SparcBook F.A.Q.
Hugo van der Kooij
23 november 1998
This FAQ is dedicated to the SparcBook machines and all mysteries sur-
rounding them. It is posted to linux.redhat.sparc, comp.unix.solaris
and comp.sys.sun.hardware on an irregular basis. It is online on
http://www.caiw.nl/~hvdkooij/SparcBook-FAQ.html
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Table of Contents
1. Where is that STOP button hidden?
2. What are the specs of the SparcBook 3 series?
3. What memory does the SparcBook 3 use?
4. What OS does the SparcBook 3 run and do I need to purchase from Tadpole?
5. What is the architecture of the Sparcbook3?
6. What kind of connectivity does the Sparcbook3 have?
7. What about PCMCIA (PCcard) cards for the Sparcbook3?
8. Can I use external disk and cd-roms with my Sparcbook3?
9. What is the maximum speed on the serial interface?
10. Does the type 4 keyboard work with the SparcBook?
11. What about patches with Solaris 2.6?
12. Any word on Solaris 7?
13. Does it run Linux?
14. Why isn't my question in the FAQ?
15. Contributers
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1. Where is that STOP button hidden?
You might want to note these special keys in the SparcBook:
o PAUSE A acts like STOP A (or L1 A for the real diehards ;-)
o PAUSE R will reboot the machine.
o PAUSE O will act as Power-Off.
2. What are the specs of the SparcBook 3 series?
An extensive summary is listed on: http://www.rave.net/t-s3_tech.html.
3. What memory does the SparcBook 3 use?
A matched pair of low profile 60ns 72pin parity SIMMs. You can by
these at any good computer store (they are not Sun proprietary). They
are located under the panel in the battery compartment and are user
replaceable.
4. What OS does the SparcBook 3 run and do I need to purchase from
Tadpole?
The SparcBook 3 will run Sunos 4.1.3-u1 and any Solaris version up to
Solaris 2.6!
The Tadpole version does have some add-on's to pause and resume the
SparcBook, the Fax program or the PCMCIA drivers but rumour has it
that legal owners of Solaris 2.6 can get a copy per FTP.
One can download the additional packages required to let Solaris 2.6
run on your sparc book from:
ftp://ftp.tadpole.com/pub/sbu/S3-patches/Solaris_2.6/
The file that contains all of them is:
ftp://ftp.tadpole.com/pub/sbu/S3-patches/Solaris_2.6/TTI_Solaris_2.6_...
How ever this does not include the NCE graphical utilities. These are
not around at present times but may be available in the future.
(Unlikely for Solaris 2.6 now that Solaris 7 is out.)
5. What is the architecture of the Sparcbook3?
It's a sun4m.
6. What kind of connectivity does the Sparcbook3 have?
14.4 fax/modem builtin (not upgradable), ISDN (needs a NT1 to work)
and 10mbps ethernet (which needs a special cable to go to a AUI
interface on the 3GX).
7. What about PCMCIA (PCcard) cards for the Sparcbook3?
It can take 2 type I/II or 1 type III cards. Just about any modem
card will work (so you can get your 56K connection :). But watch out
with hard disk, some early (maybe still) hard disk cards had
incompatable firmware. (A Western Digital 40M didn't work, but the
Maxtor 170M and Eiger 340M did).
In order to work well with disks you must load the T030004-02 patch.
8. Can I use external disk and cd-roms with my Sparcbook3?
Yes, the Sparcbook3 uses standard (Fast-)SCSI (II) devices. The
interface does provide power to special (read: Tadpole) external
devices but standard SCSI devices should work perfectly.
9. What is the maximum speed on the serial interface?
38,400 is the maximum supported. There might be a kernel hack to get
it to do a little faster, but the implementation of hardware flow
control on Sun and Tadpole serial ports is software dependant, so very
limited.
10. Does the type 4 keyboard work with the SparcBook?
It does! Any type 4 or type 5 keyboard should work.
11. What about patches with Solaris 2.6?
The following list of patches (with URL) should help you out.
From ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/
o Solaris 2.6 (Sparc) Recommended patches (~ 19MB)
From: ftp://ftp.tadpole.com/pub/sbu/S3-patches/Solaris_2.6/
o T030000-01 Fixed 16 bit X server problem (bus error)
o T030001-01 System may hang while PCMCIA device is present
o T030002-02 Enhanced generic power management features
o T030003-01 Changing PCMCIA cards does not work well
o T030004-02 PCMCIA ata disk
o T030005-01 Formating PCMCIA disks results in core dumps
o T030006-01 Disks won't keep spundown very long
o T030007-01 'Spurious Interrupt' messages on console
o T030008-01 nitloc fails when TZ contains a / (slash)
o T030009-01 US Robotics Modems do not work in SPARCbooks
12. Any word on Solaris 7?
It seems that Solaris 7 does run on the unit but the tadpole specific
items are not there.
At present it is unknow wether they will be there in the future.
Should you happen to know more. please, please let me know.
13. Does it run Linux?
It seems that all essentials are covered but nobody did seem to have
the guts to try it.
Yours truly may do so very soon if he can spare the time but don't
hold your breath.
14. Why isn't my question in the FAQ?
Mainly because I just started the FAQ.
But If you want to contribute to the FAQ feel free to send a clear
question and answer to me. I just might put it into the next edition
provided I have time for it.
Please don't start sending me questions without answers. I am not a
guru (by far) and just hope this FAQ may educate others and not just
me.
15. Contributers
o Andre (no further info recorded)
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