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History

The SPARCstation 1+: A Refinement of a Revolution


Following the immense success of the original "pizza box," Sun Microsystems released the SPARCstation 1+ (also known as the Sun 4/65) in May 1990. While not a radical redesign, the 1+ represented a significant refinement, offering a performance boost and other improvements that further cemented Sun's dominance in the workstation market.

Outwardly, the SPARCstation 1+ retained the same distinctive, compact "pizza box" form factor that made its predecessor so popular. The real changes were under the hood. The most notable upgrade was the processor; the 1+ featured a faster 25 MHz CPU, a step up from the 20 MHz chip in the SPARCstation 1. This provided a welcome performance increase for users running demanding applications.

Beyond the CPU, the SPARCstation 1+ also saw improvements in memory capacity and other subtle enhancements to the system architecture. It continued to utilize the SBus expansion slots, allowing for customization and the addition of peripherals like graphics accelerators or network cards.

The SPARCstation 1+ was aimed at the same core market as the original: software developers, engineers, scientists, and universities. Its improved performance made it even more capable for these tasks, and it continued the trend of making powerful Unix workstations more accessible and affordable compared to the high-end systems of just a few years prior.

While perhaps not as historically revolutionary as the original SPARCstation 1, the 1+ was a crucial evolutionary step. It demonstrated Sun's ability to quickly iterate and improve upon a successful design, keeping their hardware competitive and their Solaris operating system a preferred platform for technical users.

Today, the SPARCstation 1+ is also a valued piece in vintage computer collections, representing the continued refinement of the "pizza box" era and the ongoing legacy of Sun's early SPARC systems.