[rescue] Sun 3/60

[Alan Perry]

Networked Doom ;)

Depends on the system.

My 3/260 was a barn rescue (sat in an open barn for a dozen years) that I got running but still have work to do to get it running well. I also have a Tatung Compstation (SS2 clone) and a sun3-based Computervision CADDSTATION that need to be restored.

I keep a bunch running for show-and-tell and vintage computer shows. My lunchbox systems (each running a different OS), my Axil 320 (SS20 clone), my SS1+ prototype, and my Tadpole SPARCbook fall into this category.

I used to rescue a lot of 4c and 4m pizza boxes and pass them on to new homes.

The one that I keep setup to run is a SS5 running OPENSTEP for SPARC. I do silly things like try to backport modern MacOS Objective-C/Interface Builder code to NeXTSTEP.

alan

> On Nov 12, 2023, at 16:03, Cameron Kelly via rescue <rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:
> 
> What do you use them for nowadays?
> 
>> On Sun, Nov 12, 2023 at 6:55 PM Alan Perry via rescue
>> <rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:
>> 
>> There is no version of Solaris 2/SunOS 5 that runs on sun3 hardware.
>> 
>> But I don’t know what you mean by “written close to the hardware”. SunOS 1-4 is based on BSD like NetBSD.
>> 
>> I worked for Sun on Solaris 2.3 - 7 and Solaris 10 - 11.4 (commands and libraries group then I/O (driver infrastructure) group, then x86 platform group which became a general platform group (I/O as above, boot and low-level initialization)). I run everything on my collection of Sun machines, SunOS 3, SunOS 4, Solaris 2 (versions that I worked on), NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, NeXTSTEP.
>> 
>> alan
>> 
>>>> On Nov 12, 2023, at 11:33, Mike Katz via rescue <rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> i am a closet SUN fan from my days working on Sun machines for a 68000 C cross compiler company.
>>> 
>>> If you are running an old Sun, I would strongly recommend SunOs (not Solaris) even without source because it was very stable and written close to the hardware.
>>> 
>>> I think running anything else isn't really paying homage to the Sun.
>>> 
>>> If you want modern Unix/Linux stuff, run it on a Raspberry Pi.
>>> 
>>> On 11/12/2023 1:13 PM, Mouse via rescue wrote:
>>>>>>>> What OS do you intend to run on it ? Vintage SunOS 4.x or some
>>>>>>>> more recent NetBSD ?
>>>>>>> I'm not sure.  Preferably both but I'm biased towards NetBSD since
>>>>>>> it's easy to get a modern Unix environment going with package
>>>>>>> management and whatever else going.
>>>>>> Really recommend running vintage on this machine
>>>>> Same here.  We just brought up a 3/50 at LSSM, nicely responsive
>>>>> running SunOS 4.1.1_U1, after the kernel was trimmed down.  Such
>>>>> great machines!
>>>> Well, a "modern Unix environment" (hundreds of megs of Web browser,
>>>> running into TLS every time you turn around, bell-and-whistle-infested
>>>> UI) is something a -3/60 just doesn't have the computrons to support.
>>>> 
>>>> Personally, I wouldn't run SunOS simply for lack of source.  But that's
>>>> the only reason; in every other respect, IMO it's a fine choice.  If
>>>> you do want source code, I'd suggest older NetBSD - my -3/60 runs (my
>>>> own derivative of) 1.4T.  It doesn't support a "modern" environment,
>>>> no, but (a) my desire for such a thing is actually negative and (b) a
>>>> -3/60 can't really support one anyway, so that's fine with me.
>>>> 
>>>> /~\ The ASCII                  Mouse
>>>> \ / Ribbon Campaign
>>>> X  Against HTML        mouse at rodents-montreal.org
>>>> / \ Email!         7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
>>>> 
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