[rescue] Sparc Station 1+

[Dave McGuire]

On Sunday, September 29, 2002, at 07:29 PM, Kenneth Dunn wrote:
> There are no SCSI drives in it, there is one bracket with a huge
> 4 ohm resistor. The resistor is plugged into the power supply
> where a drive would get its power.
>
> I'm assuming that this resistor is there for a reason. The
> bracket/resistor is one the right hand side when looking
> from the rear of the case. Can I remove this resistor and
> put a hard disk it its place ? Will the computer blow up with
> out a load on the disk drive power supply ?
>
> The other power point for a disk drive has no resistor there.

   Some early switching power supplies don't regulate properly with 
little or no load connected.  The SS1+ system board pulls very little 
power; likely not enough to provide adequate load on the power supply 
for it to function properly.
You should be able to yank that and stick a SCSI drive in there with no 
problems.

> Would I be better to use Linux, NetBSD or Solaris ?
> I have NETBSD, Linux (Sparc Debian), and Solaris 8 (x86 & Sparc
> CDs). I have an external Sun CD-ROM drive (1x speed) or I
> can use 10baseT ethernet install from Linux.

   NetBSD will run VERY well on that machine.  Solaris will run, but 
will be slow.  Linux will be...well, Linux.  I've run a very large 
number of those machines...I recommend sticking NetBSD on it.


> The computer only has 32MB RAM, 8 slots are free.

   It'll take 1MB or 4MB 30-pin parity SIMMs.  32MB isn't bad for a 
headless system running NetBSD; it's capable of doing a surprising 
amount of work in that configuration.  If you put a tube on it and run 
X, you'll want more memory.

> Will a regular PC 3.5" floppy disk work in this computer ?

   You'll need a floppy drive with power eject.  SPARCstation floppy 
drives are pretty easy to come by.  I know I have some but I'm not sure 
where they are.  Email Mike at twmaster at twmaster.com; he likely has 
some lying around.

   Good luck with your new machine...I'm sure you'll have fun with it!

        -Dave

--
Dave McGuire              "PC users only know two 'solutions'...
St. Petersburg, FL             reboot and upgrade."    -Jonathan 
Patschke