8 Apr
2005
8 Apr
'05
1:15 a.m.
Hi, I just picked up a Sun 3/80 chassis from the local university surplus. It
looked lonely sitting there. It's dusty inside but appears to work (checked
console via serial port). Has a floppy, 8MB memory, no hard drive, and a dead
NVRAM. I'll consult the various faq's on the web about the NVRAM, and maybe
drill some mounting holes for a hard drive (didn't come with a hd carrier, and
I can't find any).
I'll run it headless with netbsd, since I don't have room for another monitor.
I don't know much about the Sun 3 series though - most of what I see from a
google search is about the 3/50 and 3/60's. Is the 3/80 an ignored bastard
child from sun? A 68030 in a pizzabox, not a classic Sun 3, but not a Sparc
either?
Are the hd carriers hard to come by?
Thanks,
Jeff
8 Apr
8 Apr
1:20 a.m.
I don't know much about the Sun 3 series though -
most of what I see
from a google search is about the 3/50 and 3/60's. Is the 3/80 an
ignored bastard child from sun?
Somewhat, but not nearly so much so as the 386i. :-)
A 68030 in a pizzabox, not a classic Sun 3, but not a
Sparc either?
Right. I've seen it said that the 3/80 was Sun hedging their bets.
They were betting that the SPARC would take off. But they weren't
quite ready to bet everything on it, so they did the 3/80 at about the
same time - you may note how singularly similar the 3/80 is in sokme
respects (such as case style) to the early SPARCstations.
Are the hd carriers hard to come by?
Can't help you much there. I don't think I've ever owned a -3/80. I
have a rather fuzzy memory from when I worked with them that the drive
sleds were the same as for the SS1 and SS1+, but that could very well
be wrong.
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2:03 a.m.
On Apr 8, 2005 1:15 AM, Jeff Davis <jdaviscl2 at soupwizard.com> wrote:
Hi, I just picked up a Sun 3/80 chassis from the local
university surplus...
Isn't that the Sun3 in a SPARC1 chassis? Neat find.
I'll consult the various faq's on the web
about the NVRAM, and maybe
drill some mounting holes for a hard drive (didn't come with a hd carrier, and
I can't find any).
See if you can find some SPARC1/SPARC2. I also used some washers and
screws for my first SPARC1 before I found some drive sleds.
I don't know much about the Sun 3 series though -
most of what I see from a
google search is about the 3/50 and 3/60's. Is the 3/80 an ignored bastard
child from sun? A 68030 in a pizzabox, not a classic Sun 3, but not a Sparc
either?
There were a lot of 3/50s and 3/60s shipped. I think the 3/80 was a
last stab for customers with a large investment in 68K
hardware/software, but with an upgrade path to the new SPARC line. As
a result, I don't think many 3/80s were shipped compared to what came
before and what came after.
I don't know if 3/80s use the same 48T02s that were used in sun4c
machines, but it's likely. I'm not sure if they are still available
new, but with some careful surgery, it's possible to disconnect the
old battery and add taps for a new one. Do not remove the entire top,
though... there's at least a crystal and perhaps a couple passive
components attached at the other end.
-ethan
2:43 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
There were a lot of 3/50s and 3/60s shipped. I think
the 3/80 was a
last stab for customers with a large investment in 68K
hardware/software, but with an upgrade path to the new SPARC line. As
a result, I don't think many 3/80s were shipped compared to what came
before and what came after.
The entire technical documentation department at INMOS, in the early
1990s, ran on Sun 3/80s. I have one in the collection here, plus a
junker (from another source) for spares.
They are indeed Sun 3 motherboards (68030) in a SparcStation-1 case.
SparcStation-1 drive sleds will fit, if you can get them.
--
John Honniball
coredump at gifford.co.uk
7041
days inactive
7041
days old
3 comments
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participants (4)
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coredump＠gifford.co.uk -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
jdaviscl2＠soupwizard.com -
mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA