mjs@cs.rochester.edu (Michael J Shon) (09/19/89)
The Sun sparcstation 330 has 5 VME slots (3x9U 2x6U). The VME slots can presumably be used for any reasonable VME board, (like a third party VME/SMD disk controller) but Sun does not offer the 330 in any configuration with SMD disks. Why? Is it that their SMD-4 controller is 9U and won't fit? (why not? the cpu takes only one 9U slot?) Is there anything that would stop me from using someone else's disk subsystem? Do you know of any that definitely work on the 330? (I know of lots of SMD systems, but they might not work). We are trying to get a SPARC system which for political reasons has to be <= $30,000 ,but we want to expand it next year into a reasonable server. SMD disks are preferred for swapping and paging large cpu-intensive jobs. Any comments are appreciated. Please mail me, as I am (our site is) way behind in News, so I won't see anything there for a while. Thanks. If I find out anything useful, I'll summarize.
weber@uunet.uu.net (Jeff Weber) (09/25/89)
In article <1539@brazos.Rice.edu> you write: >X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 125, message 10 of 19 > >The Sun sparcstation 330 has 5 VME slots (3x9U 2x6U). The VME slots can >presumably be used for any reasonable VME board, (like a third party >VME/SMD disk controller) but Sun does not offer the 330 in any >configuration with SMD disks. > >Why? Is it that their SMD-4 controller is 9U and won't fit? (why not? the >cpu takes only one 9U slot?) How about: Sun wants you to buy a bigger machine so they can make more money? Look closely; the framebuffer mounting on the CPU board extends into the next 9u slot preventing you from using it, it seems. This results in having 1-9u and 2-6u slots to grow in. Try a Xylogic 753 SMD controller. It seems pretty well assumed around the net that they are the same as Sun's SMD-4 and it is in a 6u form factor. >Is there anything that would stop me from using someone else's disk >subsystem? Do you know of any that definitely work on the 330? (I know of >lots of SMD systems, but they might not work). Well let's see..... The install tapes are the same between 330 and 370's w/SMD. The CPU is the same. They both are VME bus. I do this type of cross building quite often. Usually you can get away with it. >We are trying to get a SPARC system which for political reasons has to be ><= $30,000 ,but we want to expand it next year into a reasonable server. >SMD disks are preferred for swapping and paging large cpu-intensive jobs. You may try IPI. SMD is dying. >Any comments are appreciated. Please mail me, as I am (our site is) >way behind in News, so I won't see anything there for a while. >Thanks. If I find out anything useful, I'll summarize.
lmb@vicom.com (Larry Blair) (09/28/89)
In article <1744@brazos.Rice.edu> ginosko!cg-atla!weber@uunet.uu.net (Jeff Weber) writes:
=X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 140, message 2 of 13
=>
=>The Sun sparcstation 330 has 5 VME slots (3x9U 2x6U). The VME slots can
=>presumably be used for any reasonable VME board, (like a third party
=>VME/SMD disk controller) but Sun does not offer the 330 in any
=>configuration with SMD disks.
=>
=>Why? Is it that their SMD-4 controller is 9U and won't fit? (why not? the
=>cpu takes only one 9U slot?)
=
=Well let's see..... The install tapes are the same between 330 and 370's
=w/SMD. The CPU is the same. They both are VME bus. I do this type of
=cross building quite often. Usually you can get away with it.
The CPU card may be the same, but the big problem here is that the boot
PROM won't boot _any_ device except the onboard SCSI, not even the normal
Sun SMD and IPI. Sun will tell you that the system wasn't designed for
it, but the real reason is that they are trying to prevent third parties,
such as Interphase and Ciprico, from selling controllers.
Btw, I've run an Interphase 4201 in my SparcStation 330. The only problem
is that I needed to boot off the SCSI using -a to tell it to use the xy
device for root and swap. I expect that Sun will probably make a mod in
4.1 to prevent even this!
Larry Blair ames!vsi1!lmb lmb@vicom.com