SPARCstation IPX
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 24, 1982 in Santa Clara, California, United States |
| Products | SPARCstation IPX |
The SPARCstation IPX (also known as Sun 4/50 and codenamed Hobbes) is a workstation developed by Sun Microsystems as the follow-up to the SPARCstation IPC. Released on July 22, 1991, it utilizes the sun4c architecture and is enclosed in a compact lunchbox-style case. Positioned as a mid-tier model within the SPARCstation series, its price ranged from US$11,995 to US$13,495. In 1991, it was among the three leading Unix workstations in terms of sales.
Processor
The SPARCstation IPX is equipped with a 40 MHz Fujitsu MB86903 or Weitek W8701 CPU. An optional upgrade to an 80 MHz Weitek "SPARC POWER μP" (model 2000A-080 GCD) processor was available from third-party vendors, which required updating the ROM to version 2.9.
Memory
Memory expansion on the SPARCstation IPX is facilitated through four 72-pin SIMM slots compatible with parity Fast Page Memory (FPM) SIMMs operating at speeds between 50 and 80 ns. Each slot can be populated individually, supporting a maximum of 64 MB total RAM. Utilizing matched pairs of modules enables "bank interleaving," which enhances memory access speed and overall system efficiency. Additional memory can be added using 32 or 64 MB SBus "Above Board" RAM expansions connected via the 8-pin J101 header, which supplies extra power and clock signals in conjunction with the DMA/Cache controller.
Storage
Internally, the system accommodates one 50-pin IDC SCSI hard drive along with a floppy disk drive and supports external SCSI peripherals. It does not provide IDE/ATAPI compatibility. While modern 80-pin SCA drives may be employed using an adapter, the physical size of this adapter prevents installation inside the case.
Networking
An onboard AMD Lance Ethernet chipset offers an AUI connection on the SPARCstation IPX. To connect to media such as 10BASE5, 10BASE2, or 10BASE-T, external AUI transceivers are necessary. The OpenBoot ROM supports network booting protocols including RARP and TFTP. System-specific data like MAC address and serial number reside in NVRAM; if the battery powering this memory fails, manual entry of boot parameters becomes necessary, although these settings are lost upon powering down.
Built-in Framebuffer
The workstation includes an integrated Sun Turbo GX cgsix color framebuffer on its internal SBus slot, freeing up one SBus slot for additional expansion. This design feature offers expandability similar to that of the larger SPARCstation 2, with which it shares numerous architectural traits.
Physical Dimensions
The device measures x x (width by depth by height) and has a weight of .
NVRAM
For real-time clock functions and boot parameter storage, the SPARCstation IPX employs an M48T02 chip with battery-backed RAM. The battery is embedded inside the chip package, necessitating replacement of the entire chip when depleted—an issue commonly encountered in older units that often fail to boot. Moreover, the sun4c architecture uses reserved bits within the M48T02's NVRAM in a non-standard way; newer versions of this chip enforce stricter access rules, resulting in RTC failures and boot errors despite preserved data.
To resolve these problems, many users modify malfunctioning NVRAM units by opening their encapsulation to replace only the battery or substitute the entire encapsulation containing the 32.768 kHz clock crystal.
Operating systems
The SPARCstation IPX is compatible with the following operating systems:
- SunOS version 4.1.1 and later
- Solaris from 2.0 up to Solaris 7 (support for sun4c architecture was discontinued starting with Solaris 8)
- Linux – certain distributions continue to support this sparc32 variant
- NetBSD/sparc32 beginning with release 1.0
- OpenBSD/sparc32 – compatibility maintained until version 5.9, which was the final release supporting SPARC32
Related computers
Preceding the IPX, the SPARCstation IPC (Sun 4/40) featured an earlier lunchbox-style design.
The SPARCstation 2 (Sun 4/75) possesses a closely related architecture and accommodates identical CPU and SBus memory enhancements.