The SPARCclassic (Sun 4/15) is a

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

introduced by

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...

in November 1992. It is based on the

sun4m Sun-4 is a series of Unix workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched in 1987. The original Sun-4 series were VMEbus-based systems similar to the earlier Sun-3 series, but employing microprocessors based on Sun's own SPARC V7 RIS ...

architecture, and is enclosed in a lunchbox chassis. It shares the code name ''Sunergy'' with the SPARCclassic X,

SPARCstation LX The SPARCstation LX (Sun 4/30) is a workstation that was designed, manufactured, and sold by Sun Microsystems. Introduced in November 1992, it is based on the sun4m architecture and enclosed in a lunchbox chassis. It shares the code name ''Sunergy' ...

, and SPARCstation ZX. It was replaced by the

SPARCstation 4 SPARCstation 5 or SS5 (code-named ''Aurora'') is a workstation introduced by Sun Microsystems in March 1994. It is based on the sun4m architecture, and is enclosed in a pizza-box chassis. Sun also offered a SPARCserver 5 without a framebuffer. A ...

in February 1994.

Specifications

CPU support

The SPARCclassic incorporates a single 50 MHz

microSPARC The microSPARC (code-named ''Tsunami'') is a discontinued microprocessor implementing the SPARC V8 instruction set architecture (ISA), developed by Sun Microsystems. It is a low-end microprocessor intended for low-end workstations and embedded ...

processor.

Memory

The SPARCclassic has three banks with two DSIMM slots each. The official maximum configuration uses 16 MB modules, but the first bank can also hold 32 MB modules giving a maximum of 128MB memory.

Disk drives

The SPARCclassic can hold one internal 3.5-inch 50-pin, single ended, fast-narrow

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interface ...

drive and a floppy. It also supports external SCSI devices. There is no IDE/

ATAPI ATA Packet Interface (ATAPI) is a protocol that has been added to Parallel ATA and Serial ATA so that a greater variety of devices can be connected to a computer than with the ATA command set alone. It carries SCSI commands and responses through ...

support.

Network support

The SPARCclassic comes with an on-board AMD Lance

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

chipset providing

10BASE-T 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

networking as standard and

10Base2 10BASE2 (also known as cheapernet, thin Ethernet, thinnet, and thinwire) is a variant of Ethernet that uses thin coaxial cable terminated with BNC connectors to build a local area network. During the mid to late 1980s this was the dominan ...

and

10Base5 10BASE5 (also known as thick Ethernet or thicknet) was the first commercially available variant of Ethernet. The technology was standardized in 1982 as IEEE 802.3. 10BASE5 uses a thick and stiff coaxial cable up to in length. Up to 100 stati ...

via an AUI transceiver. The

OpenBoot Open Firmware is a standard defining the interfaces of a computer firmware system, formerly endorsed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It originated at Sun Microsystems, where it was known as OpenBoot, and has ...

ROM is able to boot from network, using RARP and TFTP. Like all other

SPARCstation The SPARCstation, SPARCserver and SPARCcenter product lines are a series of SPARC-based computer workstations and server (computing), servers in desktop, desk side (pedestal) and rack-based form factor configurations, that were developed and sold ...

systems, the SPARCclassic holds system information such as MAC address and serial number in NVRAM. If the battery on this chip dies, then the system will not be able to boot.

Operating systems

The following operating systems run on a SPARCclassic: *

SunOS SunOS is a Unix-branded operating system developed by Sun Microsystems for their workstation and server computer systems. The ''SunOS'' name is usually only used to refer to versions 1.0 to 4.1.4, which were based on BSD, while versions 5.0 and l ...

4.1.3c onwards *

Solaris Solaris may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...

2.3 Edition II to Solaris 9 *

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

- Some but not all distributions still support this sparc32 sub-architecture *

NetBSD NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is a ...

/sparc32 *

OpenBSD OpenBSD is a security-focused, free and open-source, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by forking NetBSD 1.0. According to the website, the OpenBSD project em ...

/sparc32

Differences between Classic and LX

The SPARCclassic was designed to be an entry-level workstation with a lower price point than the

; it has a lower-end CG3

framebuffer A framebuffer (frame buffer, or sometimes framestore) is a portion of random-access memory (RAM) containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It is a memory buffer containing data representing all the pixels in a complete video frame. Modern ...

rather than the LX's accelerated CG6. The SPARCclassic also features 8-bit audio as opposed to 16-bit audio for the LX. The motherboards of the two systems are otherwise similar, and both use the same chassis.

SPARCclassic X

In July 1993, Sun introduced the SPARCclassic X, a stripped-down SPARCclassic marketed as an

X terminal In computing, an X terminal is a display/input terminal for X Window System client applications. X terminals enjoyed a period of popularity in the early 1990s when they offered a lower total cost of ownership alternative to a full Unix workstati ...

. It shipped with no local storage, and either 4 or 8 MB of memory. Rather than running Solaris, the SPARCclassic X loaded and ran special software over the network. Sun offered an upgrade kit to a full workstation that included a hard drive and additional memory.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Obsolyte: SPARCstation Classic and LX

Parts List for SPARCstation Classic

Official Sun Documentation
Sun workstations SPARC microprocessor products