SPARCstation IPC
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 24, 1982 |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, California , United States |
| Products | SPARCstation IPC, SPARCstation 1+, SPARCstation IPX |
The SPARCstation IPC (also known as Sun 4/40 and codenamed Phoenix) is a workstation introduced by Sun Microsystems on July 25, 1990. Constructed around the sun4c architecture and encased in a compact lunchbox-style enclosure, it was positioned as a cost-effective alternative to the more prevalent SPARCstation 1+. Initial pricing began at US$8,995 for a diskless configuration, rising to US$9,995 when equipped with a 207-MB hard disk. The SPARCstation IPC dominated Unix workstation sales in the first quarter of 1991 and secured second place in the subsequent quarter, trailing only the SPARCstation 2.
Processor
This model incorporates a 25 MHz Fujitsu MB86901A or LSI L64801 CPU and supports only single-processor setups.
Memory
The system contains twelve SIMM slots organized into three banks of four slots each, allowing expansion up to 48 MB of RAM by installing 1 MB or 4 MB SIMMs per bank.
Storage
Internally, the workstation supports one 3.5-inch, 50-pin, single-ended fast-narrow SE SCSI hard disk along with a 3.5-inch 1.44 MB floppy drive, both mounted beneath the case’s top cover. While external SCSI peripherals are compatible, IDE/ATAPI devices are not supported. Although contemporary 80-pin SCA drives can be adapted for use externally, their adapters prevent internal installation due to size limitations.
Connectivity
Included interfaces on the SPARCstation IPC are:
- SCSI
- Ethernet
- Two serial ports compliant with RS-232/RS-423, featuring 8-pin mini-DIN connectors (DB-25 adapter cables supplied)
- Video output via a DB13W3 connector connected to an integrated bwtwo monochrome framebuffer
- Keyboard and mouse connections through two separate 8-pin mini-DIN connectors
- Two SBus expansion slots
Networking
An onboard AMD Lance Ethernet controller is present alongside a 15-pin AUI port, enabling network access through 10BASE2, 10BASE5, or 10BASE-T standards using suitable transceivers. The OpenBoot firmware facilitates network booting via RARP and TFTP protocols. Essential system data such as MAC address and serial number reside in NVRAM; if the battery fails, these parameters must be manually entered during startup.
NVRAM
The SPARCstation IPC relies on an M48T02 real-time clock with battery-backed RAM to maintain time and boot settings. Since the internal battery cannot be replaced independently, the entire chip requires replacement upon battery depletion. Many units experience boot failures due to dead batteries. Additionally, the original design utilized reserved bits in the M48T02 in a non-standard manner, causing incompatibility with modern replacement chips that leads to RTC errors and startup problems.
To remedy this issue, typical repairs involve opening the encapsulated NVRAM module to replace the battery or substituting the entire encapsulation containing the 32.768 kHz timing crystal.
Supported operating systems
Compatible operating systems for this workstation include:
- Versions of SunOS starting from 4.0.3c
- Solaris releases from version 2.0 through Solaris 7
- Select distributions of Linux with limited SPARC32 support
- NetBSD/sparc32 beginning with release 1.0
- OpenBSD/sparc32 up to version 5.9, which is the final release supporting SPARC32
Related systems
The SPARCstation 1+ (Sun 4/65) utilizes a comparable design but is distinguished by its pizza box form factor. The SPARCstation IPX (Sun 4/50), released later, adopts a lunchbox-style chassis.