[rescue] HW && SW observations :: WAS:::2009 prototype Sun system for sale on eBay

[Ethan Hawke]

Interesting machine!

It's possible for the graphics it's just a standard x86 BIOS card, with 
no FCode it won't be usable until after Solaris has booted. Maybe the 
reason the seller only used it via serial?

The T2 was Sun's first SoC design, basically all you needed was the CPU 
itself, it allows for pretty compact designs as can be seen by this Wollemi.

Interesting that the only expansion it has is ExpressCard (I think?).

Hopefully who ever ends up with it does a teardown, would be interesting 
to see how it's built.


Ethan

On 9/12/22 16:54, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> The CPU is obviously a T-2, I don't think there exists a 64 core UltraSPARC IIIi AFAIK.
>
> Final price over £2K!
>
> Wow.
>
> Ken
>
>> On Sep 11, 2022, at 23:40, Jerry Kemp <jkemp512 at protonmail.com> wrote:
>> As I (personally) stew forward and think more about this system, the seller identifies the CPU as an UltraSparc IIIi, as shown in
>> the eBay description.  But many of us are aware, Oracle/Sun depreciated all older Sparc CPU's with Solaris 11.0 GA arrival, leaving
>> support for T-series and M-series.  In theory, an UltraSparc IIIi CPU would have been dropped after Solaris 11 Express.
>>
>> But OTOH, The youtube boot video identifies the CPU as an UltraSPARC T-2, most common to me in Sun T51xx and T52xx systems.  Actual
>> list of systems the T2 CPU was in listed here:
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UltraSPARC_T2
>>
>> But as the video progresses (7) [console] lines forward, the root nexus is clearly identified as "Sun Wollemi Desktop".  It seems
>> clear to me that the eBay posting probably incorrectly list the CPU as the UltraSparc IIIi.
>>
>> In closing, I'm not in any way suggesting any deception from the seller, I'm just attempting to figure all this out in my head.
>> With the excitement of this auction, IMHO, this is probably the best time as any, while we are focused on this system, to try to
>> work thru and identify all the neat things that this system would have offered.
>>
>> More than anything, I'm curious as to what frame buffer was shipped as part of this system, providing DVI and HDMI outputs.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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