SPARCstation 5
Gallery
Image of OSfOM.org Collection's SPARCstation 5 .
Technical Specifications
| Model: | SPARCstation 5 |
|---|---|
| Codename: Platform: |
Aurora sun4m |
| Processor: Math Copro: |
microSPARC-II |
| Clock Speed: | 70, 85, and 110 MHz, with a later 170 MHz TurboSPARC option |
| RAM: | |
| Graphics: | |
| Operating System: | |
| Introduced: | March 1994 (170MHz Version: 1997) |
| Dealer price (net): |
I got this SPARCstation 5 through a swap deal (sun <=> apple :)) with a fellow club member.
Done:
- Exterior and interior cleaning - the power supply was extremely dusty
- Reprogramming of the IDPROM, there was a wrong model stored, which meant that neither Solaris nor NEXTstep could be installed
- 2 circular saw Seagate 500MB HDs replaced by a 9GB IBM SCA
- Installation of NEXTstep 3.3.14 (last version for SPARC)
To-Do:
- Upgrade to the maximum possible RAM of 256 MB
The SPARCstation 5: Sun's Affordable Workhorse
The SPARCstation 5 is a Unix workstation manufactured by Sun Microsystems as a lower-cost counterpart to the higher-end SPARCstation 10 and 20 lines. Housed in a "pizza box" desktop enclosure, the system utilized the microSPARC-II processor at several clock configurations instead of the SuperSPARC or hyperSPARC processors found in the flagship models.
Internal expansion included RAM slots and SBus interfaces for peripherals, network adapters, and graphics cards. Throughout the mid-to-late 1990s, academic institutions, corporations, and small businesses deployed the machine for software engineering, network administration, and general technical office work. Sun also adapted the hardware platform for its Netra line of dedicated network and web servers. The model is preserved today among vintage computing and retrocomputing hobbyists.