Sun Ultra 2 reprise.

I've been shopping on ebay again, even though I shouldn't be. This time I bought 1GB (8 x 128MB) SIMMS for my Sun Ultra. Currently the machine has 128MB of RAM (8 x 16MB). SIMMS have to be installed in quads, that is 4 of the same type. I actually have a couple of 128MB SIMMS that will work in my Ultra, but they won't work until they're installed in a quad configuration.

I am reprising the Ultra for a couple of purposes, 1 to learn Solaris 9 (or 10), and to learn Java. I've been reading Cay Horstmann's Computing Concepts with Java Essentials. What make's Cay's book interesting for a hack like me is he has mentioned the SPARC processor a few times in the first chapter. It's interesting to learn about Java's cross-platform abilities when processors are compared instead of just saying that Java is a cross-platform programming language and then continuing on with code examples.

Solaris 9 is a dog on 128MB of RAM, particularly the Xserver. All the web-start stuff slows the system down even more. The new RAM is coming from the United States, so I'll probably have to wait a couple of weeks before it arrives. I'm itching for more. I actually looked at a quad port network card, but decided I really didn't need it. Perhaps when I learn NIS+ a bit better I'll replace my hub with the card.

I'm going to install Slow-laris tonight and set it up so I can SSH in. I decided on a new naming scheme for my network based on Anne Bishop's Blood Jewels series of fantasy novels. The temporary notebook is Lucivar, my 733MHz x86 is Janelle, and the Ultra is Saetan. I haven't decided on whether I'm putting the Sun Sparcstation 5 online again. I pilfered the 9.1GB SCA hard drive for my Ultra which has dual 9.1GB SCA SCSI hard drives. I already bought a Creator 3D card for the Ultra.

One of the things that's great about Sun is they still have a lot of information about their systems, even old boxes like the Ultra 2.

I also love looking at what people are doing with the Ultras. A place in Taiwan is using them for SNMP, Web, and DNS/NIS along with a Sparc 10 as a firewall. The department of engineering at the University of Cambridge at one point was using an Ultra 1 to run a Pro Engineer CAD package. At the Observatoire de Physique Du Globe De Clermont-Ferrand in France they're using a sun box for Inferometry. I was never into physics or most sciences while in school, but this looks like a really cool application. I'm somewhat interested in the telescope possibilities. I enjoy creating backgrounds from jpegs I've snapped with my Powershot A20 digital camera. It's only 2.1 mega-pixels, but it's more than enough to do 1600x1200. Having space scenes would be pretty cool.

There are so many possibilities for a box like this and here companies are filling landfills full of them...