Date: Mon, 24 May 93 09:41:45 EST From: Dwight McKay (The Moderator) Reply-To: Suns-at-Home@orchestra.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Suns-at-Home Digest V6 #15 To: Suns-at-Home-List Suns-at-Home Digest Mon, 24 May 93 Volume 6 : Issue 15 Today's Topics: 3/60 boot PROM Going for PC or Sun ? Monitors SCSI disconnect/reconnect Serial ports Solaris 2.1: How much disk? some questions +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Submissions: suns-at-home \ @orchestra.ecn.purdue.edu | | Requests: suns-at-home-request > -- or -- | | Archives: suns-at-home-archives / ...rutgers!pur-ee!... | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 May 93 21:45:00 PDT From: dd@mv.us.adobe.com (David DiGiacomo) Subject: 3/60 boot PROM To: Suns-at-Home@ea.ecn.purdue.edu I'm trying to connect a Wren VI disk to a 3/60, but I found out that my boot PROM is too old (V1.9) to boot from it. I think I need V2.3 or later (can anyone confirm that?). I wrote a program to suck the PROM contents out of a 3/60, so if someone with a newer PROM could run it for me, that would solve the problem. Of course, if someone could actually burn a PROM, that would be even better. Thanks... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 May 1993 15:08:18 +0200 (MET DST) From: Francois Nouri Subject: Going for PC or Sun ? To: Suns-at-Home@orchestra.ecn.purdue.edu (Suns-at-Home) Hi Suns-at-Homers, I have been thinking about buying a workstation to play with (I mean, to work ;-) ) at home. The choices are rather clear: a PC or an old Sun. PC's are really cheap nowadays; one can get a decent machine for a reasonable price and a good UNIX-like OS for $ 0 (Linux || 386BSD || NetBSD). This is a major concern to me, since I am a student and I can't afford to spend thousands and thousands of dollars. On the other hand, I work every day on Suns and really enjoys the machines and SunOS. So, the questions are: - what are the difference of prices between an old Sun and a PC ? - how easy is it to find an old Sun to purchase (just remember that I live in France; Suns are not as common here as in the US) ? - what about the performance of an old Sun (like a 3/60) ? - what about potential technical problems (i.e. what if my hard disk suddenly dies) ? I would really appreciate if you could give me any hints or share your experience. Francois ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 May 93 17:01:29 CDT From: intran!tommyb!tom@uunet.UU.NET (Tom Brusehaver) Subject: Monitors To: Suns-at-Home@ecn.purdue.edu I recently acquired (was given) a Moniterm monitor. I was hoping to use it to replace a dim monitor on a 3/60 I have here. Anyway Moniterm is dead and gone as far as I can tell (looked in phone book). The model number is: 999-0210-99 9260 AGC. It is a 19" monitor with a 3M logo on it. The 3M part number is the same 99260 AGC as above. Anyone know where I can find a pin out of this monitor. It has a 9 pin male connector like the Sun monitors, but doesn't quite work. Anyone with any tips, let me know. Tommy B. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 May 93 11:07:33 PDT From: dav@genisco.gtc.com (David L. Markowitz) Subject: SCSI disconnect/reconnect To: Suns-at-Home@orchestra.ecn.purdue.edu From: "Anthony A. Datri" >Is it a software, or hardware mod (or both) to get SCSI disconnect to work >on my Sun 3 system? Both. You need a (relatively) recent SCSI board for it to work. How recent, I'm afraid I don't recall. David L. Markowitz ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 May 93 11:18:02 -0700 From: Thomas Tengdin Subject: Serial ports To: ron@mlfarm.com My experience is that you can fix the serial port by taking the board out and replacing the line driver/receiver pair. Most of the time it is just the driver/receiver that goes. For diagnosis... Look at the output voltage of the transmitter. Is it 5 or 12 volts? Is it the wrong polarity? ( it should be negative with respect to pin 7 ) Connect a known good receiver. If you started with 12 it should drop to about 9V. The 5V drivers don't drop much. Does the voltage change polarity when you are sure data is being sent? For the receiver. Look at the voltage on the receive line. Should be a couple of tenths of a volt. Look at the DC resistance, should be in the 10s of Kohms range. If you can run the board with the case open so you can get to the driver chips look at the signal before and after the driver/rec to see if it is working. This "experience" is mostly on VAX/DEC serial devices. Never had to work on a Sun serial port but expect you will have success. As far as long term protection... What worked quite well when I was at Purdue was to solidly take all the Pin 7 connections to a local ground BEFORE they go to the machine. And make sure the machine is solidly connected to a good ground. This runs contrary to all the Orange outlet isolated ground stuff but we had very good luck with this standard when I was at Purdue Engineering Computer Network with over 1000 serial ports. Also, NEVER run serial ports between buildings without using line drivers. We used some locally produced drivers that were optically isolated from the RS232. We had great luck with these as well. Lightning arrestors on the incoming service panel are a $30 safety device as well. Let me know if you would like more info on any of this... T3 Former Alvin Pilot and Worlds Deepest Unix Programmer ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 May 93 13:47:02 EDT From: Mark Sirota Subject: Solaris 2.1: How much disk? To: suns-at-home@orchestra.ecn.purdue.edu I've got a SPARCstation LX at home with the 424-Mbyte disk, and I just don't seem to have enough disk space to get anything real done. I'm running Solaris 2.1, of course. Anyone else running 2.1 with a 424-Mbyte disk? If so, what's your disk layout? -- Mark Sirota, System and Network Manager Greenwich Associates, Greenwich Connecticut mark@greenwich.com, (203) 625-5060 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 May 93 23:02:06 EST From: craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au (Craig Dewick) Subject: some questions To: suns-at-home@orchestra.ecn.purdue.edu Ok, so I've not got my 3/60 happily running Sun/OS 4.0.1 (thanks to another 3/60 owner. Here are some questions: - the machine was previously used as an X-term, and i don't have any manuals. Does anyone know where and/or how I might obtain manual(s) for Sun/OS 4.0 and/or 4.1, full service and technical manuals, as well as circuit diagrams, for the 3/60 main board and the CG4 frame buffer? - the person that installed 4.0 for me has been trying to get a loan of some 4.1 tapes (4.1.1ux I think, where x is the last update for the 3-series) without much success to date. Can anyone suggest a place that has spare tapes of this version for the 3/60? - The 19" Hitachi colour monitor that came with the 3/60 is in need of some adjustments. There are beam convergence problems away from the centre of the display area, and there are noticable 'dents' on the two vertical edges of the 'live' display area. Does anyone know where I can get technical specs, data and circuit diagrams for it? The model number is HM-4119-S-AA-0. Any help with any of these would be greatly appreciated. BTW, remember to take into account my location (ie. Sydney, Australia). ------------------------------ End of Suns-at-Home Digest ******************************