SPARC Distribution Overview

Support knowledgebase (sparc_overview)

SuSE Linux: Version 7.0
This article refers to an older version of SuSE Linux. Some of the information in this article may be outdated. Also, some links may not be valid.

Situation:

Procedure:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/suse-us-sparc/

or one of its mirrors

http://www.suse.de/en/support/download/

For questions concerning the availability of the distribution via NFS or SMBFS, please refer to the following article: . http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/lmuelle_suselinux_internet.html. In addition, a manual is also included on the CDs.

There is a mailing list on the SPARC distribution called "suse-sparc@suse.com". You can subscribe at:

http://www.suse.de/en/support/mailinglists/index.html

List of supported machines:

Architecture          Name

32-bit systems

Sun4c             SPARCstation SLC (4/20)
                  SPARCstation ELC (4/25)
                  SPARCstation IPC (4/40)
                  SPARCstation IPX (4/50)
                  SPARCstation/server 1 (4/60)
                  SPARCstation/server 1+ (4/65)
                  SPARCstation/server 2 (4/75)

Even though kernel developers classify all sun4c systems as 'critical', they should work.

Sun4m             SPARCclassic
                  SPARCstation LC (4/15)
                  SPARCstation LX (4/30)
                  SPARCstation 4
                  SPARCstation/server 5 (70, 85, and 110 MHz)
                  SPARCstation/server 10 (with most
                  MBUS processor cards)
                  SPARCstation/server 20 (with most
                  MBUS processor cards)
Sun4d             SPARCcenter 2000

64-bit systems

Sun4u             Ultra1, Ultra2, Ultra1 Creator, Ultra2 Creator
                  UltraSPARC PCI-based workstations:
                  Ultra30, AXe, AXi, AXmp, Ultra5, Ultra10, Ultra60
                  UltraSPARC SBUS-based servers:
                  Enterprise 1, 2, 150
                  UltraSPARC SBUS-based mainframes:
                  Enterprise 3000, 3500, 4000, 4500, 5000, 6000, 6500
                  UltraSPARC PCI-based servers:
                  Enterprise 250, 450

In addition, the following MBUS modules are supported:

• SuperSPARC 20, 30, 40, 402, 41, 412, 51, 512, 514, 52, 54, 61, 612, 71, 712, 81
• All HyperSPARC modules
• Cypress modules

The model SPARCstation 5 with 170 MHz has not been officially released for Linux by the kernel developers yet. Problems are very likely to arise with this machine and thus, we cannot guarantee that SuSE Linux runs on it.

At present, SuSE Linux cannot be installed on the following machine generations:

• sun1
• sun2
• sun3
• sun386i
• sun4
• All other systems with VME bus