Re: Sun Sparc-Station 5 and Debian
Anders Hammarquist wrote:
>
> >First i have to say sorry for the long posting ;)
> >I'm receiving a used Sparc5 this weekend. So i have a few questions
> >(of which some may be a little offtopic):
> >
> >2GB SCSI-HD, 32MB-RAM, 2D Gfx card (fast for wireframe, i think), FDD
> >and
> >CD_ROM.
>
> Lucky you! ;-)
>
Just can't wait for it. One more time i go to sleep - and then i go and
get it
8-)
> First off, do you know what graphics card it is (probably a cg6 or a TCX)?
>
If i remember correctly it's a TCX (the Sparc's processor looks real
tiny
compared to the processor on this gfx card). I know that this is the
card one
uses when doing CAD on this machine because it's capable to show
wireframes in
real-time. I'll know in about 16 hours.
> Recent Sun graphics cards run at 1152x900@76Hz, however it's possible to
>
Ah, yes... i remember watching the output of the first monitor we tried
(was
a Sun monitor - about a year old). I didn't mention this before. A
message was
written to the screen telling us that the card needs the res./freq. you
mentioned above. BTW the monitor was specified for doing just that, but
no
goes.
> change the resoltion and refresh rates on some (most?) either via the
> monitor identity pins in the connector or by setting the output-device
> variable in the NVRAM.
>
Sun's docs are nice. They tell you how to open/close a machine, how to
do this
and that but i don't remember that they gave me that much information
like you
do - in none of their fool-proof docs :)
[please don't flame me, just wondering why most of the docs ommit the
real
needed info's - in many systems - and: i like Sun and their machines]
> If you have a recent Sun monitor and nothing in
> the NVRAM, it should work.
>
For now i do only have access to a few mostly high-end multisync
monitors
(17"-21") which all (even the 17") meet the needed res./freq. But i can
get
a real Sun monitor in a few days. Fortunately i have access to one - if
(and
this is the funny part) i am able to show that the card is working
properly -
so the weird thing is - i must establish this with a non Sun monitor.
Should
i say that financial reasons raise such situations :(
> A few thoughts: Sun framebuffers generally don't do sync on green, so
> if you are using 13W3->coax converter make sure it has 4 BNCs. IIRC
> SGI uses 13W3 connector but do sync on green.
>
Ah. We tried a SGI monitor with cable and the screen gave me the
impression of
a mixture between distortions produced with different syncs and another
kind
of distortion that went into color. So i'm quite sure the green sync
lock was
what i saw in addition to the different freq. syncs.
And i suspected sometimes the connection to be wrong. But as i expected,
those
'specialists' (a few 'friends of a friend of a friend of...') didn't
know as
much as what was stated in the sparse docs :) The connectors are what i
may
have to resolder a bit - to make it cheap and fast.
> Another idea might be
> to forcibly set resolution and refresh rate (though not all framebuffers
> support more than one rate). Try setting output-device to screen:r1152x900x76
> or screen:r1152x900x66 (the latter is the old Sun standard refresh rate).
> You do this by typing setenv output-device blah at the prom ok prompt, or,
> from Linux, by echo blah > /proc/openprom/options/output-device, or, from
> SunOS/Solaris eeprom output-device=blah. (If you unplug the keyboard and
> hook a terminal 9600 baud 8n1 to serial port A you get a console there).
>
I'll try this.
> >The first thing for me is to install Debian :) (stable enough?)
> >
> >The second thing may be to install Solaris (pro's, con's, suggestions?)
>
> Solaris is still more stable than Linux, but it has a significantly larger
> memory footprint. If you plan on running X, 32MB isn't enough. Meanwhile
> my sparc classic with 24MB doesn't swap too badly when I compile stuff with
> it (though I generally don't run X on it, I just build it ;).
>
So, min. 64MB or probably more should fit(?). So i hope the Gfx card
will do
what it's made for - then the Sun will be my terminal and the SMP-PC
will be
the background server (and more). If there may be no way to get the card
up
and running fine (what i don't expect), i'll have to put in some RAM and
then
the Sun will be the background server.
BTW i'll try do do a more minimalistic debian install on the Sun, so
i hope i won't hit too many bugs (and at least i don't expect to be hit
that
hard - i trust Debian:)
> >32MB RAM is not much. I would like to install a minimal System on the
> >Sun
> >and hope that memory will be enough to run without much swapping.
> >
> >Is it illusionary to assume that the Debian base, a bit net, min. X
> >server,
> >and one or two additional daemons, packages will run without much
> >swapping?
>
> I would think it is doable, SunOS was usable with 16 MB in a machine,
> and from the feel of it Linux is about the same size (though it was a
> while ago I used SunOS). One thing to watch for on installing Linux though
> is that it doesn't (really, it boots now though) support the TurboSparc
> processor that's found in some sparcstation 4 and 5's (it's the 170 MHz
> variant. If you have a 70, 85 or 110 MHz machine you're fine).
>
Bingo :) Seems to be my day. 110MHz is the heart of the machine running
at.
Anders, many thanks in the first place! You gave me more than enough
hints and
valuable info - so i'm quite confident to be able to come back to the
list
tomorrow (oh, today, hehe) with a sum of positive steps (which i
hopefully may
accomplish today). In any way, today i'll come back. Either with news or
more
specific info and questions ;)
Ah, where do i get the pin-specs for the std RGB connector of the card?
I tried Sun's homepage but didn't find anything.
BTW i have to cables.
One is
std RGB connector <--> std VGA monitor connector
and the other is
std RGB connector <--> std RGB connector (which is probably useless for
me)
My monitors supply std VGA monitor connectors and 5BNC (RGB and HV
sync).
Another cable with 5BNC connector <--> std VGA connector is here, too.
So i have to buy another cable and/or an adapter - or to solder it
myself.
(i don't know what it is, usually i'm not that verbose - how things sum
up :)
have a sunny day,
Mac
> Regards,
> /Anders
>
> --
> -- Of course I'm crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
> Anders Hammarquist | Mud at Kingdoms | iko@netg.se
> NetGuide Scandinavia | telnet kingdoms.se 1812 | Fax: +46 31 50 79 39
> http://www.netg.se | | Tel: +46 31 50 79 40
>
> --
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-sparc-request@lists.debian.org
> with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
--
Markus Lechner (Company - LightWolf) | The
Prometheus-Project
Markus.Lechner@munich.netsurf.de |
Mac@munich.netsurf.de
http://home.munich.netsurf.de/Markus.Lechner | (only for
Project-Team)
PGP-Public-Key(s) are available |
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-sparc-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Reply to: