Sun

Finally registered - have been reading this forum/site for quite some time - figured I'd register and say hello to everyone. Feels more like being part of the community instead of just a casual reader/lurker!

Here's some of the Sun hardware I have gathered over the years:

Sparcstation IPC
Sparcstation 20 - quad Ross 100Mhz

Ultra 2 Enterprise - dual US1 200Mhz
Ultra 60 - dual US2 450Mhz
Netra t1 105 - US2i 440Mhz
Blade 1600 Chassis with B100s blades - US2e+ 650Mhz
Blade 1000 - dual US3 750Mhz

So, have to ask here - I've been contemplating selling off my Sun collection after the Oracle purchase - anyone else here feel the same? Have been a SPARC zealot most of my career - but things just don't feel right anymore... I actually started out on SGI hardware for schoolwork, but collected and used Sun gear along the way.

Thoughts? I've been meaning to get rid of the Ultra 2, Ultra 60, and Blade 1k - all the workstation machines (should be posting in the for sale forum later - will be in/around Chicago). I have a rack, so want to make all of my Sun collection be 'server' rackmount stuff - keeps the clutter factor low. Was looking to replace these with equivalent if not better server gear (i.e. a v480 and maybe a e4500...).

But have been thinking that maybe I should just sell of the whole set and wallow in x86-land...

Why sell all of them? If you still like the hardware and software keep at least some - it's still the same. You can probably prune, though - the lunchbox Suns are fun and small, as are the SS20s. The Blade1k is a good box, and I might keep the Ultra-2 as well (good design, fastest SBus desktop). If you get 300MHz + processors it will wipe the floor with your Netra, and with a shelf can be mounted in a rack. Haven't worked with the Blade chasses, so can't comment there.

I was leaning towards keeping the 32-bit machines - those are just plain fun. For the 64-bit boxes, just wanted to get all the clutter off the floor. You are right on keeping the Ultra 2 - a shelf is just what I need.

The 'I should get rid of all of these!' moment came a few days ago when I went to try and get the latest version of the OBP for the Netra, which was my latest acquisition, and found out that Oracle had locked away everything behind a contract/registration firewall. Can't just go to Sun's website and pull down the latest OBP for a machine - and reading posts about how hobbyists have to jump through hoops to get access - only a money-earning support contract lets you access firmware updates! It was one of those last-straw type of things I guess.

The Blade chassis is awesome - for anyone wanting to consolidate a bunch of computing it is great. Can run sparc, intel, and amd blades, fits in a 3u space, and doesn't have huge power consumption (<1kW with all 16 blades!). Sometimes you can grab one for cheap on Ebay.

The Oracle acquisition has had the opposite influence on me. The disappearance (in my mind, at least) of the company and falling prices have made the SunFire and later gear more attractive/interesting to me. I'm not running out to scarf it up all of a sudden, but it's working it's way up the "keep an eye out" list.

I'm still hoping I'll find a SPARCserver 1000E chassis someday - I've got the system boards, RAM, and 8 SM81 CPUs to just about max it out. Just a lingering "wish I had one of these" that got stuck in my head back around 1997...

You've hit the nail on the head for the reason I've been dithering on whether or not to stop collecting Sun gear - prices are dropping quite low, and machines I thought I could never get my hands on are becoming frightfully (in the sense that I might have to explain to the wife what I am exactly going to do with some monster machine I show up at home with one day) affordable.

I am not going to go the 240 VAC route - so Ultrasparc IV stuff is out - but have been eyeing a possible Sun Fire 3800 as something to aim for!

So I guess I am staying in the game - just need to find out where I can get my hands on OBP updates - anyone know where there might be an archive somewhere or such?