OSfOM

The Sun Ultra 3: Mobile SPARC Power The Sun Ultra 3, introduced around 2001, represented a unique offering in the UltraSPARC lineup: a mobile workstation. Breaking away from the traditional desktop and rackmount form factors, the Ultra 3 aimed to provide the power and reliability of a Sun workstation in a portable package for users who needed to take their work on the go. The Ultra 3 was powered by the UltraSPARC IIIi processor, a variant of the UltraSPARC III designed for uniprocessor systems and offering integrated features like a memory controller and PCI interface. It was available with processor speeds ranging from 550 MHz to 1.2 GHz. This provided substantial computing power for a mobile platform of its time, capable of running demanding applications. Available in different models, including those with 15-inch and 17-inch displays, the Ultra 3 supported a significant amount of RAM (up to 2GB) and offered various storage options, including IDE hard drives. It also included a range of connectivity options, such as Ethernet, USB, and serial ports, catering to the needs of mobile professionals. The Ultra 3 ran the Solaris operating system, providing a full Unix environment on a portable machine. While not as common as their desktop counterparts, the Ultra 3 found a niche among users in fields like engineering, sales, and field service who required powerful computing capabilities away from a fixed desk. The Sun Ultra 3 stands out as an interesting chapter in Sun's history, demonstrating their willingness to explore new form factors and markets for the SPARC architecture. It offered a glimpse into the potential for powerful, Unix-based mobile computing, a concept that would become more prevalent in later years with different architectures.