Sun386i
| Industry | Computer hardware, software |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 24, 1982 in Santa Clara, California, United States |
| Products | Sun386i (Roadrunner), SunOS, SunView, VP/ix MS-DOS emulator |
The Sun386i (internally known as Roadrunner) was a hybrid system combining UNIX workstation capabilities with PC compatibility, developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in 1988. It utilized the Intel 80386 processor while integrating elements from the then-current Sun-3 lineup.
Hardware
In contrast to the Sun-3 series, the Sun386i adopted a motherboard resembling that of a PC and was housed in a "mini-tower" case. There were two main models: the Sun386i/150 and the Sun386i/250, equipped with CPUs running at 20 MHz and 25 MHz respectively. The motherboard combined the CPU, an 80387 floating-point unit, an 82380 timer/DMA/interrupt controller, and a proprietary Ethernet chip named BABE ("Bus Adapter Between Ethernet"). It supported interfaces such as Floppy disk, SCSI, RS-232, and Centronics parallel ports. Expansion options included four ISA slots (one 8-bit and three 16-bit) alongside four unique 32-bit "local" bus slots intended for RAM and frame buffer expansion cards.
Memory configurations featured either 4 MB or 8 MB modules, with an additional "XP Cache" card offering up to 8 MB of RAM, an 82385 cache controller, and 32 KB of cache SRAM. Installing two such memory modules allowed a maximum capacity of 16 MB RAM.
For storage, users could select internal SCSI hard drives of either 91 MB or 327 MB capacity along with a 1.44 MB floppy disk drive. An optional external expansion chassis provided room for two more hard drives.
Display options included the monochrome BW2 supporting resolutions of 1024×768 or 1152×900 pixels, the 8-bit color CG3, and an accelerated CG5 ("Roadracer" or GXi) featuring a TI TMS34010 graphics processor capable of 1152×900 resolution. Additionally, a "SunVGA" ISA accelerator card was available to deliver full VGA output during DOS sessions.
This system marked the debut of the Sun Type 4 keyboard, which merged design aspects from earlier Type 3 and PC/AT keyboards; this design was subsequently adopted by the SPARCstation series.
Software
The Sun386i operated on a native port of SunOS tailored for the 386 architecture, supporting versions from 4.0 through 4.0.2; a beta version of 4.0.3 was limited to select users. Its software suite included the SunView graphical user interface and the VP/ix MS-DOS emulator, notable for enabling multiple concurrent DOS sessions—a significant advantage at the time.
Unix long filenames were converted into DOS-compatible 8.3 format using tilde substitutions, a feature that preceded Microsoft's VFAT implementation. Virtual drive letters were assigned such that H: represented home directories, D: corresponded to DOS session working directories, and C: mapped to a Unix file emulating a 20 MB hard disk—facilitating installation of copy-protected software inaccessible directly through Unix.
The SunOS version on this platform introduced several user-centric enhancements absent in earlier Sun-3 and SPARC releases, emphasizing simplicity for users unfamiliar with UNIX systems. The desktop environment employed color as standard, and an "out-of-box experience" enabled network configuration ("box to mail") within fifteen minutes without requiring administrator setup. It also pioneered Dynamic RARP support for automatic TCP/IP address assignment—a capability unmatched by other workstation or PC manufacturers until DHCP became widespread.
Sun486i
The Sun486i (codenamed Apache) represented an upgraded iteration featuring a faster 25 MHz 80486 processor and an improved SCSI interface. Although a limited pre-production run was completed, this model was ultimately canceled in 1990 prior to its commercial release.
Easter egg
Embedded within the interior of the right side panel is the Roadrunner emblem alongside the embossed signatures of the development team.
Reception
In 1989, BYTE honored the Sun386i with an "Excellence" award, emphasizing its proficiency in simultaneously operating several MS-DOS programs on SunOS.