't know much about the SPARCBook2 machines, but do know this:

There was someone on the net recently selling used 500 MB SPARCBook3 SCSI
drives for a few hundred dollars each.

I also have a used 500 MB SPARCBook3 SCSI drive in the removable slide
out thing, that I would sell for a few hundred dollars.  (Or was that 540 MB???)

Some places still have in stock the bare Toshiba 720 (740?) MB 3.5 inch 
SCSI drive, though it is no longer manufactured.

The current 1.2 GB drive is an IBM drive, but probably very hard to 
get from IBM, and possibly no longer manufactured either, and of course
requires a differently wired plastic slide-out thing than the SPARCBook 500 MB
removable drive.

I ended up spending something like $1500 for a genuine SPARCBook 1.2 GB
drive replacement.  Expensive, but the disk space was badly needed.

> swear to that as I've had to replace one of them (Don't ever, ever drop
> your SPARCbook two feet onto concrete, even if it is in its carrying
> case!) and used the largest I could find, so now I have a 324MB and an
> 810MB in mine.
> 
> >> How fast is this machine, say relative to a 486DX class system?
> >
> >Disk and graphics are pretty slow by current standards, my 486 is
> >faster (with Linux) for many things. Not so portable, though.
> 
> I'd even describe my SB2 as sluggish.  Solaris tends to swap things out
> over time, so if you've left your machine sitting there idle, it'll
> take a while to get going again as it swaps your application(s) in.

While Solaris does well on faster machines with possibly more memory,
you might find 4.1.x performs much better on your configuration.

> I'm also surprised nobody's mentioned the flaky keyboard yet (or is
> it just mine??).

When I purchased my used SPARCBook3 it had a flakey keyboard.  It turned
out the flex cable connecting it to an internal controller board had
very intermittent contacts on it.  (If you can call those painted on conductive
lines electrical contacts....).

The good news is that the replacement keyboard was on the order of $50
from Tadpole.  The bad news is they won't sell it as a replacement part,
so it's several hundred dollars for them to install the keyboard.  On
the other hand, they then warranty and support their work, and in my
case upgraded the firmware and other things while they had the unit on the
bench.  While I have big frustrations with companies that don't sell
replacement parts separately, Tadpole service is very good, prompt, and
taking apart a laptop computer is definitely not for the inexperienced.

> And while I have some attention, has anyone managed to get one to boot
> over the Ethernet, using BOOTP for address assignment?  I hate typing
> those addresses by hand when experimenting.
> -- 
> -- 
> Jeff Woolsey	+1 408 486 5677 	woolsey@{jlw,netcom,mri}.com
> "Tried working once.  Didn't work out.  Too much like work."  -Steed


-- 
Mark Thomas (Mark@Misty.com)