A Harem of Suns!

Just a few words about my Sparc-collection, for the curious amongst you... ;-)
Currently, I own:

SPARCstation 1, 1+, 2
All former Sun4-Zoo machines - still waiting for some TLC...
SPARCstation IPC
The "smallest" of the lunchbox SPARCstations - and another former Sun4-Zoo machine.
SPARCstation IPX (2x)
At the moment, they're not doing anything - and both need a new NVRAM.
I actually wrote my final thesis on one of those! Lunchbox SPARCS are just sooo cute! Maybe, one day, I take the time to dust one of these off and install some version of SunOS on it - for old times' sake...
SPARCstation Classic
This one I got for free in March 2010 from someone in a nearby town together with an UltraSPARC 1.
SPARCstation Classic Xterminal
The X-Terminal version of the SPARCstation Classic. Acquired in December 2010 and still waiting for some attention.
SPARCstation LX
Another lunchbox. I had one of these before (even with a VSIMM) and later regretted a bit that I sold it. When Peter Koch gave away his Sun4-Zoo machines, he originally intended to keep this one. In the end, he did give it to me anyway - which made me very happy!
SPARCstation ELC
Also a former Sun4-Zoo machine. Basically a SPARCstation IPX in one case with a 17" black and white monitor. This machine is probably one of the first to see some action - I would like to have it netboot e.g. OpenBSD, just because I like the concept...
SPARCstation 4/110, 5/110
More former Sun4-Zoo machines. While I have owned SS4/110 before, I never had a SS5/110 - until now.
SPARCstation 5/170 (2x)
I had two of those before, one even with an S24 AFX frame buffer. Again, those got sold at some point. As the 170MHz SS5 is a bit special (it uses a "TurboSparc" CPU instead of the "microSparc" of the other SS5), I very much wanted to add one to the collection again. In November 2010, I got lucky: When I bought a Solaris 9 package from someone, I got a SS5 with it for free. From the outside, it was also a SS5/110 - but on the inside, I found a SS5/170 motherboard. Joy!
In August 2011, I was able to acquire a second SS5/170 - and this time, it even came with the S24 frame buffer, which my original SS5/170 had - even more joy!
SPARC Xterminal 1
One of the last machines I got from the Sun4-Zoo. Also still waiting for TLC...
SPARCstation 10/SPARCserver 10
The SPARCstation 10 "of course" also comes from the Sun4-Zoo. So I did get a SS10 in the end - complete with speaker-box!
The SPARCserver 10 I got in August 2011. While I originally did not want to collect servers, this machine is so close to the workstation version and - even more importantly - it came with two ROSS CPUs and a bunch of RAM, so I just could not resist...
SPARCstation 20
It has two SM71 CPUs and a 8MB VSIMM. I used it to experiment with Aurora Sparc Linux, however, unfortunately Sparc Linux does not support SMP under kernel 2.6.x. Hence, this machine is waiting for a new purpose - probably some "retro" Solaris or SunOS installation just for the fun of it.
Javastation 1
Acquired in September 2011. This is "Mr. Coffee" - the first generation Javastation. According to the stikkers, this particular machine was a demo machine owned by Sun themselves. It seems to be operable, however, unfortunately no JavaOS came with it. So far, I hve not yet decided what to do with it...
Javastation NC ("achmed")
Found this one in October 2011. This is "Krups" - the second generation Javastation.
Ultra 1/170
The second of the two machines I got for free in March 2010. Originally, I intended to pass it on, but then the NVRAM died and the Sun4-Zoo machines arrived, so I decided to keep it for completeness.
Ultra 1E/170
This U1 was part of the Sun4-Zoo and has a Creator frame buffer.
Ultra 2
This one also comes from the Sun4-Zoo. While I already owned an Ultra 2 clone, I fancied owning an "original" as well. Fortunately, Peter had one for me, with two UI/200MHz CPUs. It came with a dead NVRAM, but that has been fixed.
Ultra Enterprise 2
I got this one together with my Javastation NC – not a workstation, but I could not resist… Unfortunately, the NVRAM is dead.
Solair Ultra 2 ("agnes")
An U2 clone. It's virtually identical to a 'real' U2 - only the case is different. This one came with two 360MHz UltraSPARC II CPUs, which I found interesting, as these CPUs are not officially supported in Sun's U2. Works flawlessly, though, making it my second main Aurora box. This one has a Creator frame buffer as well - and a Sun Video card, which is why it will become a dual boot machine (with Solaris 10) at some point. Pictures of this machine can be seen in the DTK Station U-2 gallery.
Ultra 5/400
I had several of these before, but sold them, as I found the U10 (which is basically the same machine) sufficient. But I brought one back from the Sun4-Zoo for completeness and for spare parts.
Ultra 10/440 ("tiffany")
One of the two U10 that were taking turns at doing duty as firewall/webserver/fileserver. They got replaced by a dual PIII/550 eventually - more performance and less energy consumption...
The U10/440 now got a Creator 3D Series 3 card and is now used as an experimental machine (currently trying Ubuntu 9.04 Sparc).
Tatung COMPstation U10 ("shawn")
Another U10 - well, sort of. Based on the AXi board, this machine is a lot more interesting than an actual U10 - it's a "U10 done right[tm]"... Mine has a Creator 3D Series 3 and a 440MHz UltraSPARC IIi CPU. It's one of my main Aurora machines. It was down for a while due to a dead NVRAM, but this got solved permanently using a soldering iron... The procedure is shown in Fixing your Sun NVRAM for a M48T02 NVRAM used in older Suns. However, this applies to the M48T59Y that is used in e.g. U5/U10/AXi as well. I have made a few pictures of the modification of my AXi which can be seen in the NVRAM AXi gallery.
Ultra 30 ("lu-tze")
Got that one off eBay for a good price in February 2012. It has a 300MHz CPU. Not much else to say about it yet…
Ultra 60 ("gytha")
The "crown" of my personal SPARC collection (well, as long as I don't get an Ultra 80…), with two 450MHz UltraSPARC II CPUs, two Creator 3D Series 3 frame buffers a SunPCI card and a bunch of RAM. This is my main Solaris box.

There are still some machines I would like to add to my collection if I get the chance (and if budget permits...):

  • SPARCstation SLC
  • SPARCstation Voyager (yeah, I know, fat chance - a man can dream, can't he?)
  • Ultra 80
  • maybe a SPARCsystem 6xx?

Below a list of Suns I have owned in the past and have sold or given away. Funny enough, with the recent additions to my collection, I now own most of them again...

Solair WS19L
Well, that's what it says on the case... It is a SPARCstation 10 clone - so I got one after all... I actually decided against getting one when I got the SS20, but I got the SS10 together with a Solair Classic+ for free - and couldn't resist. It successfully refused to have Aurora Sparc Linux 2.0 installed on it, so I ended up installing OpenBSD, which worked like a charm. This machine has done duty as a scanner server until the hard drive failed. A while later, I have given it away and by coincidence, it ended up with an OpenBSD developer...
Ultra 10/333
The other of the two machines that were taking turns at doing duty as firewall/webserver/fileserver before being replaced by a dual PIII/600.
  • SPARCstation 2
  • SPARCclassic
  • Solair DTKstation/Classic+
  • SPARCstation LX
  • SPARCstation 4/110
  • SPARCstation 5/85 (this was actually a Sparc 5 upgrade board in the case of a SPARCstation 2)
  • SPARCstation 5/170 (2x)
  • Ultra 1
  • Ultra 5 (360 and 400)

I'd have loved to keep them all, but unfortunately, neither space nor money allow this...


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