I'm looking for the OBP updates, and all release notes for the updates, so that I can flash the two I have recently obtained and add the intervening release notes to the manual I printed out for the boards.
Also, I'm looking for the OBP dropins compatible with the SPARCengine AXi.
I've tried SunSolve, but haven't really turned up anything close.
I must have missed the first link in the first link you sent or used the wrong search terms.
The second link you give is where I got the documentation for the board from, but was otherwise useless, as the updates link there takes me to the current netra products page with no clue as to where to get the updates.
Unfortunately, the link in the search results has yet to load, but that does look like a possibility, if it isn't just another page from a manual, and if it eventually loads.
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[Added by the edit button]:
Hmmmm... This might be a case of SunSolve itself being down. Just for kicks I am trying to load the page for SunSolve.sun.com, and it's hanging just like the link in the search results.
Anyhow, I do appreciate your help, and I think I was using the wrong search terms before, similar, but wrong in that it might have buried the one at the top there on page 50 or something.
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Update:
The page finally came up and I got OBP 3.10.13 downloaded...
Does anyone know where I can get the full set of the release notes for all intervening OBP updates, including such things as processor support, video support, etc?
These release notes should answer all of my questions about such things if CPUs faster than 440MHz were ever supported, etc.
The release notes with 3.10.13 *ARE NOT CUMULATIVE RELEASE NOTES*
Message was edited by:
KC5VDJ
it is hard to find things that are EOL'd...
and was never anything faster than 440mhz for the Axi or U5/10, so don't bother.
at least, not in production...
I hope you didn't spend too much for those boards... it hurts when I see that type of equipment go for more than $50US, let alone those in EBay right now...
good luck with them... oh, and if you need to ask... 8 slots, but a max of 1 gig memory...
haroldkarl
Oh, I got these for free...
I was doing some windows setup work for a guy, and besides being paid for my work, i asked if i could take them, and he said yes... nice 5U rackmount cases by Marner in the Twin Cities. The 4 gig drive in one was bad, but it was good in the other.. Both have the ATI 3D Rage PCI cards in them, and a second HME port board which I'd like to find documentation on too, as it has a second connector that looks like a micro-db SCSI connector, but isn't on the HME card.
I already know about the RAM, and found a cheap source in england that sells them for about five to ten pounds a stick of 128. Each box as-is had 256 megs in it already... so by pulling the RAM from the second box, I got the first up to 512 megs. I also found a good site for how to reprogram the RTC when I have to get a new one (Mouser Electronics), and I have logged the output of the .idprom OBP command for when the battry runs out and I have to drop a new RTC in.
Yeah, the prices I see for these boards online is just plain outrageous.
I got two 18 gig cheetahs and one 36 gig cheetah for under $60 via ebay, so I now have drives, and Type 6 KB/Mouse combos go for about $15 on ebay, and I got a pair of those. I figure all told, I'll have maybe $150 invested in them..
The only problem so far is that the OBP won't recognize the ATI graphics cards. I think I may need the OBP dropin for those. I may put up a seperate plea for help if I have no luck with SunSolve on it. The one that started this thread had me searching for "ultra axi obp updates" and variations on that theme with the words "uldtra axi", and thus, I never found the OBP updates until the gentleman above did a search without "ultra" and got it.
I already have all of the documentation, so I'm good there.
Anyhow, these seem to be decent boards, and will make nice fileserver boxes, and I'm thinking of playing with one for some ham radio DSP work with three or four soundcards in it.
Ultimately though, the rackmount ATX cases will be used for something a bit more modern, and the AXi boards will be migrated to some PC cases.
Which OS are you trying to install? Solaris 8/9/10? or Aurora? there might be a problem with Solaris 10 and the Axi... I have had problems with using the ps2 keyboard and mouse and Aurora 2...
what do you mean by RTC? I have never seen this in reference to any Sun products.... do you mean NVRAM? I haven't found the part number for it yet... it would make sense for it to be the same as the U5/U10, but I haven't needed to replace one yet...
I did just see RTC in the Axi web page... but it isn't commonly used (that I know of).
and be very carefull connecting fans and leds on that beast, I have fried a couple motherboards just by plugging the cpu fan in backward!
have fun!
haroldkarl
Well, I was playing around with FreeBSD initially on the 4 gig disk that did work, but there are a lot of things in the FBSD ports tree that need work to get going on the SPARC. I love FBSD, and run it on intel boxes, but work is needed on it.
I may devote one of the 18 giggers (when I get another SCSI cable, or an external case) to FBSD to do some porting work for the project...
Anyhow, I have successfully installed Solaris-SPARC-u1 on it, and the only problems I saw were in the freeware, where stuff like emacs would coredump on exit (from the package), or fail to compile (segfault on the blessmail module).
I have just installed Solaris-SPARC-u2 (6/06) on it today, and so far have no issues, but I do want to test the issue with emacs again.. I'll be pissed if emacs has issues on this, vi sucks (EMACS makes the sun shine! EMACS makes the birds sing! EMACS makes the grass grow green! It's a pretty good editor too!).
By "RTC" I mean the RealTime Clock / CMOS battery-backed NVRAM / IDPROM chip. Refer to the OEM Technical manual for the AXi for details on where it is on the board. They are field replacable and socketed.
The RTC in the AXi board is a SGS (ST) M48T59Y, and you can find the datasheet at: http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/ds/7001.pdf and you can find out how to replace it, and reprogram your hostid and MAC, etc at: http://www.squirrel.com/squirrel/sun-nvram-hostid.faq.html the chip is avaqilable from Mouser Electronics, probably Digi-Key as well, among others. Keep in mind they have an embedded lithium cell, and have a lifespan between 7 and 10 years.
As far as fans, I have 300 MHz CPUs in these right now, until I can find the Sun fans and mounting brackets... In the meantime, the fans are connected to the main power supply directly. As far as LEDs, I don't see how that could cause a problem, as a reverse-biased diode simply won't pass current.
Anyhow, I have had some cheap fans fry intel motherboards when they die and freeze up, so, I think I'll even direct-connect the CPU fan to the power supply when I get some of the 440's...
As for Solaris 10, I don't have any problems other than the one issue, but I do have one issue launching from a remote Xnest on my PC, but, for some reason, it works fine when I use the kdm remote login from the main kdm login screen on my pc.For some reason Xnest will do the dtlogin stuff fine, but it will never launch CDE and immediately go back to the dtlogin screen. The answer might be in the Xservers file in the /usr/dt/config directory, but it uses some wierd bastardized form that isn't standard Xservers, and will coredump dtlogin if it isn't in the form expected. I think the key is in finding out what the hell "Class" a foreign Xnest is.
Anyhow, I'm having fun, and only have one more complaint.. I can't set the font size on anything other thant he output and editor windows in Sun Studio 11 (which I also installed today). IMHO, the fonts are a bit small.
oh, and there might be a way to tweak the RTC/NVRAM chip too, I need to read up on the device driver for it... The chip supports skew adjustment that can get clock accuracy to around a second a month. Just a matter of setting a register in the chip to the adjustment value. Read the datasheet linked above, and also: http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/an/6393.pdf
Well, my original thoughts on Xnest were wrong...
I was set to blame dtlogin and the Xservers file for the problem...wrongly.
Bring up an Xnest to the sun box from your local PC.
Choose to go into CDE and login.
You get booted right back to dtlogin as described above.
NOWWWW.....
Choose Java Desktop / GNOME in the menu, and login....
Bugs:
1). When you choose to logout from the start menu in JDE/GNOME, the start menu becomes non-responsible, but all else works. Kill the Xnest to end the session.
2). DO NO KILL Xnest BEFORE LOGGING OUT VIA THE DEFECTIVE START MENU. THINGS GET LEFT IN AN INCONSISTANT STATE.
3). DO NOT ENABLE THE SCREENSAVER, AND LEAVE THE DESKTOP THE XNEST IS ON. IF YOU DO, THE MOUSE AND FOCUS WILL NEVER BE RESTORED TO XNEST IF XSCREENSAVER GOES INTO ACTION WHEN YOU ARE ON ANOTHER DESKTOP. (At least under XFree86/FBSD/KDE-3.5 on the PC end of things).
The bottom line here seems to be that dtwm itself is at fault, or seems to be, in the whole Xnest from a remote workstation issue. If it wasn't dtwm's fault, then why would Java Desktop work as the window manager in the Xnest?
Conclusion: Java Desktop mostly works (with bugs) in an Xnest.
Five/Six years ago, Xnest was a novelty, but not really practical because of the resources it took on the remote system.
This is 2006 going into 2007 though. Cheap really fast PCs with LOTS of RAM are normal now. I think Sun needs to get off it's collective butt and get things like logging in via a remote Xnest working, and if everyone is missing something here (I don't think so, based on the lack of any response of any kind to the questions of others on the topic in every internet search I've done (Hell, going by that standard, I'm the first to discover that dtlogin isn't the problem and that Java Desktop does work this way, kinda (with bugs), even though CDE refuses to. I guess nobody asking on the net has bothered checking that before me)), then Sun needs to document how to do it right if we are all missing something -- either that or get with the 21st century and just make dtwm go the way of olwm, and go with KDE and GNOME.
