NVRAM / HostID Fixer
Dead battery? Enter your desired Ethernet MAC address (or the one printed on your dead chip) to generate the OpenBoot reprogramming sequence.
Architecture & OS Compatibility Matrix
A quick overview of which operating systems boot on which Sun architectures and which OpenBoot PROM (OBP) versions are historically relevant. The correct PROM version is often essential, particularly for alternative systems such as NeXTSTEP and early SunOS 4.x.
| Architecture | Key Systems | Boot PROM | SunOS 4.x | Solaris (5.x) | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun-3 (Motorola 68k) |
Sun-3/50, 3/60, 3/80, 3/160, 3/260 | Rev 2.x / 3.x (Sun PROM) |
3.5 – 4.1.1_U1 | No | NetBSD, OpenBSD (m68k) |
| Sun-4c (32-bit SPARC) |
SPARCstation 1, 1+, 2, IPC, IPX, ELC, SLC | OBP 1.x / 2.x | 4.0.3c – 4.1.4 | 2.0 – 7 | NeXTSTEP 3.3, Linux, NetBSD |
| Sun-4m (32-bit SPARC) |
SPARCstation 4, 5, 10, 20, LX, Classic, Voyager | OBP 2.x | 4.1.3_U1 – 4.1.4 | 2.3 – 9 | NeXTSTEP 3.3, Linux, OpenBSD |
| Sun-4d (32-bit SPARC) |
SPARCserver 1000, SPARCcenter 2000 | OBP 2.x (Multi-CPU) |
No | 2.2 – 8 | Linux (SMP experimental) |
| Sun-4u (64-bit UltraSPARC) |
Ultra 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, 60, 80, Enterprise, Sun Blade 100/1000 | OBP 3.x / 4.x | No | 2.5.1 – 10 | Linux (64-bit), OpenBSD, FreeBSD |
| Sun-4v (Niagara CMT) |
Sun Fire T1000, T2000, SPARC Enterprise T-Series | OBP 4.x (Hypervisor) |
No | 10 – 11.4 | Linux (Ubuntu/Debian SPARC), FreeBSD |
* Nerd Fact: NeXTSTEP 3.3 does not run on Sun-4m machines if they do have hyperSPARC CPUs (Ross Technology) installed! The NeXTSTEP kernel only supports SuperSPARC processors.