The final demise of SUN Sparc workstations?

Has anyone else noticed that you can no longer order (at least online)
any Sparc workstation (like the Ultra 45) from SUN? I knew this day
was coming. They had not really updated the line in a long time. But
I will miss these machines. True you can do a great deal on X86
hardware running Solaris or Linux, but not everything. And they are
(were) wonderful boxes to learn some things on, instead of having to
always have access to big iron.

Maybe Fujitsu is still selling Sparc workstations, so maybe all is not
lost.

wrote:
> Has anyone else noticed that you can no longer order (at least online)
> any Sparc workstation (like the Ultra 45) from SUN? I knew this day
> was coming. They had not really updated the line in a long time. But
> I will miss these machines. True you can do a great deal on X86
> hardware running Solaris or Linux, but not everything. And they are
> (were) wonderful boxes to learn some things on, instead of having to
> always have access to big iron.
>
> Maybe Fujitsu is still selling Sparc workstations, so maybe all is not
> lost.

I've noticed that also. The best Sparc processor is IIIi for a
Workstation and now their at VII for their servers. I guess its a
Graphics Bus/Card issue. I thought the Rock chip was suppose to be for
Workstations, with improved floating point performance.

Any way, it may be a good idea to check out Fujitsu and see their
product line.

Paul

On Jul 25, 6:41*pm, siry...@gmail.com wrote:
> Has anyone else noticed that you can no longer order (at least online)
> any Sparc workstation (like the Ultra 45) from SUN? *I knew this day
> was coming. *They had not really updated the line in a long time. *But
> I will miss these machines.

I'll miss them too, I had a great time working on them for about 12
years or so. Note that you can still get a few remanufactured
workstations at Sun's fantasy prices - $2900 for a 550 Mhz Sun Blade
150, for example.

I don't know exactly when Sun gave up on competing with PCs on price/
performance with SPARC, but it was a long long time ago and since then
it's been an exercise in milking the installed base for all its worth.
I think perhaps Ultra 10 was the last good deal. After that we had the
weak sb100/150 and the far too expensive SB1000/2000. By the time the
UltraSPARC-IIIi machines came out my product (sparc/solaris native
client software for a high-end financial software company) was DEAD.

I eventually got an SB2500 at work and indeed it was smoking fast and
wonderful, but much too late. By then you were seeing pallets of sun
sparc workstations on Ebay going for a few cents on the pound. I was
thinking that they were the trash being removed from entire trading
floors consolidating onto PCs.

Ok so yes Sun eventually made some nice PC-based workstations (I have
an Ultra40) but there was that unfortunate wobble where they nearly
killed Solaris x86. At this stage I would have been forced to go to
Linux if I still had a Unix based product at all. But we'd gone
entirely Windows and being a Sun/Solaris guy on the workstation side
of things was a career limiting move.

Maybe one future workstation size box will sneak out of Sun at some
point - like a SPARC64 in a box or even an UltraSPARC T1, but the
glory days of proper Sun workstations are gone forever. Somebody
oughta write a book or something...

Chris

On 2008-07-26, mihalis68 <> wrote:

> By then you were seeing pallets of sun
> sparc workstations on Ebay going for a few cents on the pound. I was
> thinking that they were the trash being removed from entire trading
> floors consolidating onto PCs.

Probably. I know that when we went from Unix workstations to PCs on the trading
floor I was supporting at the time, support manpower requirements went up 8
fold. (From 1/2 a person to 4 whole people.)


--
"Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain
and presumptuous desire for a second one."
[email me at huge {at} huge (dot) org <dot> uk]

mihalis68 wrote:

> On Jul 25, 6:41 pm, siry...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>Has anyone else noticed that you can no longer order (at least online)
>>any Sparc workstation (like the Ultra 45) from SUN? I knew this day
>>was coming. They had not really updated the line in a long time. But
>>I will miss these machines.
>
>
> I'll miss them too, I had a great time working on them for about 12
> years or so. Note that you can still get a few remanufactured
> workstations at Sun's fantasy prices - $2900 for a 550 Mhz Sun Blade
> 150, for example.
>
> I don't know exactly when Sun gave up on competing with PCs on price/
> performance with SPARC, but it was a long long time ago and since then
> it's been an exercise in milking the installed base for all its worth.
> I think perhaps Ultra 10 was the last good deal. After that we had the
> weak sb100/150 and the far too expensive SB1000/2000. By the time the
> UltraSPARC-IIIi machines came out my product (sparc/solaris native
> client software for a high-end financial software company) was DEAD.
>
> I eventually got an SB2500 at work and indeed it was smoking fast and
> wonderful, but much too late. By then you were seeing pallets of sun
> sparc workstations on Ebay going for a few cents on the pound. I was
> thinking that they were the trash being removed from entire trading
> floors consolidating onto PCs.
>
> Ok so yes Sun eventually made some nice PC-based workstations (I have
> an Ultra40) but there was that unfortunate wobble where they nearly
> killed Solaris x86. At this stage I would have been forced to go to
> Linux if I still had a Unix based product at all. But we'd gone
> entirely Windows and being a Sun/Solaris guy on the workstation side
> of things was a career limiting move.
>
> Maybe one future workstation size box will sneak out of Sun at some
> point - like a SPARC64 in a box or even an UltraSPARC T1, but the
> glory days of proper Sun workstations are gone forever. Somebody
> oughta write a book or something...
>
> Chris

The move to Mac hasn't helped.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net.

* :
> Has anyone else noticed that you can no longer order (at least online)
> any Sparc workstation (like the Ultra 45) from SUN?

Yes, right after reading your post ;-)

> I knew this day
> was coming. They had not really updated the line in a long time. But
> I will miss these machines. True you can do a great deal on X86
> hardware running Solaris or Linux, but not everything.

I'm sure SPARC at some not too far away time will end up like other
traditional RISC architectures like SGI/MIPS or (with end of this year)
HP PA-RISC.

I hope Sun comes out with a nice dual XEON workstation now.

Benjamin

In article <>,
Benjamin Gawert <> wrote:
>I hope Sun comes out with a nice dual XEON workstation now.

A single socket quad core mobile workstation would be nice too
and also overdue.

John

John D Groenveld wrote:

> A single socket quad core mobile workstation would be nice too
> and also overdue.
>
> John
>

Here:

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/...p?productid=19


Can be purchased here:

http://www.polywell.com/us/notebook/PolyNoteC719ND.asp

In article <488ce690$0$5015$>,
Paul Gress <> wrote:
>Can be purchased here:
>
>http://www.polywell.com/us/notebook/PolyNoteC719ND.asp

I've not purchased from Polywell, but I bought my Clevo 570RU
from Sager Midern.

The new 8GB ram quad core Clevo is here:
<URL:http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=29175&action=customize>

I've had the 570RU since the fall and love it.
I upgraded to 4GB ram and Solaris Express and Vista screams.

Currently booted Vista 32-bit because I can't get OpenVPN to
work and I need to VPN to a Cisco, but mostly I boot Nevada.
I also recently needed to boot Vista to use the built-in
camera and an external USB Java card reader.

John

John D Groenveld wrote:
> In article <488ce690$0$5015$>,
> Paul Gress <> wrote:
>> Can be purchased here:
>>
>> http://www.polywell.com/us/notebook/PolyNoteC719ND.asp
>
> I've not purchased from Polywell, but I bought my Clevo 570RU
> from Sager Midern.
>
> The new 8GB ram quad core Clevo is here:
> <URL:http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=29175&action=customize>
>

I currently have that Clevo model (D901C), purchased it from Polywell.
Have the latest SXCE snv94 installed with 4 gig of ram. It's much
faster then my W2100Z. The link you sent shows it can now be had with 8
gig of ram. Now I need to upgrade the BIOS. I'm only using the Dual
Core at 3.0 gig and the Quatro FX1600M graphics, runs my CAD better then
my Wortkstation. Extremely happy.

Also have my Cad running on a Blade 2500. I've been always waiting for
a newer Workstation that would compete with the PC Workstations, but I
guess I'll never see that. It's a shame, I still have more software
running on my Blade 2500, such as Framemaker, Acroreader (soon to be
released on X86), and various addins for my Cad (Pro/E).

Paul