Sun timeline
Sun-4 is a series of Unix workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched in 1987. The original Sun-4 series were VMEbus-based systems similar to the earlier Sun-3 series, but employing microprocessors based on Sun's own SPARC V7 RISC architecture in place of the 68k family processors of previous Sun models.
Sun 4/280 was a base system used for building an early RAID prototype. [1]
Models are listed in approximately chronological order.
| Model | Codename | CPU board | CPU | CPU MHz | Max. RAM | Chassis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/260 | Sunrise | Sun 4200 | Fujitsu SF9010 IU, Weitek 1164/1165 FPU | 16.67 MHz | 128 MB | 12-slot VME (deskside) |
| 4/280 | Sunrise | Sun 4200 | Fujitsu SF9010 IU, Weitek 1164/1165 FPU | 16.67 MHz | 128 MB | 12-slot VME (rackmount) |
| 4/110 | Cobra | Sun 4100 | Fujitsu MB86900 IU, Weitek 1164/1165 FPU (optional) | 14.28 MHz | 32 MB | 3-slot VME (desktop/side) |
| 4/150 | Cobra | Sun 4100 | Fujitsu MB86900 IU, Weitek 1164/1165 FPU (optional) | 14.28 MHz | 32 MB | 6-slot VME (deskside) |
| 4/310 | Stingray | Sun 4300 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 25 MHz | 32 MB | 3-slot VME (desktop/side) |
| 4/330 | Stingray | Sun 4300 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 25 MHz | 96 MB | 3-slot VME w 2 memory slots (deskside) |
| 4/350 | Stingray | Sun 4300 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 25 MHz | 224 MB | 5-slot VME (desktop/side) |
| 4/360 | Stingray | Sun 4300 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 25 MHz | 224 MB | 12-slot VME (deskside) |
| 4/370 | Stingray | Sun 4300 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 25 MHz | 224 MB | 12-slot VME (deskside) |
| 4/380 | Stingray | Sun 4300 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 25 MHz | 224 MB | 12-slot VME (rackmount) |
| 4/390 | Stingray | Sun 4300 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 25 MHz | 224 MB | 16-slot VME (rackmount) |
| 4/470 | Sunray | Sun 4400 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 33 MHz | 768 MB | 16-slot VME (deskside) |
| 4/490 | Sunray | Sun 4400 | Cypress Semiconductor CY7C601, Texas Instruments 8847 FPU | 33 MHz | 768 MB | 12-slot VME (rackmount) |
In 1989, Sun dropped the "Sun-4" name for marketing purposes in favor of the SPARCstation and SPARCserver brands for new models, although early SPARCstation/server models were also assigned Sun-4-series model numbers. For example, the SPARCstation 1 was also known as the Sun 4/60. This practice was phased out with the introduction of the SPARCserver 600MP series in 1991. The term Sun-4 continued to be used in an engineering context to identify the basic hardware architecture of all SPARC-based Sun systems.
Sun 4/110, 4/150, 4/260 and 4/280 systems upgraded with the Sun 4300 CPU board (as used in the SPARCserver 300 series) were referred to as the 4/310, 4/350, 4/360 and 4/380 respectively.
The Sun-4 architecture refers to the VME-based architecture described above and used in the Sun 4/100, 4/200, SPARCserver 300 and SPARCserver 400 ranges. Sun-4 support was included in SunOS 3.2 onwards and Solaris 2.1 to 2.4. OpenBSD [2] and NetBSD [3] also will run on the Sun-4 architecture families.
Several variations on the Sun-4 architecture were subsequently developed and used in later computer systems produced by Sun and other vendors. These comprised:
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the Network File System (NFS), and SPARC microprocessors. Sun contributed significantly to the evolution of several key computing technologies, among them Unix, RISC processors, thin client computing, and virtualized computing. Notable Sun acquisitions include Cray Business Systems Division, Storagetek, and Innotek GmbH, creators of VirtualBox. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982. At its height, the Sun headquarters were in Santa Clara, California, on the former west campus of the Agnews Developmental Center.
SunOS is a Unix-branded operating system developed by Sun Microsystems for their workstation and server computer systems. The SunOS name is usually only used to refer to versions 1.0 to 4.1.4, which were based on BSD, while versions 5.0 and later are based on UNIX System V Release 4 and are marketed under the brand name Solaris.
Sun Enterprise is a range of UNIX server computers produced by Sun Microsystems from 1996 to 2001. The line was launched as the Sun Ultra Enterprise series; the Ultra prefix was dropped around 1998. These systems are based on the 64-bit UltraSPARC microprocessor architecture and related to the contemporary Ultra series of computer workstations. Like the Ultra series, they run Solaris. Various models, from single-processor entry-level servers to large high-end multiprocessor servers were produced. The Enterprise brand was phased out in favor of the Sun Fire model line from 2001 onwards.
The SPARCstation 1 is the first of the SPARCstation series of SPARC-based computer workstations sold by Sun Microsystems. The design originated in 1987 by a Sun spin-off company, UniSun, which was soon re-acquired. The SPARCstation 1 has a distinctive slim enclosure and was first sold in April 1989, with Sun's support ending in 1995.
The SPARCstation, SPARCserver and SPARCcenter product lines are a series of SPARC-based computer workstations and servers in desktop, desk side (pedestal) and rack-based form factor configurations, that were developed and sold by Sun Microsystems.
The Sun Ultra is a discontinued line of workstation and server computers developed and sold by Sun Microsystems, comprising two distinct generations. The original line was introduced in 1995 and discontinued in 2001. This generation was partially replaced by the Sun Blade in 2000 and that line was in itself replaced by the Sun Java Workstation—an AMD Opteron system—in 2004. In sync with the transition to x86-64-architecture processors, in 2005 the Ultra brand was later revived with the launch of the Ultra 20 and Ultra 40, albeit to some confusion, since they were no longer based on UltraSPARC processors.
Sun Fire is a series of server computers introduced in 2001 by Sun Microsystems. The Sun Fire branding coincided with the introduction of the UltraSPARC III processor, superseding the UltraSPARC II-based Sun Enterprise series. In 2003, Sun broadened the Sun Fire brand, introducing Sun Fire servers using the Intel Xeon processor. In 2004, these early Intel Xeon models were superseded by models powered by AMD Opteron processors. Also in 2004, Sun introduced Sun Fire servers powered by the UltraSPARC IV dual-core processor. In 2007, Sun again introduced Intel Xeon Sun Fire servers, while continuing to offer the AMD Opteron versions as well.
MBus is a computer bus designed and implemented by Sun Microsystems for communication between high speed computer system components, such as the central processing unit, motherboard and main memory. SBus is used in the same machines to connect add-on cards to the motherboard.
The SPARCstation 20 or SS20 is a discontinued Sun Microsystems workstation introduced in March 1994 based on the SuperSPARC or hyperSPARC CPU. It is one of the last models in the SPARCstation family of Sun "pizza box" computers, which was superseded by the UltraSPARC design in 1995.
The SPARCstation 10 is a workstation computer made by Sun Microsystems. Announced in May 1992, it was Sun's first desktop multiprocessor. It was later replaced with the SPARCstation 20.
SPARCstation 5 or SS5 is a workstation introduced by Sun Microsystems in March 1994. It is based on the sun4m architecture, and is enclosed in a pizza-box chassis. Sun also offered a SPARCserver 5 without a framebuffer. A simplified, cheaper version of the SS5 was released in February 1995 as the SPARCstation 4. Sun also marketed these same machines under the "Netra" brand, without framebuffers or keyboards and preconfigured with all the requisite software to be used as web servers. An estimated 400,000+ SPARCstation 5s were sold.
The Cray Superserver 6400, or CS6400, is a discontinued multiprocessor server computer system produced by Cray Research Superservers, Inc., a subsidiary of Cray Research, and launched in 1993. The CS6400 was also sold as the Amdahl SPARCsummit 6400E.
The SPARCstation 2, or SS2 is a SPARC workstation computer sold by Sun Microsystems. It is based on the sun4c architecture, and is implemented in a pizza box form factor.
Solbourne Computer, Inc. was originally a vendor of computer systems based in Longmont, Colorado, United States, at first 52% owned by Matsushita. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company produced a range of computer workstations and servers based on the SPARC microprocessor architecture, largely compatible with Sun Microsystems' Sun-4 systems. Some of these are notable for supporting symmetric multiprocessing some time before Sun themselves produced multiprocessor systems. Even when Sun produced multiprocessor systems, SunOS uses an asymmetric multiprocessing model rather than OS/MP's symmetric multiprocessing model; Sun would not adopt symmetric multiprocessing until the release of Solaris 2.0 in 1992. Due to the cost of engineering and producing new systems to compete with Sun's increasingly competitive hardware offerings and the loss of symmetric multiprocessing as a distinguishing feature, in 1994, Solbourne left the computer hardware business, with Grumman Systems Support Corporation taking over support for Solbourne customers until 2000.
The SPARC Enterprise series is a range of UNIX server computers based on the SPARC V9 architecture. It was co-developed by Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu, announced on June 1, 2004, and introduced in 2007. They were marketed and sold by Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, and Fujitsu Siemens Computers under the common brand of "SPARC Enterprise", superseding Sun's Sun Fire and Fujitsu's PRIMEPOWER server product lines. Codename is APL.
Sun4d is a computer architecture introduced by Sun Microsystems in 1992. It is a development of the earlier Sun-4 architecture, using the XDBus system bus, SuperSPARC processors, and SBus I/O cards. The XDBus was the result of a collaboration between Sun and Xerox; its name comes from an earlier Xerox project, the Xerox Dragon. These were Sun's largest machines to date, and their first attempt at making a mainframe-class server.
The SPARCclassic is a workstation introduced by Sun Microsystems in November 1992. It is based on the sun4m architecture, and is enclosed in a lunchbox chassis. It shares the code name Sunergy with the SPARCclassic X, SPARCstation LX, and SPARCstation ZX. It was replaced by the SPARCstation 4 in February 1994.
The SPARCstation LX is a workstation that was designed, manufactured, and sold by Sun Microsystems. Introduced in November 1992, it is based on the sun4m architecture and enclosed in a lunchbox chassis. It shares the code name Sunergy with the low-end range of SPARCclassic, SPARCclassic X, and SPARCstation ZX.
The SPARCstation IPC is a workstation sold by Sun Microsystems, introduced July 1990. It is based on the sun4c architecture, and is enclosed in a lunchbox chassis.
The SPARCstation IPX is a workstation that was sold by Sun Microsystems, introduced July 1991. It is based on the sun4c architecture, and is enclosed in a lunchbox chassis.
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