topetto wrote:
> Hello dear Sun power users I'm andy,from Italy. I would like to make some
> experience with the Ultra Sparc "world" but I don't have a lot of money. I
> see that there a lot of cheap Sun ultra 5 systems with generally 360mhz 256k
> cpu's and 128mb of ram. I would like to buy one ultra 5 and install some
> solaris/linux/freebsd and in general *nix system but I don't know if this
> configuration (360mhz -256k,128mb,8gb,ati rage 4mb) is enough for making
> this...of course I don't need to keep multi-boot so I would install just one
> O.S. each time. Could you help me?It's time to change this freak x86 pc
> bye bye and thank you!
> Andrea
>
>

Hi

I have an Ultra10 with 440cpu and 512Mb RAM with a PGX32 PCI graphics
card running Debian Sarge (easy install from CDROM as long as you have
one, download the mini-install iso from the net, boot it and then it
builds the rest via ftp once up and running a minimal system. You can
net-boot etc. but it's not so simple!). The PGX32 will give you 24bit
output at a decent resolution.

An Ultra10 is essentially the same as an Ultra5 except that it's a tower
system. But it has more space (hence runs cooler), and it's easier to
find cheap RAM as the Ultra5 needs "low profile" or remove the floppy etc.

I guess a slower cpu and less RAM would still run (mine had 256Mb for a
bit and was OK), but I'd try to go for the 440 powered machine if you
can. That said, these cpus come up on eBay and you can swop them in. But
of course everyone wants the 440!

None of this will blow away even an old PC in performance terms, but if
you want a dependable, stable box then it's certainly worth considering
and it won't be hopelessly slow either. I use mine as a local webserver
(apache, php4, mysql4 etc.) for development work and it's great...

To give you an idea of cost, I bought my Ultra10/440/256Mb/CDROM for
under £10 on eBay and fitted an old 40Gb IDE hard disk that was lying
around. So trying out the ultrasparc "world" need not cost a lot! Some
people on eBay try to charge a lot more for these old machines, my
advice is watch and wait...

Good luck!
John