[rescue] RE: Sparc Classic Resurrection for Newbie

[Robert Novak]

Hi Joshua,

On Sun, 6 Jan 2002, Joshua Johnston wrote:

> Given the responses I've gotten, I've decided that some form of BSD is
> definitely going to be what I work with considering the low amount of
> RAM on the machine.  

Funny enough, I'm getting ready to retire my Sparc Classic today. It's
been running as my mailserver and a nameserver too for what seems like 3
years now--72MB of RAM and a 1GB hard drive, Redhat Linux 5.2 (2.0.35
kernel, was fresh when the box went into service) and postfix. However,
I'm trying to reduce the number of boxes running in the house from 17 to
under 10. And this box has been in need of major upgrades or replacement
for a while now.

> I discovered that I have 540 megs of hard drive to work with, if the
> drive is good, and two external 100 meg drives that should format just

I'll touch on this below, but I'd not bother with the 100MB drives. If you
can get a single larger drive for the internal bay (3.5" HH or 1"H) you'll
be better off. I probably have something around here that I could spare in
the 2-3GB range. Alternately, go with the larger external if you can't get
something else. I lean away from full height and sub-1GB disks anymore,
but that's thanks to the electric bill.

> I need to find out if I can use a SCSI CD-ROM drive that's installed in
> a separate machine but connected to the Sparc SCSI bus as a way to
> install the software.  I ask this, because I don't have anything for a
> SCSI drive other than my Macintosh Quadra's 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (which
> should read the 512 size chunks, I think) and that's an internal device
> for that machine.  Neither of my external SCSI drives are in a case that
> appears moddable to take the drive.  If I can do that, and the drive
> will boot, I should be all set for that.  

You probably can't do this, unless you're creative with differential scsi,
which would be another card and some custom configuration. If you have an
ftp or http server for your Mac, you could boot from floppy on the Classic
and install via ftp or http on your local net though.

> I also have a question about the serial port on the Sparc.  Will I need
> to use a null modem adapter or will a standard cable work?  

Null modem is required. I usually use a laplink serial cable (which has 9-
and 25-pin heads on either end, good for PCs with 9pin serial) and a
male-to-male gender changer.

> And almost my last question to date, I'd like to know if there's a limit
> anyplace in the Sparc preventing it from using an 8G SCSI drive?  

Externally you should be able to use just about any disk out there.
Internally you'll want to watch for heat and power usage (and of course
the 3.5" HH limitation) 

> And here it is, hopefully the last question I'll have before I get the
> Sparc install process rolling... Is there anyplace I can get a 100Mbit
> network adapter?  

There are two kinds of Sun 100mbps adapters out there. The "hme" or Happy
Meal Ethernet is the more modern one, and is supported under just about
every current OS. The qec+be or "be" or Bigmac Ethernet is older and
fairly common (and cheaper) but is not supported under Solaris 8.

I believe that NetBSD and OpenBSD will both support the "be" card and if
you're on a tight budget it's the more obvious choice. I've also run the
"be" card under Linux, I think. 

One note is that (if I recall correctly) the "be" card will not do full
duplex. One other note is that some people won't distinguish between the
two in an ebay auction (if you're looking there) or worse may report the
be as hme. Insist on accurate part numbers and look them up on
http://www.sunstuff.org/hardware/partnumbers/ to make sure you're getting
what you think you are. hme for $100 may be a good deal, but you should
get at least 4 be cards for that much. :)

Check out:

	http://www.openbsd.org/sparc.html#hardware
 and/or	http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/sparc/hardware.html

to see what's supported for sure.

> Again, thanks for all the responses, and I hope I'm not coming across
> like a total moron.

Nope, you're not. We all had to start somewhere, and it's easier to stay
motivated if you get the potholes pointed out *before* you drive into them
on a unicycle :) 

Oh, feel free to drop me a note offlist if you want me to dig for a bigmac
card or a disk for you. Might even have an older external cdrom drive,
although I'm not putting any bets on it.

--Rob

Robert Novak, Indyramp Consulting * rnovak at indyramp.com * indyramp.com/~rnovak
        "And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
           Maybe this year will be better than the last...." -- counting crows