Got a Sun Ultra 2. What do I do with it?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I recently aquired a used Sun Ultra 2 Creator3D workstation and monitor, but I have no idea what to do with. It has dual 300MHz UltraSparc2 CPUs, 1GB RAM, and a 4GB SCSI hard drive, so I'm thinking it would make a good server. The only problem is there's no OS installed and the machine doesn't have a CD drive. Does anyone with experience with SUNs know how to install an OS via Ethernet or floppy? I know the machine works because I got to the OK screen and could run some diagnostic commands. And should I run Solaris or go with a Linux distro?



If anyone could give me suggestions I'd appriciate it.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    You could do a network install from another computer. I'm currently trying to figure out how to do this with my Ultra 1. It has a 9GB Ultra wide SCSI drive, so it's definitely becoming a server.



    Anyone know how to set up Mac OS X to be a netboot server for non-PowerPC OSs?
  • Reply 2 of 8
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    From what I remember we used to install the mini root from a SCSI CD drive and then do the full install off the CD. Linux is and option right? I think you need a drive and Linux.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    NetBSD supports the Ultra-2 family, I believe. NetBSD is nice and small.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    ...you could donate it to me



    I use a Sun Ultra 1 200E with 512MB RAM as my web server.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    kecksykecksy Posts: 1,002member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by /mandolux/

    ...you could donate it to me



    I use a Sun Ultra 1 200E with 512MB RAM as my web server.




    Haha, no. I got this thing for $150 and I here they're worth $1000. I'm holding on to it.



    Between Solaris, Linux, and BSD, I'm leaning towards Linux because I believe there's more software available for it. I also got a hold of someone who might be able to help me get an OS installed, so I'll let you know how it goes.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kecksy

    Haha, no. I got this thing for $150 and I here they're worth $1000. I'm holding on to it.



    Between Solaris, Linux, and BSD, I'm leaning towards Linux because I believe there's more software available for it. I also got a hold of someone who might be able to help me get an OS installed, so I'll let you know how it goes.




    Not really. In theory any program posix compliant (i.e. runs on linux) should run on other nixes. If you can get binaries, that makes it easier. You best bet would probably be to run Solaris, but I don't think that's free.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    Linux has the best support (because it is more common) and has more momentum (ie: gets better faster). Also, I believe multiple CPUs is 'experimental' for BSD whereas it is quite polished on linux.



    My two cents, as someone who has used both BSD (besides osx) and linux.



    Given dual CPUs and ample RAM, you may consider Gentoo linux, wherein you compile/optimize your own software.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    I believe you can get Solaris free for personal use:



    http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris...ies/index.html



    Unfortunately one of the restrictions seems to be single CPU systems only.
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