SPARCstation 10

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The SPARCstation 10 a.k.a. SS10 (codename Campus-2) is a workstation made by Sun Microsystems. A successor to the SPARCserver 600-series machines, it was Sun's first desktop multiprocessor (it came in a pizza-box chassis). It was later redesigned as the SPARCstation 20.

1 Specifications
2 NVRAM
3 Operating systems
4 Related Computers
5 External links

[edit] Specifications

[edit] CPU support

MBus module for the SPARCStation 10

The SPARCStation 10 (SS10) contains two MBus slots running at either 36 MHz (33 MHz for the earliest models) or 40 MHz (set via motherboard jumper). Each MBus slot can contain single or dual CPU modules, permitting expansion to up to four CPUs. Both SuperSPARC and hyperSPARC CPU modules were available. Single SuperSPARC modules without external cache were sold by Sun; they ran at the clock speed of the MBus (uniprocessor models 20, 30, 40, and dual processor model 402). Single and a few dual SuperSPARC modules with 1MB external cache were also sold; they were independently clocked, and ran at a higher rate than the MBus, most commonly 40.3 MHz or 50 MHz (uniprocessor model 41, 51, multiprocessor models 412, 512, 514). Sun's dual 50 MHz SuperSPARC modules (the only dual MBus modules supported by Sun for this system) were double-width, physically occupying one sbus slot per module in addition to an mbus slot. SuperSPARC modules with and without external cache could not be mixed. SuperSPARC modules with external cache could be mixed, even with different clock speeds, but this was not a Sun-supported configuration. Ross hyperSPARC modules were also available from third party vendors. [1]. The SS10 had reasonable cooling capacity given the cramped pizzabox case, but it was not designed for some of the higher-speed hyperSPARC modules, and so heat issues were common when these modules were used, particularly in four CPU configurations [2].

[edit] Memory

The SS10 can hold a maximum of 512MB ram in 8 slots.

[edit] Disk drives

The SS10's enclosure can hold two SCSI hard drives and a floppy. Other SCSI devices can be attached via the external SCSI port. There is no IDE support.

[edit] Network support

There is one onboard Ethernet interface, which can be accessed from a built-in 10BASE-T jack or via a special 26-pin port that provides both AUI and audio connections; only one of these network ports can be active at a time. A special cable or adapter is needed to convert the latter port to a standard DA-15 connector.

There are also two Basic Rate Interface (BRI) ISDN connectors; the system shipped with plastic blocking plugs inserted in these connectors.

Additional SBus network cards can also be added.

[edit] NVRAM

The SS10 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.