[geeks] What a difference a visit to the spare parts bin makes...

[Lionel Peterson]

Hello all,

Earlier today I pulled out the Ultra 5 I got from the Princeton University Surplus Sale this week and install Solaris 10 on it.

Whew, was a 270 MHz CPU (w/256K cache) and 256 Meg (upgraded from the 128 Meg installed when I got it) and Sun 4 Gig IDE drive S-L-O-W. The network-based install seemed to take forever.

Well, remebering I had some left over bits in the basement, I pulled out a 333 MHz CPU and 4x 128 Meg DIMMs, and the machine is a fair bit faster. Next I'll upgrade the HD to something of a more recent vintage (7200 RPM, 8 Meg buffer), making it a more satisfying machine...

The graphics on this box are a bit weak - the standard desktop graphics (JAVA Desktop) look quite grainy - this box may make a better "utility box" than my Ultra 10, as it has the (relatively) improved Series 3 graphics, and since it is more of an install image server and low-volume FTP server, this is more than adequate.

I wonder if I could simply swap the HD from my Ultra 10 into the Ultra 5, and after a "boot -r" have everything Just Work?

Lionel