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Where Online can you go to buy old SPARC/Alpha Hardware?
Muad asks
"I was looking into buying a SPARC or alpha box to run Linux
on it.... I guess there should be some sites reselling older
hardware on the net. Can you guys point me out some?
I did not ask about SGIs because I think those are very
likely to be overpriced anyways. Feel free to coreect me!"
The auctions at Yahoo and ebay often have older HW. I know yahoo has a special section for unix workstations which often has that stuff.
Hi,
They resell old NeXT equipment.. If you're into collecting antique equipment, like I am, take a look..
alt.sun.hardware, or something like that.
I'm not sure about alpha's, but if you're looking for a Sparc, here's a few links you'll want to check out:
Minicomputer Exchange -- great deals on base units.. talk to Dan, he's been very helpful to me.
MemoryX -- get RAM here.. save $$
SunData -- browse here for pictures, specs, etc.. nice site but not the greatest prices, but they might do price-matching.
I just put together a dual-cpu (sm61's) sparc 20 with 4gb uw-scsi-2 drive and 128 mb of RAM for about $1100 from these guys. One thing you might consider is sun has a promo for people who want to get their hands on Solaris 7 (for non-profit/demo purposes).. you pay shipping & media and they will send you a free copy of Solaris for intel and sparc platforms ($18 I think). We run our entire network on solaris and have had very good results.
this is kind of off topic, but i recently bought a sparc 1 and, to my dismay, it wont plug into my 10baseT network, what is the network connection on the back of a sparc called? anyone know where to get a converter to fix my sparc woes?
.signature
the artist formerly known as
Try at the nearest university, they usualy have someting for sale (quite cheep to)
try http://www.eli.com/
they have refurbished SUN
and more, I had good luck buying memory for
my old sun sparc 1+ which still makes a good DNS
and heater
I picked up an Alpha21064 275mhz chip, motherboard, and 2mb of cache for $195 at Computer Surplus Outlet. The only problem is you need parity RAM (they sell 16mb sticks for like $40) and a 3.3v power supply ($125 on the same site). I installed RH5.0 on the machine i built with it and have had absolutely no problems with it.. check them out:
http://www.computersurplusoutlet.com
DEC sold the alpha technogoly (unwisely) to Intel. Check out their web site.
Also, Compaq bought DEC, so you might want to try there.
i found a great deal on www.ebay.com from a reseller.
I got a VERY clean Indy from Reputable. Not so :), microphone, etc).
much as one scratch. I also got a bunch of stuff
that I didn't ask for (Software, SCSI terminator,
screwdriver
They really care about quality and customer
satisfaction
www.SolarisCentral.org has a collection of links (under "/sparc") to used/refurbished Sun machine resellers.
good luck,
ccg
The network port on the back of that machine is known as a AUI port, originally used for thick net. What you need to connect it to 10baseT is a transciever, which can be picked up most places for $20-$30. It is a rectangular box (about the size of a medium box of matches) with the AUI port on one end and a TP port on the other. Plug it in, and you have network! :)
-------------------------------
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." - Phil. 1:21 (KJV)
Check what kind parts you need to upgrade the equipment with or you may be buying cheap up front and expensive for the rest of your life.
I am currently trying to find somebody with the 4x33 SIMMs necessary for a couple of old Digital Alpha boxes to get a memory upgrade. Digital doesn't even know of anyone with this stuff!
"Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
You can find rather reasonable prices on old Sun hardware (IPX's, LX's, Classics, Sparc 5s, etc.) at www.gstek.com
www.reputable.com has good SGI prices and www.deepspacetech.com has good prices on NeXT hardware if you're interested in it.
As an aside, I would strongly recommend against buying on eBay or online auction places in general for older non-pc hardware, as the prices tend to be absurdly high.
misc.forsale.computers.workstation is a pretty good newsgroup for buying hardware as well.
--
Kevin Doherty
kdoherty+slashdot@jurai.net
Kevin Doherty
kdoherty+slashdot@jurai.net
I got a AXPpci33 MB with 32MB RAM and 256K cache 3 months old for $170 last year. I also got a AS200 4/233 with 32MB RAM and S3 ViRGE/DX for $220 brand new with full original warranty. All of these items I got from computers.ebay.com - BTW I have no association with ebay other than being a happy user.
HTH,
RBF
As far as UDB(multia)'s go,
- www.cpumicromart.com
- Install the hdd in a working machine.
- Partition it like you would any other UDB (small (8mb or so) msdos-fs hd?1 etc).
- Install linload.exe, milo, kernel, rootdisk, etc. in said partition.
- Put the drive in your Multia.
- Fix your boot-settings to point at the stuff you installed.
- Cross your fingers and boot.
- Make sure the RedHat-CD is NFS-exported somewhere.
- When (if) the RedHat installer comes up, specify NFS for the install source.
- www.eli.com
On the other hand, prices on "new" equiptment is falling fast. A little while ago, LX164 systems were >$5000. Now, LX164-533 systems can be had for under $2500 and SX164-533(reduced cache) systems for under $1500. AxpLinux (despite myths to the contrary) now supports IDE, which can account for hundreds of dollars in savings... Please take note that in many of the 2.1.x and 2.2.0-pre kernels IDE is broken.You can pick up a udb+ram for ~$180. Any old 3.5" IDE drive will do.
Pitfalls
- Finding (or making) a 2.5"(notebook)ide -> 3.5"ide cable.
- Older UDB firmware doesn't understand IDE properly. You may need to flash an upgrade (from gatekeeper.dec.com), if so, you will need a floppy.
These come in two models, one w/ a 3.5" hdd mounting bracket and one w/ a pci-riser. You can still cram a 3.5" hdd into the pci-slot model, but...- won't be able to use a floppy.
:( - the hdd will stick ~2" out the front.
:(
You can install redhat (or whatever) w/o a floppy or cdrom (not for the timid)ELI has a few "new in box" systems left for ~$350. All original stuff, factory 540mg scsi hdd, etc. They even test their systems, offer warranty, fast delivery...
For ~$2200 you can pick up an 533mhz-LX164a with an ide-hdd and 2mb L3 cache.
(fyi: I have no experience dealing with microway)
Microway has a "special" going on 533mhz-SX164pc's for $1395. These boxes only have 1mb L2 cache, but they still spec_fp better than a PII-450.
/* MAGIC THEATRE
ENTRANCE NOT FOR EVERYBODY
MADMEN ONLY */
www.eli.com is a good source for old and reasonably new Sparcs. They also sell some DEC/Alpha systems and the occasional x86. I wish I had the money for something decent, though. Sniffle.
~Dan
"World domination, of course. And scantily clad females. Who cares if it's twenty below?"-Linus Torvalds wizard@twcny.
I like the part that reads:
:)
Low cost ISA bus.
heheh. Not bad deal tho.
HardData sells alpha boxes. They're not exactly cheap...but they're priced ~ the same as the PII boxes they sell. So it's Alpha Powered for an Intel(igent) price. ;)
Most used systems come with OS included.... which seems good, although I am left with a question: being a non-Sun person I am rather puzzled as of what to consider as a decent machine to run solaris 7 (which I got in the 10 bux distribution for x86/SPARC).
--- "I didn't think anyone would understand it" -Prof. Bob Muller
There's lots of cheap Sparc and other equipment out there if you're willing to live with the older models. (An IPX is dirt cheap these days; on the other hand, an SS5 is a lot more expensive for what you get because it's still a `current' model, even though modern PCs blow it away in terms of speed.)
However, if you want to get good deals and know what you're getting, do some research before you buy. For hardware information, the Sun Hardware FAQ is the biggest collection in one place. Another place worth looking is under the `Supported Hardware' link at the NetBSD project ; there's information there on many different systems, including Suns, and links to other sources of information. (This is also the only modern OS that runs on a lot of old equipment.)
Once you've had at least a cursory look through the resources available, spend a week or two reading through misc.forsale.computers.workstation to get an idea of what a decent price for this stuff is. There are a lot of bad (too high) prices posted there, but these usually get pointed out fairly quickly.
The last thing I'd recommend is to start cheap, to see if this is to your taste. If you decide that working with non-PC equipment is just too much of a hassle, or you get too little performance for your dollar, you're only out a couple of hundred dollars if you bought an IPX, rather than a couple of thousand if you bought an SS20.
Personally, I find old hardware quite rewarding. I currently have running at home 3 Sparcstations (two with rather nice 17" colour monitors that were dirt cheap!), a couple of Sun 3/60s (one colour, one mono, both with 19" monitors) and a VAXStation 2000, and my main mail server for cynic.net is an IPX. I've also had various other things kicking around in the past, though I recently cleaned out my collection. It's fun stuff to play with, and actually does useful work quite well in many circumstances.
cjs
The world's most portable OS: http://www.netbsd.org.
I have, over the years purchased many interesting pieces of Sun/SGI/Alpha gear from Moser Electronics. MECO.ORG
Another site to go to for used sparc equipment
is www.nct-cra.com/
I'm also looking for older Sun h/w (an ELC or IPX would be nice). I'm been looking about a year now, but have been unable to locate anything in Europe (Denmark), and shipping from the US is just not cost-effective (usually costs more than the system itself). So my question is: Does anyone know where to buy old Sun h/w in Europe?
/Styx
This crowd have a bunch of old sparcs
never dealt with them, but they've been advertising for years.
www.speedie.co.uk
Computers are like air conditioners; they stop working if you open windows
I've got a spare UDB/Multia box and a SPARC ELC. They both run Linux just fine but I'm starting to run out of room so if anyone's interested somewhere near to Nottingham in the UK then drop me a note...
DAVE
Dave.Marples@citel.com