  SPARC-HOWTO.
  Lionel, trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Juéry <trollhunter@lin­
  uxfr.org>

  v0.0.3 November 2000

  The SPARC family of microprocessors is a very good implementation of
  the RISC design, SPARC based workstations are usually very well engi­
  neered products, thus Linux on SPARC is a winning combination both in
  performance and ease of use. Actually this combination is not as wid­
  spread as the Linux/x86; this HOWTO should help you step by step to
  make an informed decision: try it you will not regret it.
  ______________________________________________________________________

  Table of Contents



  1. Preface.

  2. SPARC, which one ?

     2.1 Sun SPARC
     2.2 Super SPARC
     2.3 Micro SPARC
     2.4 Hyper SPARC
     2.5 Ultra SPARC
     2.6 Deciphering the CPUs
        2.6.1 Ross Technology.
        2.6.2 SM modules.
        2.6.3 Cypress.

  3. Buying a SPARC workstation.

     3.1 Gaigning a visual familiarity with SPARC hardware
     3.2 Sun made hardware or clones ?
     3.3 Where to buy.
     3.4 Checklist

  4. Linux on SPARC: 2 kernels.

  5. Choosing a distribution.

     5.1 Caldera Open Linux.
     5.2 Debian GNU/Linux.
     5.3 Linux Mandrake.
     5.4 RedHat Linux.
     5.5 Slackware Linux.
     5.6 SuSe Linux.
     5.7 TurboLinux.

  6. Working with the Openboot.

     6.1 What is the OpenBoot?
     6.2 Diagnostics commands.
     6.3 Boot commands.
     6.4 Misc commands.

  7. Hard drive buses.

     7.1 SCSI-SCA.
     7.2 EIDE.
     7.3 FC-AL

  8. CDROM: specific settings.

  9. SILO.

  10. Keyboard and mouse.

  11. X Window.

  12. SMP.

  13. The sound.

  14. Serial port.

  15. Ressources.

     15.1 Information sites.
     15.2 Auction sites.

  16. Thanks.
  17. Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks

     17.1 Copyright.
     17.2 Administrativia.

  18. Revision History.



  ______________________________________________________________________

  1.  Preface.

  This document is a step by step guide meant to provide information in
  order to help you running Linux on SPARC based workstations, As these
  computers are quite different from PCs there is an hardware section,
  this should help you on understanding, how they work, what to expect
  from the various CPUs and models.

  I am not a SPARC specialist, nor a Solaris or Linux guru, I am just
  someone who is realy found of well engineered product, and I wish to
  help you in choosing your hardware and finding information. Thus I
  have tried to write down this document in order to ease your path.


  I hope this document will help you and you will have a lot of fun with
  your SPARC Workstation.


  2.  SPARC, which one ?

  We are only dealing with, SPARC based workstations, in order to check,
  just type uname -m command and you should read something like sparc4x
  where x is blank,c,d,m,u if the system runs Solaris, or sparc for 32
  bits SPARC architectures and sparc64 for 64 bits SPARC architectures
  if it runs Linux.  2.2.x



  SPARC stands for Scalable Processor ARChitecture, it derives from
  research done between 1984-1988 on the  RISC architecture at UC
  Berkeley.  It exists 3 versions of this archiecture, SPARC-V7, SPARC-
  V8 ( 32 bits ) and SPARC-V9 ( 64 bits ).  As you are likely to
  encounter a lot of implementations of the SPARC architecture, I have
  summarized the main features of theses processors.


  2.1.  Sun SPARC

  This is quite obsolete, it is an implementation of the SPARC-V7 ; its
  main feature are an Integer unit ( IU ), an external Floating Point
  Unit ( FPU ), an unified data + instruction 64KB direct associative
  cache, and an Memory Managment Unit ( MMU ).  There is a 4 stage
  pipeline for the integer instructions ( fetch F, decode D, exec E,
  update WB ) FPU and IU are synchronized


  2.2.  Super SPARC

  This is Texas Instrument and Sun's brainchild, it is usualy found at
  clok rates around 50Mhz featuring up to 1MB L2 cache, it is available
  both on single and dual processor modules ( SparcStation 10 and
  SparcStation 20 ). The higher clock frequency I have encountered is
  60Mhz.


  On a technical point of view this is a SPARC-V8 implementation, it is
  a superscalar processor, having 2 caches, one for instruction the
  other one for data.

  ·  The 20kB instruction cache is a 5 way associative.

  ·  The 16KB data cache is 4 way associative.


  2.3.  Micro SPARC

  This is once again Texas Instrument and Sun's brainchild, you can find
  it in the SparcStation Classic, SparcStation LX, at frequency up to
  50Mhz. Its derivative the Micro SPARC II can be found in SparcStation
  4, SparcStation 5 at frequencies up to 110Mhz.

  On a technical point of view, its main features are a high level of
  integration, having 2 caches, one for instructions, the other one for
  data.


  ·  A 4KB instruction direct associative cache.

  ·  A 2KB data direct associative cache.


  It is not possible to had an L2 cache.  If wish to learn more about
  the MicroSPARC processor you can browse Sun's Ultra SPARC ressources.


  2.4.  Hyper SPARC

  This processor was introduced by ROSS in 1993, it is usualy found in
  the SparcStation 10, and SparcStation 20, at frequencies up to 150Mhz
  ( I have heard of 200Mhz dual processor modules, but Have not
  witnessed one yet ). It can be found on single or dual processor
  modules.


  On a technical point of view it is an implementation of the SPARC-V8,
  it is superscalar. It can be found with L2 cache up to 512KB


  2.5.  Ultra SPARC

  The Ultra SPARC processor is an extension of the SPARC-V9
  architecture, it is a 64 bits processor, it features some video
  processing instructions. It is found in all the workstation whose name
  start with Ultra.

  The Ultra SPARC II is an improvement of the Ultra SPARC, the Ultra
  SPARCIII is actually the second generation of Ultra SPARC processors,
  it was first introduced in the SunBlade 1000 Workstation.  If wish to
  learn more about the UltraSPARC processors you can browse Sun's Ultra
  SPARC ressources.



  You may read the CPU-Design-HOWTO, this HOWTO has a lot of interesting
  links when it comes to studying the CPUs.

  To summarize, the 32 bits workstations are the:

  ·  The sun4 workstation is the sun4/330 model.


  ·  The sun4c workstations are the SparcStation 1,2, IPC and IPX
     models.

  ·  The sun4m workstations are the SparcStation 5, 10 and 20.

     Only the SparcStation 10 and SparcStation 20 are SMP capable: up to
     2 CPU modules.

  For more information on the SparcStation 5, 10, 20 you can read Sun's
  documentation online or download it available.

  The following model have an 64 bits UltraSPARC architecture ( sun4u ).
  SunUltra 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, 60, 80 and SunBlade 1000.  The SunUltra 2,
  60, 80 and SunBlade 1000 are SMP capable, with the Ultra 80 and
  SunBlade 1000 accepting up to 4 CPU modules, the SunUltra 2 and 60
  accepting only 2 CPU modules.

  The SunBlade 1000 is the latest one featuring Sun's latest marvel the
  Ultra III CPU, at a premium price of course.  You can have a summary
  of the UltraWorkstation still in production at Sun's website.

  A lot of information has been compiled in the Sun hardware reference
  that is found on AcesHardware's website, or on SunHelp 's  website.


  2.6.  Deciphering the CPUs

  At first, a reference like SM61 or RT-200-D-125/512 seems to be, to
  say the least, quite cryptic.  Actually, understanding theses
  references is really easy.


  2.6.1.  Ross Technology.

  Theses CPUs's naming scheme is RT-a00-b-freq/cache where

  ·  a is a digit:

  ·  1 SparcStation 10.

  ·  2 SparcStation 20.

  ·  6 SPARC MP600 ( not exactly a workstation ).

  ·  b is a letter:

  ·  D Dual CPU.

  ·  Q Quad CPU.

  ·  S Single CPU.

  ·  freq The frequency expressed in Megahertz.

  ·  cache The amount of cache memory expressed in Kilobytes.

  When theses modules are in a workstations the naming convention is
  HSxy, for example ywing is a SparcStation 20 HS22, thus it is easier
  to have a look inside the workstation.

  2.6.2.  SM modules.

  This table is extracted from the FAQABOSS



  ______________________________________________________________________
  Name  Speed( MHz )  Cache( MB ) Number of    SuperSparc
                                   Processors   Series

  SM20       33            0            1          I
  SM30       36            0            1          I
  SM40       40            0            1          I
  SM41       40            1            1          I
  SM50       50            0            1          I
  SM51       50            1            1          I
  SM512      50            1            2          I
  SM51-2     50            2            1          I
  SM61       60            1            1          I
  SM61-2     60            2            1          I
  SM71       75            1            1          II
  SM71-2     75            2            1          II
  SM81       85            1            1          II
  SM81-5     85            2            1          II
  ______________________________________________________________________



  Warning: the SM100 is a RT-600-D-40



  2.6.3.  Cypress.

  Cypress manufactured SPARC compliants processors; AFAIK their naming
  scheme is CYnnn.

  As you can see, this is easy to understand.

  3.  Buying a SPARC workstation.


  You have decided to buy a SPARC based workstation, now you can tell
  what CPU each model sports, but can you tell how that particuliar
  model looks like? How its is inside?

  Do not worry, this section will help you on that topic as well as
  providing you with some hints on how to inspect and test the hardware.


  3.1.  Gaigning a visual familiarity with SPARC hardware


  PC hardware is everywhere and usualy one is quite familiar with it,
  this is not exactly the case with SPARC based hardware, even more when
  it comes to the innards of a workstation. The good news is that it
  exists some sites on the web, where you can find pictures of Sun
  hardware, with some very detailed shots, thus you should be able to
  instantly identify the model and its condition prior to buy it.  The
  two main site where I usualy go are:

  ·  sun In Sun's database, you can find technical data as well as
     picture of some of Sun's product, the pictures are crisp, and the
     hardware is always at its best, this is technicaly interesting, in
     order to compare brand new hardware and the used one that is usualy
     featured on the two sites below.

  ·  HAL This site features very detailed pictures of a lot of hardware,
     from CPU modules to Servers, even mice.

  ·  obsolyte This site has different pictures, it is very useful too.

  3.2.  Sun made hardware or clones ?

  On the one hand, it is very easy to find information on Sun hardware,
  while it can be difficult to find it for clone systems on the other
  hand it should be more fun to work with exotic hardware.

  Clone systems have been or are still manufactured, at least by:

  ·  Fujitsu.

  ·  Ross

  ·  Tadpole/RDI manufactures SPARC based laptops.

  ·  Tatung

  ·  Toshiba, used to manufacture SPARC based laptops: The AS1000.

  3.3.  Where to buy.

  Of course if you buy first hand hardware everything should be fine,
  but if you decide to go for second hand hardware, you will have to
  decide how you want to buy it, and you should be able to test it by
  yourself.

  Second hand hardware can be brought from Sun as refurbished hardware,
  at auction websites, or in specialised stores, or directly from
  companys that upgrade their hardware.


  3.4.  Checklist

  When it comes to second hand hardware one has to be as cautious as
  possible about the source, and the condition  of that hardware.

  For the source of the hardware, if you can track it, it is a very good
  point. If you can't track it, it is up to you to decide if you trust
  the seller or not ( If the seller cannot give you the reference of the
  hardwre and if, obviously he/she is clueless about Sun hardware, you
  should switch to condition red ).

  Another interesting point is to see if check is accepted as a
  payement.

  If you can check the hardware before buying it then first have a
  general look at it, search for cracks, for stains; check the
  connector's pin. If this first inspection is OK, then ask to see the
  inside, look for spills, watch carefuly the connectors, then if it is
  OK ask to see it running, watch carefully boot messages, issue the
  dmesg|more or if it runs Solaris you can issue the more
  /var/adm/messages command, and also very important listen to your
  computer, do you hear unusual noises? Does it smell OK?. Then enter
  the OpenBoot by the stop+a command and run some tests ( see the
  OpenBoot section ).  When you have decided to purchase it, it is very
  important that you always make sure that the workstation you are
  purchasing is the one you have tested: always keep an eye on it, do
  not let someone go to the backoffice with it for example, do not
  accept to leave without your workstation.

  Then, when you are at home, recheck it as if it was the first time you
  see it.  If it comes with CDROM drive, try to mount/umount a few CDs
  and read them in order to check that device. If there is a floppy disk
  read/write/format a few floppys, this should be a good test.



  Of course, it exists tools to automaticaly test the hardware, but
  usualy you do not have them when you need them, thus the script below
  relies only on ressources provided by a Linux base system.


  You should run the following script for three days, basicaly it is
  going to use the CDROM, floppy and hard drive, and to reboot the
  computer every 3 hours. This should stress it,



  ______________________________________________________________________
  #
  # Enter this in the crontab(5)
  # run the torture.sh script every 3 hours if possible
  #
  0 */3 * * * /root/torture.sh
  ______________________________________________________________________


  Where torture.sh is



  ______________________________________________________________________
  #!/bin/sh

  #
  # these are for controlling the loops
  # the CDLIMITS and FDLIMITS
  # are for the CD and FD loops
  #
  CPT=1
  CDLIMIT=3
  FDLIMIT=10

  #
  # to which devices are
  # CDROM and floppy attached
  #
  CDROM=/dev/sr0
  FLOPPY=/dev/fd0

  #
  # where is the program we
  # intend to compile

  PATH=/path_to_big_package_to_compile

  #
  # this section si meant to
  # test the CDROM and floppy drives
  # comment what you do not need to
  # test

  while [ $CPT -le $CDLIMIT ]
  do
   #
   # CDROM drive
   #

   mount -rt iso9660 $CDROM /cdrom
   find /cdrom -exec cat {} \; >>/dev/null 2>/dev/null &
   umount /cdrom
   CPT=$(($CPT+1))
  done

   #
   # floppy drive
   #
  CPT=1
  while [ $CPT -le $FDLIMIT ]
  do
   mke2fs -c $FLOPPY >/dev/null 2>&1
   mount -t ext2 $FLOPPY /floppy
   cd /bin/
   cp dd ps echo sh /floppy
   find /floppy -exec cat {} \; >>/dev/null 2>/dev/null &
   umount /floppy
   CPT=$(($CPT+1))
  done


  #
  # The big, intensive
  # compilation
  #

  cd $PATH

  #
  # now compile
  #
  make


  #
  #
  # we remove every .a .o .s and every executable
  #

  find $PATH -name "*.[aos]" -exec rm -f {} \; >/dev/null 2>&1
  find $PATH -exec test -x {} \; -exec rm -f {} \; >/dev/null 2>&1

  #
  # time to reboot
  #
  reboot
  ______________________________________________________________________



  Of course you should run this script once in order to know how much
  time it takes to complete, this is just an idea on how to automate
  things.



  4.  Linux on SPARC: 2 kernels.

  Actually Linux on SPARC architecture comes in two flavors:

  ·  A 32 bits kernel for the Sun SPARC, Super SPARC, Micro SPARC and
     Hyper SPARC Processors.

  ·  A 64 bits kernel for UltraSPARC based workstations.

     In both case most applications run in 32 bit ( 32 bit userland ).
     There is a comprehensive FAQ  on UltraLinux's website.


  5.  Choosing a distribution.


  You are very lucky, it seems that you can pick the one you like.  In
  order to help you with this task here are some links, that should help
  you to make an informed decision.



  5.1.  Caldera Open Linux.


  The 2.2 release of OpenLinux for SPARC platform can be downloaded at

  ftp://ftp.openlinux.org/pub/sparclinux/


  You can join the mailing list by sending a mail to <
  majordomo@openlinux.org > with subscribe sparclinux in the body.


  5.2.  Debian GNU/Linux.

  Debian GNU/Linux runs on SPARC platform; you can find a lot of
  informations about this port at the http://www.debian.org/ports/sparc/
  webpage



  You can join the mailing list by sending a mail to < debian-sparc-
  request@lists.debian.org > with subscribe as the subject.


  5.3.  Linux Mandrake.


  Mandrake corporate server for SPARC can be downloaded at
  ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/Mandrake/iso/corporate-1.0/sparc

  It consists of two ISOs, the core distribution is the *inst.iso one
  and the other one, *ext.iso,  is the extension CD.


  5.4.  RedHat Linux.


  The latest RedHat Linux distriution is the 6.2; you can download it at
  ftp://rufus.w3.org/linux/redhat/redhat-6.2/sparc/ for example.

  The mailing list can be joined by sending a mail at

  < sparc-list-request@redhat.com > with subscribe as the subject.

  At the time of this writting RedHat has announced its intention not to
  support anymore SPARC Linux in the future.


  5.5.  Slackware Linux.

  This distribution is unsupported at the time of this writting, and is
  not available as ISO.  You can download it at
  ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/unsupported/protopkg/



  5.6.  SuSe Linux.


  The SuSe Linux 7.0 distribution is quite complete, you have 4 ISOs to
  download. You can grab it at the following URL:
  ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc

  You can join the mailing list by sending a blank mail to < suse-sparc-
  subscribe@suse.com >


  5.7.  TurboLinux.

  TurboLinux Workstation 6.1 for intel ships with a SPARC developper
  release CD.


  To install Linux on a SPARC based computer, should be strightforward
  if you follow the informations provided by your distribution.

  To boot from a floppy drive you have to have an install image on a
  floppy disk and to issue the boot floppy from the OpenBoot.

  If your workstation does not have a CDROM or a floppy drive, you can
  always try to perform a network installation using NFS as explained by
  this French document: http://www.linux-
  france.org/article/materiel/sparc-install/Sparc-netinstall.html .
  Basicaly, you have to set up an NFS server and to boot your
  workstation using the boot net vmlinux nfsroot=192.168.52.12:/tmp in
  order to access the image that is exported by the 192.168.52.12
  workstation on the /tmp directory.


  6.  Working with the Openboot.

  In this section, I will give you an overview of what is the OpenBoot,
  and you will be given the main commands you need to know in order to
  test your hardware and to install Linux.

  6.1.  What is the OpenBoot?


  If you are used to PC hardware, you are used to interact with its
  BIOS. SPARC computers have an Openoot, it may seem to be like your
  BIOS, but it is actually far more powerfull.  The Openoot performs the
  following tasks:

  ·  Testing and initializing the hardware.

  ·  Starting the operating System.

  ·  Giving you acces to a set of tools to program and to debug it.

     The programming language is FCode, if you can program the Forth
     langage, you can program it.

  In this section, we will juste use a small set of the OpenBoot's
  capabilities, in order to test hardware and to boot the system.  First
  you have to enter in the OpenBoot, just hit the stop and a keys
  simultaneously. Then you should see a ok prompt, if instead you see
  the > prompt then type n. Now you can proceed to the next section.


  6.2.  Diagnostics commands.

  The OpenBoot, gives you a lot of commands to test and to gather
  information about your hardware.

  ·  .version Displays version and date of the startup PROM.

  ·  banner You will see the banner, that is displayed at power-on. It
     is useful to gather some data about CPUs.

  ·  pcia-probe-list Test PCI on computers that have a PCI bus.

  ·  module-info This will display the Buses clockspeed, and processors
     frequency and amount of cache.

  ·  probe-scsi This will test all devices connected to the on board
     SCSI controler.

  ·  probe-scsi-all This will test all devices connected to all the SCSI
     controlers.

  ·  show-devs This displays all installed and probed devices.

  ·  show-sbus Use this, if you just want to display a list of installed
     and probed SBus devices.

  ·  test-all This will test all devices in the system that have a self
     test program.

  ·  test floppy If a floppy drive is installed, it will test it
     reminding you to have a formated floppy disk inside.

  ·  test-memory If the system diag-switch? is set to true, this will
     test the memory.

  ·  test net This will test the network interfaces

  ·  watch-aui This will test the AUI ethernet link.  You will see '.'
     for good packets and 'X" for bad ones. Strike any key to abort.

  ·  watch-clock This will test the real time clock chip, it will tick
     once a second. To stop this test strike any key.

  ·  watch-net This will check the network connection ( both AUI and TP
     ). You will see '.' for good packets and 'X" for bad ones. Strike
     any key to abort.

  ·  watch-net-all This will test all Ethernet interfaces.  You will see
     '.' for good packets and 'X" for bad ones. Strike any key to abort.
     When you abort one, it will test the next one.

  ·  watch-tpe This will check the TPE ethernet interface.  You will see
     '.' for good packets and 'X" for bad ones. Strike any key to abort.



  6.3.  Boot commands.

  The OpenBoot allows you to boot from various devices, the command you
  are the more likely to enter are below.

  ·  boot Boot kernel from default device.

  ·  boot cdrom Boot kernel from CDROM drive.

  ·  boot net-tpe Boot kernel from network urnel from CDROM drive, this
     is the command you are the more likely to type when installing
     Linux.

  ·  boot net Boot kernel from network using auto-selected interface.

  ·  boot net-aui Boot kernel from network using AUI interface.

  ·  boot net-tpe Boot kernel from network using TPE interface.

  ·  boot tape Boot default file from tape.



  6.4.  Misc commands.



  ·  eject-floppy Ejects the floppy.

  ·  power-off Poweroff the workstation.

     You can  poweroff your workstation, when you are working with the
     OpenBoot : just type power-off

  For more informations on the OpenBoot you can read it's FAQ



  7.  Hard drive buses.

  Depending on their architecture, the worstations are likely to feature
  one of the following hard drive buses.


  7.1.  SCSI-SCA.

  An SCSI connector is located at the rear of the Workstation; the SCA
  chanel is found on the internal bus of the SPARC Worstations, it can
  be basicaly seen as an SCSI bus that provides power supply and assigns
  SCSI ID to the peripherals.


  7.2.  EIDE.

  This is found for example in an Ultra 5 or Ultra 10 workstations


  7.3.  FC-AL

  It is used by the SunBlade 1000 workstation.


  8.  CDROM: specific settings.

  The easiest way to install linux on SPARC workstation is to use a
  CDROM. If your workstation does not have a CDROM you can plug an
  external SCSI CDROM drive, but there are two things to do or you are
  doomed to fail:

  ·  When you issue the boot cdrom command, the CDROM is mapped to ID6.

  ·  Your CDROM player's block size should be setted up on 512.

     As a rule of thumb, nearly all CDROM drives can be assigned to ID
     #6 but be carefull about the block size setting.



  9.  SILO.

  The Sparc Improved Boot LOader ( SILO ), is the boot loader that is
  used in the SPARC architecture. It allows you to boot Linux, Solaris
  or SunOS. It can load a Linux kernel from ext2, iso9660, UFS or ROMFS.
  From the SILO's README:

  This is the first attempt at a complete boot loader for Linux on the
  Sparc.  Because of the lack of space on the bootblock, we have to do
  it in two steps, the first step is a very simple loader based on Peter
  Zaitcev's silo (we will call this the first stage loader) which should
  fit in 512B and its sole purpose is to load a more complete bootstrap
  loader, herein refered to as the second stage boot loader. The cool
  thing about the second stage loader we implemented is that it makes
  use of the ext2 library (provided with the ext2fs tools) and some ufs
  code, and thus allows the loader to access any file on a ext2 fs and
  ufs, uses silo.conf, handles gunzipping and a lot of other things.
  This is different from Linux/i386 lilo which needs a map for each
  kernel. In silo we just keep one map file for the second stage loader,
  we don't expect you to be changing the second stage loader on your
  daily routine (you can do so, you will just need to use a tool to
  reinstall the maps).

  Actually, IMHO it is easier to use than LILO.


  10.  Keyboard and mouse.

  Most of the sun4m workstation have a special connector for the
  keyboard. In this case the mouse is connected indifferently to left or
  the right side of the keyboard. Some workstations have a PS2
  connector, it is very easy to spot the difference.  The keyboards you
  are the more likely to encounter are the type4 and type5.



  11.  X Window.

  XFree, usualy, runs fine on theses systems.  The XServer for the Sun
  hardware should be the Xsun, XsunMono or Xsun24 one.



  12.  SMP.


  Ouaich, SMP is supported, and I am sure that ROSS's dual CPU modules
  are supported as you can see by yourself:


  ______________________________________________________________________

  piou@ywing:~ > cat /proc/cpuinfo
  cpu             : ROSS HyperSparc RT625 or RT626
  fpu             : ROSS HyperSparc combined IU/FPU
  promlib         : Version 3 Revision 2
  prom            : 2.25
  type            : sun4m
  ncpus probed    : 2
  ncpus active    : 2
  Cpu0Bogo        : 125.33
  Cpu1Bogo        : 125.33
  MMU type        : ROSS HyperSparc
  invall          : 0
  invmm           : 0
  invrnge         : 0
  invpg           : 0
  contexts        : 4096
  CPU0            : online
  CPU1            : online
  piou@ywing:~ >
  ______________________________________________________________________



  The SparcStation 10 and SparcStations 20 are SMP capable machine and
  according to the FAQABOSS the following combinations are known to work
  :

  ·  2xSM40 ( model 402 )

  ·  2xSM41 ( model 412 )

  ·  2xSM51 ( model 512 )

  ·  2xSM512 ( model 514 )

  ·  2xSM61 ( model 612 )

  ·  2xSM71 ( model 712 )

  ·  2xSM81 ( model 812 )

  And, as stated earlier, CPU modules in SparcStations 10 and can run a
  different clock speeds, the following ones __SHOULD__ work:


  ·  2xSM50

  ·  SM41, SM51

  ·  SM41, SM61

  ·  SM51, SM61

  ·  SM71, SM81


  If you want to learn more about SMP and Linux you can read the SMP-
  HOWTO

  How does it performs? Well, it is fast, really fast. Some of the java
  Demos can run faster on a dual HyperSparc 125Mhz 128MB ( ywing ) than
  on a dual celeron BP6 433@433Mhz 192MB ( calimero ). The same applies
  for the Gimp. When it comes to compiling calimero runs faster than
  ywing. Both computers running 2.2.16 kernel and calimero's hard disk
  subsystem is full SCSI.

  One important detail when you plan to have different CPU modules in
  your computer is to have the same kind of modules, you cannot mix
  SuperSparc and HyperSparc for example, but you can have an odd number
  of CPUs, for example 3. They are said to be able to run modules at
  different clock speed as written in this article form AcesHardware ,
  but I have not witnessed it.

  I plan to upgrade ywing to 4 CPU in order to see how the performance
  scales.


  13.  The sound.

  The sound is supposed to work under Linux, using the ioctl
  application.  On my SparcStation 20, the sound works fine under
  Solaris8, but I have not yet managed to hear anything under Linux (
  The Sound of Silence? ).

  You can read the Linux/Sparc audio webpage at sparcaudio for more
  informations.



  14.  Serial port.

  Sun workstations ususaly have 2 serial ports, but on sun4m workstation
  there is usualy only one serial connector at the rear, you need a
  special Y cable in order to have access to both ports.


  15.  Ressources.


  The following sites are given for your information, I am independent
  from them and does not represent them. If you would like to suggest a
  website or to add any information do not hesitate to email me.



  15.1.  Information sites.


  ·  Ace's Hardware: http://www.aceshardware.com/ An hardware
     information site having a SPARC area, actually the whole site runs
     on a SparcStation 20 SM71, 128MB ! Ouaich, definitively not an
     Intel clone.

  ·  ArsTechnica: http://arstechnica.com/cpu/index.html ArsTechnica is
     an information website with a good CPU section.

  ·  Black-Cube: http://www.black-cube.net/Sun/ Pictures of various
     SPARC hardware : IMHO great site.

  ·  LinuxDoc: http://www.linuxdoc.org homesite of the LDP.

  ·  Obsolyte: http://www.obsolyte.com/sunPICS/ Nice pictures from
     various sun Hardware.

  ·  SPARC International, Inc.  http://www.sparc.org/ As the name
     implies, a lot of information about SPARC architecture.

  ·  Sun: http://docs.sun.com/ the starting node to access documentation
     on Sun Microsystems website.

  ·  SunHelp: http://sunhelp.org A good source of information about Sun
     Hardware and Solaris OS. Has a lot of links and good documentation
     on site.

  ·  UltraLinux: http://www.ultralinux.org/ If you need information
     about the Linux Kernel on SPARC architecture it is a very good
     place: "Bring your penguin into the Sun".



  15.2.  Auction sites.

  Among the various Auction websites available on the net you can try
  theses ones. Remember to be very cautious when you purchase hardware (
  see the Buying a SPARC workstation section. )


  ·  Ebay: http://www.ebay.com Ebay, and its regional sites have got a
     lot of Workstations.

  ·  Ibazar: http://www.ibazar.com/ The French Ibazar site has ususaly a
     lot of Workstations.

  ·  Yahoo! Auctions: http://auctions.yahoo.com/ This is the well known
     site.



  16.  Thanks.

  Among the many people who showed me how great Unix and the Unix
  machine can be, some people have earned a special place I would like
  to thank them:


  ·  My "Vieux matou" Michel F. Who gave me my first acount on a real
     Unix machine, and took the time to answer my questions, showing me
     among other things how to take advantage of the hardware's feature.


  ·  Nathalie S. Who was always able to guess at the speed of light what
     went wrong and fixed it on the fly. And took time to install the
     tools I needed.

  ·  Yves D. Who among other things always welcomed my questions, and
     whose office was always open even late in the evening.

     Both of them beeing real Sysadmin and teatchers from the trenches,
     have a very deep knowledge and understandement of the Hardware and
     Software.


  17.  Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks



  17.1.  Copyright.


  Copyright © 2000 by Lionel, trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Juéry.  This
  document may be distributed under the terms set forth in the GNU Free
  Documentation Licence http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.txt
  <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.txt> .

  This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but without any warranty. The information in this document is correct
  to the best of my knowledge, but there's a always a chance I've made
  some mistakes, so don't follow everything too blindly, especially if
  it seems wrong. Nothing here should have a detrimental effect on your
  computer, but just in case I take no responsibility for any damages
  ocurred from the use of the information contained herein.

  In this document you will encounter some commercial products and
  brands. Theses products are cited for information purpose, it is not
  an endorsement from the author. The trademarks belong to their
  respective owners.

  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
  any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
  Invariant Sections being : "Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks"
  "Preface.", "SPARC, which one ?", "Buying a SPARC workstation.",
  "Linux on SPARC: 2 kernels.", "Choosing a distribution.", "Working
  with the Openboot.", "Hard drive buses.", "CDROM: specific
  settings.quot;, "SILO.", "Keyboard and mouse.", "X Window.", "SMP.",
  "The sound.", "Serial port.", "Ressources.", "Thanks.", "Revision
  History.",

  , with the Front-Cover Texts being "title" and "abstract."  , and with
  no Back-Cover Texts .



  17.2.  Administrativia.


  This text is included in the LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
  http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO .

  The latest version of this document is available in HTML format at

  http://www.theWearables.com/mirrors/SPARC-HOWTO/SPARC-HOWTO.html If
  you need a postcript file, you can grab it at
  http://www.theWearables.com/mirrors/SPARC-HOWTO/SPARC-HOWTO.ps.gz

  If you wish to mirror it or to translate it, please contact me.

  Lionel, Trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Juéry <trollhunter@linuxfr.org> or
  at <boucli27@altavista.net>


  18.  Revision History.



  ·  November 2000. v0.0.3

  ·  November 2000. First release v0.0.1



