[Suns-at-Home] Re: S24

[Phillip Tong]

Craig FALCONER wrote:
> I don't often post here because I know little.
> 
> However I do know that the S24 card is a 24 bit card, but is not for
> SBUS... In a SparcStation 5 it is a different connector parallel to
> the SBUS slot that is furtherest from the PSU.  The slot is called
> AFX and is similar but different to the SBUS connector.
> 
> From memory, AFX has some pins and some tab-like connectors.
> Needless to say - use of the AFX slot means one SBUS slot is not
> available.

Correct - SBUS slot 3 becomes unavailable since the card physically 
covers the SBUS connector.

> The SS4 has an AFX frame buffer built into the board which is limited
> to 8 bit only.  Neither the S24 in a SS5 or the onboard one in a SS4
> is supported by linux in my experience.

Having used one some time ago (machine was a SS5/170), I can honestly 
say the graphics performance was no less than shocking. I remember 
putting a CG6 card into the same machine and you could see the 
improvement - you didn't have to wait for the CDE login screen to draw 
the components one by one, although you had to put up with the colour 
"flashing" that happened when running something like Netscape and 
switching away from it.

At the time (I worked for Sun in Australia then), my work machine was an 
Ultra 1E/200 with a Creator3D plus a CG6 and the Creator3D performance, 
for the machine it was in, was definitely an improvement.

(Now I've got an Ultra 2 at home, looking for a Creator3D card for it in 
Sydney Australia - they seem to be a rarity...)

--Phil.