[lug] sparc setup

[Kirk Rafferty]

On Fri, 21 Jan 2000, Ferdinand P. Schmid wrote:

> HI,
> After all these years of PC computing I got my hands on a Sparc Classic
> with 32 MB of RAM and a 520 MB hdd.  Here are some questions I need to
> answer to get going on this old wonder of technology:
> 
> The machine came with a keyboard but no mouse.  What type of mouse does
> this system use and how is it connected?  Or do Sparc Classics not have
> X capabilities?

You can do X on a Sparc, although it will be somewhat slow on a Classic.
If you can populate it with more memory, that will help.

> Is there any documentation of those machines out on the web?  I couldn't
> find anything useful at Sun's site or with Google.

http://www.ultralinux.org is usually out of date, but good for some of
the basic things you'll want.

Also a good article at
http://www2.linuxjournal.com/cgi-bin/frames.pl/lj-issues/issue42/2107.html
although somewhat out-dated too.

By far the best resource for Sun hardware is http://www.sunhelp.org.

> This system has a disk drive and it seems to have an ethernet port.  Can
> I boot this system with a Linux disk for Sparc (created using the
> dosutils on the Sparc CD) and then connect to my PC over ethernet for an
> install?

You should be able to do that, although I confess I haven't ever done
it.

Good luck!

-k

> Just using Sparcs in college for programming never got me really close
> to their hardware and that's where I can produce more questions right
> now than I ever thought possible in regards to a computer.
> 
> Ferdinand
> 
> --
> Ferdinand Schmid
> (Staff Engineer)
> 
> Architectural Energy Corporation
> http://www.archenergy.com
> 2540 Frontier Avenue, Suite 201
> Boulder, CO 80301
> Phone: (303) 444-4149
> Fax: (303) 444-4304
> e-mail: mailto:fschmid at archenergy.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
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