Very Computer

 I am a computer consultant looking to enhance my skill set and would like
to learn Unix administration.   I would like to purchase a used Solaris
workstation where I won't get frustrated with the lack of speed and if
possible, keep it under $1000.00 (preferably much less).  I definitely want
to be able to run Solaris Unix 9.  What systems are recommended?  What
should I expect to pay?  Where should I look other than Ebay?

Thank you in advance.

An Ultra 2, 300MHz, is a good balanced machine and can be had for a few
hundred bucks from companies who sell "used Sun" You WILL NOT be
disappointed with the speed.  You will need an adapter to use a VGA
monitor.  Dual processor capable/SCSI drives/2G mem limit.

Sun IPX/IPC, Sparc 2, Sparc 10, Sparc 20, Sparc 5 either will not run or run
very slowly Solaris 9.

Machines like Sunblade 100/Ultra10/Ultra 5/ also are good starters (they
have "more affordable" higher processer speeds but  certain aspects to them
(such as IDE drives and budget cases) makes my shy away from them.

-T

On Sun, 15 Sep 2002 16:54:51 GMT

A ultra30 is a very nice machine, the speed is fine, and it uses PCI slots,
not the older sbus, so you have a little more choice in expansion cards.
A comfortable equiped machine, with 300mhz, 512mb ram, a 9gig drive and a
creator gfx can easlity befound for much lower then $1000

--
Barbie - Prayers are like junkmail for Jesus

I have seen things you lusers would not believe.
I've seen Sun monitors on fire off the side of the multimedia lab.
I've seen NTU lights glitter in the dark near the Mail Gate.
All these things will be lost in time, like the root partition last week.
Time to die.

Quote:> I am a computer consultant looking to enhance my skill set and would like
> to learn Unix administration.   I would like to purchase a used Solaris
> workstation where I won't get frustrated with the lack of speed and if
> possible, keep it under $1000.00 (preferably much less).  I definitely
want
> to be able to run Solaris Unix 9.  What systems are recommended?  What
> should I expect to pay?  Where should I look other than Ebay?

> Thank you in advance.

Cheapest way is probably an Ultra 5, somewhere around $300 to $400.
However, if you decide to expand it is not as good.  Ultra 30's run close to
the same range and gives you SCSI and two hard disk slots.  For around $20
you can get converter to use you PC monitor (ultra 5 comes with VGA video).

Thank you everyone for your responses.  Not being familiar with the lineup,
I'm a little confused.  Did the Sunblades replace the Ultras?  What is the
difference between the Sparcs and Ultras?  Is one line newer than the other?

If you can direct me to some information, I would appreciate it.

I took a look on Ebay.  Is it best to go with a Sun Remanufactured system?
They are more expensive than some of the others on Ebay but is it a better
guarantee that the system will be in top shape?

Thank you again.

Ultra 5 will cover 100% of your needs. You can get it for less than $400
on eBay. It's slightly slow but very reliable and compact enough. The
preferable speed id 360..400Mhz. Blade 100 is the next generation of Sun
machines. It's faster, the processor is 500Mhz, and it's also compact,
but the price is (again, on eBay) $700+. It has much better video board
(24bit color against 256 colors for Ultra5). I wouldn't suggest to buy
anything else if you aren't going to install a lot of extension boards.
Both machines use regular PC monitor. U5 uses Sun keyboard/mouse, Blade
uses any USB keyboard/mouse.
U5 is optimal to become familiar with Sun, Blade 100 is just better and
faster. Both can run Solaris 7..9. Both can use Sun PC coprocessor
(called Sun PCi) that allows you to run PC programs at native speed, $80
on eBay.

Alexey Parshin

Quote:> Thank you everyone for your responses.  Not being familiar with the
lineup,
> I'm a little confused.  Did the Sunblades replace the Ultras?  What is the
> difference between the Sparcs and Ultras?  Is one line newer than the

other?

Basically, the Ultra line replaced the Sparc line.  And now the Ultra line
is just about end of line, only two models left I think. U60 and U80? Not
sure.

I never have gotten to work on the Sunblades yet, but they seem to be the
replacement low-end or special purpose workstations.

Quote:

> If you can direct me to some information, I would appreciate it.

> I took a look on Ebay.  Is it best to go with a Sun Remanufactured system?
> They are more expensive than some of the others on Ebay but is it a better
> guarantee that the system will be in top shape?

> Thank you again.

<snip>
I have seen this seller quite a lot and they always include a 12 month
warranty.  I have never purchased from them though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2053632584

Looks like prices are up a little, though it does include two disk drives.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2053632891

There is the under $400.  Notice how there are two systems with the same
specifications, same finish time and current bids are $140 difference.  I
"almost" got my Ultra 30 from them, but the "high" one went higher then I
wanted.  Ebay bidders get a little crazy sometimes.

Good Luck!

|Thank you everyone for your responses.  Not being familiar with the lineup,
|I'm a little confused.  Did the Sunblades replace the Ultras?  What is the
|difference between the Sparcs and Ultras?  Is one line newer than the other?

All of them use variants of the SPARC CPU.  The general timelines look
something like this:

                1988-1998       1995-2002            2000-
Workstations:   SparcStation    Ultra                SunBlade
Servers:        SparcServer     Ultra Enterprise     SunFire
CPU's:          MicroSPARC,     UltraSPARC I/II      UltraSPARC II/III
                SuperSPARC,
                HyperSPARC, etc.
Architecture:   sun4/4c/4d/4m   sun4u                sun4u
Clock Speed:    ?-150Mhz        140-480Mhz           500Mhz-1.05Ghz

To make things confusing, some models were sold as both workstations &
servers - the SparcStation/SparcServer 20 (aka SS20) and Ultra 2/Ultra
Enterprise 2 for example.  This leads people to just abbreviate to
names like "Sparc 20" and "Ultra 2" and not specify if it was a
workstation or server.  (Model numbers were reused between generations,
but not during a generation, so while a Ultra 10 and Sparc 10 are vastly
different, a SparcStation 10 & a SparcServer 10 are virtually
identical.)

You can find more info at http://www.sunhelp.org/ and
http://sunsolve.Sun.COM/handbook_pub/Systems/

--
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  Working for, but definitely not speaking for, Sun Microsystems, Inc.