SUN workstation

SUN workstation

Industry	Computer hardware
Founded	1980 (1980)
Founder	Andy Bechtolsheim, Forest Baskett
Headquarters	Stanford , United States
Products	Modular computing platform, workstations

The SUN workstation was a modular computing platform created at Stanford University during the early 1980s. It laid the groundwork for numerous commercial systems, notably the initial workstations produced by Sun Microsystems.

History

In 1979, Xerox contributed Alto computers—originally developed at their Palo Alto Research Center—to Stanford's Computer Science Department and other institutions engaged in pioneering Internet research. These Altos were interconnected through Ethernet, forming multiple local area networks. The SUN workstation drew inspiration from the Alto design but was constructed using more affordable modular parts. Its designation came from the campus' Stanford University Network.

Professor Forest Baskett envisioned an affordable personal workstation tailored for computer-aided logic design, targeting a "3M" machine: a processor delivering 1 million instructions per second (MIPS), 1 Megabyte of memory, and a 1 Megapixel raster graphics display—sometimes referred to as the fourth "M" due to its projected $10,000 cost. The initiative received initial funding from Ralph Gorin, Director of Computer Facilities. Graduate student Andy Bechtolsheim spearheaded hardware development with assistance from students and staff, while Vaughan Pratt assumed an informal faculty leadership role in 1980.

The SUN workstation was made possible by three principal technologies: very large-scale integration (VLSI) integrated circuits, the Multibus architecture, and ECAD (Electronic Computer Assisted Design). ECAD enabled rapid creation of intricate systems by individual engineers. Bechtolsheim utilized the Stanford University Drawing System (SUDS) on the aging Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) platform to design SUN circuit boards. The designs were validated and automated with the SCALD system, which facilitated production of wire-wrapped prototypes and printed circuit boards.

The use of VLSI chips permitted extensive hardware functionality to be integrated onto a single chip. The initial board developed was the graphics display controller in 1980. The central processing board incorporated a Motorola 68000 CPU alongside memory and controllers for parallel and serial ports. A third board provided connectivity to an experimental 2.94 Mbits/second Ethernet prior to its standardization at 10 Mbits/second.

Thanks to the Multibus interface, it was possible to employ standard enclosures and circuit boards from various suppliers to assemble different configurations. For example, pairing the CPU board with a multi-port serial controller resulted in a terminal server (TIP) that linked numerous terminals to Digital Equipment Corporation time-sharing systems or the Internet. Using multiple Ethernet controllers with one CPU board created a router; software developed by William Yeager was later adopted and further developed by Cisco Systems.Les Earnest licensed the CPU board for one of the earliest commercial low-cost laser printer controllers at Imagen. Additionally, students under James H. Clark combined the processor board with prototype high-performance graphics displays; Clark would go on to found Silicon Graphics Incorporated.

Approximately ten SUN workstations were constructed between 1981 and 1982 before Stanford discontinued production. Bechtolsheim licensed the hardware design to several manufacturers but grew frustrated as none pursued workstation production. Motivated by encouragement from Vinod Khosla, Bechtolsheim and Scott McNealy established Sun Microsystems, aiming to develop an enhanced version known as the Sun-1 workstation based on this original design.

Other academic researchers utilizing SUN workstations included David Cheriton, Brian Reid, and John Hennessy.

See also

• NuMachine, an associated initiative from MIT