Sparc5 bits wanted

[Zane H. Healy]

At 11:21 AM +0100 4/1/05, Witchy wrote:
>Folks,
>
>(eep, is a Sparc5 on topic?!)
>
>While clearing out the soon-to-be dining room where all my stuff has been
>stored for the last couple of years I found a Sparc5 that I'd completely
>forgotten about. It's been completely robbed of bits that I can see -
>memory, floppy drive, CD, HDD - so what's the minimum I can get away with
>before at least powering it up to see if it works? The only spare memory
>I've got is PC100 (may even be PC66) 168-pin DIMMS.

The bad news is that the memory it requires is specific to the Sparc 
5 (*maybe* the Sparc 4 might use the same RAM, I can't rememeber).

>Can I use a serial console on it or do I need a 13w3 monitor cable? The

Either, I typically run Suns with a serial console.

>HDD looks like it's a standard SCA-80 connection....

Yes, though you'll want one that runs as cool as possible.

>keyboard and mouse are
>there but I hope I don't need one of those foil mousemats!

Depends, is the mouse mechanical, or optical.  If it's optical I'd 
personally junk it and get a mechanical mouse.  I assume some people 
like the optical mice.

>Assuming it does work does anyone have a floppy and CD spare for this thing?

To the best of my knowledge you can use ones from a 4 or 20. 
Realistically I don't see need for the floppy drive.  I don't think 
I've ever used one on a Sparc.

You might want to take a look at getting a dual CPU Sparc 20 rather 
than reviving a Sparc 5.  If the memory for a Sparc 5 is still up 
there like it used to be 2-3 years ago, a loaded 20 might be cheaper!

			Zane


-- 
--
| Zane H. Healy                    | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary)    | OpenVMS Enthusiast         |
|                                  | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
|     Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing,    |
|          PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum.         |
|                http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/               |