SPARC CPU names guide - article in the SPARC Product Directory
SPARC Product Directory
SPARC CPU names - a user's guide to what they mean, who makes them, and
where you'll find them.
microSPARC,
TurboSPARC,
SuperSPARC,
HyperSPARC,
UltraSPARC,
SPARC64...
This article by
was first published in the 1996 edition of the SPARC Product Directory.
SPARC History
See also:-
Surviving the Solaris
x86 Wars How fast can your SSD
run backwards?the Last
Market Report
Compatible OEMs
Knowing something about the processor in your
computer can tell you something useful about what it can do, relative to other
systems. Just as you don't have have to be an engineer to appreciate
that engine size, number of valves and the type of fuel (or battery) give you
clues about the capability of your automobile, in the same way SPARC processor
names tell you something about the speed or vintage of your computer system.
We know there's confusion about what some of the words connected with &SPARC&
actually mean. That's partly because you, as a user, sometimes have to guess the
meaning from its context in vendor literature, and also because vendors
themselves don't always use the terms consistently.
This article is divided
into the following sections, which you can read in order if you're interested in
following the flow. Alternatively please click to go straight to the subject
which interests you.
SPARC versus . Why is SPARC
nomenclature so
confusing?
Most people are familiar with the numbering systems for Intel architecture
processors, so why is there more confusion in the relatively smaller world of
SPARC systems?
Probably for the following reasons
There is no single dominant supplier of SPARC CPU's. Historically,
the major SPARC chip manufacturer in any system generation may not have been the
same company that was dominant in the earlier one. That's because Sun
Microsystems, the largest consumer of SPARC chips, runs a fabless
business model. That's not a typo, but means that Sun
does not own the semiconductor fabrication plants which manufacture their
processor chips. Although Sun designs many (but not all) of the chips
used in its computers, the Sun designed chips are actually manufactured by other
leading semiconductor companies. For simplicity in this article we're treating
all Sun designed chips as being made by Sun Microelectronics (SME). This part of
Sun was previously called SPARC Technology Business (STB). Sun Microelectronics
also sells SPARC chips and motherboards to other systems oem's.
SPARC names give you clues about the architecture of the computer they
were designed to work in. Some names tell you that the CPU was optimized for
use in single processor, or multi-processor configurations. In the Intel
computer world, this is not yet a common distinction. Intel processors are
mainly designed for the high volume single processor PC environment, and they
get deployed in multi-processor systems by the use of systems interfaces and
logic which varies according to system manufacturer.
SPARC chips are marketed more by name than by number, and the name of
each SPARC chip is uniquely assigned to a single vendor. Imagine the confusion there would be in the Intel world if
processors were not labelled by numbers (286, 386, 486 etc) but each had
different names. OK since the Pentium, Intel has stopped
using numbers, but Intel's competitors still use numbers like 586, 686 which
keeps comparisons simple. SPARC vendors add to this
confusion by making comparisons with competing products which may be true at
a single point in time, but are not universally valid. Because words can be
associated with fuzzier concepts than numbers, and it's possible to establish a
brand with a name (but not easily with just a number) marketers make all the
capital they can from these differences.
Some examples:-
SuperSPARC is sometimes faster than HyperSPARC and vice versa. It
depends on the clock speeds you use for the comparisons.
microSPARC systems are sometimes faster than SuperSPARC systems. A
110MHz microSPARC single processor workstation (such as Aries Research
Marixx110) will be faster than a 33MHz SuperSPARC based MBus workstation such as
an early model of Sun'sSPARCstation 10. The age of the machine and the clock
speeds are significant factors.
TurboSPARC processors are always faster than microSPARC (because the
TurboSPARC is a go-faster competing X2 upgrade for microSPARC sockets, but
depending on the clock speed it can be slower or faster than HyperSPARC.
Sun Microsystems also develops a range of Java chips which are intended
for low cost products which have an embedded Java virtual machine. So not
every processor from Sun carries a SPARC label. But
the JavaStation webtop terminal announced by Sun (October 1996) actually does
include a low end 100MHz microSPARC processor.
If you weren't confused before, then maybe you are now. We hope the rest of
this article will help you get a clearer picture.
... What does it mean?
The main things you need to know as a systems specifier are:-
&SPARC& was originally an acronym for &Scalable
Processor ARChitecture&. The name has lived up to its promise.
processors can be found today in computer systems which range from portables
(such as Tadpole's
upto supercomputers (such as Sun's
Just as significant from a user's point of view is that all these SPARC
computers run a single operating system Solaris 2.x. So if your application, or
your organization grows it can still be be run viably on a different size
computer without necessarily needing a complete rewrite. Competitors might say the same applies for Unix generally, and
also for Microsoft's NT. The difference between Solaris and other
types of Unix is that Solaris provides binary compatibility for your application
whether it's running on your laptop, or on the datacenter server.
differences between Solaris and NT, are that the performance ceiling for Solaris
is higher, and that
it's been running in the market longer which reduces the
risk for mission critical applications.
SPARC is based on an architecture originally developed by Sun
Microsystems. SPARC based computers have been around for over 10 years
(refer to our
if you'd like to see a chronology). Many people who who see
the first time say they didn't know that so many companies make SPARC based
computers.
All SPARC processors are RISC type. But not all RISC processors are
We know there's confusion on this point. SPARC is simply a specific type of
RISC processor, just as Intel's Pentium is a specific type of CISC processor.
Other types of RISC processor include DEC's Alpha, and Silicon Graphics
MIPS. Other types of CISC processor include Motorola's 680X0, and the Zilog Z80.
Many chip manufacturers make SPARC processors. Many computer
systems companies build SPARC based systems. An independent organization called
regulates the licensing of all the SPARC trademarks, and works to ensure
that products from different sources are compatible.
Has SPARC got a future? As the most commercially successful 64 bit
processor family, we obviously think it's got a bright future.
The table below provides an overview of the popular SPARC processor names
which you are likely to see as a user or specifier of SPARC based computers.
optimised for
typically found in
manufacturer
hyperSPARC
multi-processor systems
SPARCstation 20SPARCplug
microSPARC
single processor systems
SPARCstation 4 and 5JavaStation
multi-processor systems
HALstation 300
SPARC power micro-P
single processor systems
SPARCstation 2 (as upgrade)
Amazingly - some
still stock this low cost upgrade.
SuperSPARC
multi-processor systems
SPARCstation 20
TurboSPARC
single processor systems
SPARCstation 5
UltraSPARC
multi-processor systems
Note:- the list above is intended to be helpful to users of SPARC based
computers which run the Solaris operating system. There are other types of SPARC
CPU which are less commonly seen in this systems environment.
of introduction and current market status.
Another way of looking at these processors, is by the date of introduction
in a commercial system. The tables below shows this information, along with the
first commercial system (according to our records) in which they appeared.
first market appearance in end- user systems and model in which introduced
Current market status*.
hyperSPARC
Q1 94 as user installable upgrade for SPARCserver 600MP
Sun dropped this CPU from its systems product line when it introduced the
UltraSPARC based systems in Q4 95.
continued the development in terms of speed and performance. These processors
will probably be viable as upgrades for old systems. Some companies such as
were still marketing new workstations based on this technology
Q4 94 SPARCstation 20
microSPARC
Q4 92 SPARCstation LC &Classic&
Sun dropped the microSPARC from its workstation product line, but used it in
the original JavaStation terminal.
Q4 95 HALstations
This is still a current product, although its future development hinges on
how much volume can be generated by
Fujitsu-ICL. However, binary compatibility means that HAL's customers would not
be affected if they or HAL switched to another 64 bit SPARC processor at any
time in the future. Note:- since our original comment 2 years ago SPARC64 has
failed to achieve significant volume in the systems market, and the development
is being underwritten by Fujitsu as a technology process
SPARC power
Q3 93 as user installable upgrade for SPARCstation 2 and IPX
Obsolete. However, some resellers may still have some of these left, and
it's the lowest cost upgrade for your SPARCstation 2 if you're still using one.
SuperSPARC
Q2 92 SPARCstation 10
Sun has dropped this from its workstation and server product line, but it
still appears in some embedded board level products from other vendors. Sun's
positioning appears to be that power users should use its 64 bit workstations.
Owners of SuperSPARC based systems have an alternative chip level upgrade path
from hyperSPARC, which has never looked better.
TurboSPARC
Q2 97 FORCE COMPUTERS CPU-7V
Sun reintroduced its SPARCstation 5 which was given a new lease of life by
TurboSPARC. This is an upgrade option for microSPARC based models.
appears in some current systems, such as
Resilient, and the SPARCbook 3
UltraSPARC
Q4 95 Sun Ultra 1 and 2
This is the flagship processor line used in most of Sun's current
workstations and servers. Evolutionary improvements including increasing clock
speed, more cache, and higher levels of integration to include strategic
interfaces will continue for many years.
first market appearance in end- user systems and model in which introduced
Current market status*.
* Current market status - 1996. This is the editor's opinion as an analyst
of this market and is not a definitive fact. Other people may look at the same
data and reach different conclusions.
This article was first published in the 1996 edition of the
main index and search engine
SPARC computers
SBus & PCI cards
SPARC manufacturers
Sun/SPARC Resellers in
Sun/SPARC Resellers in
SPARC(R) is a registered trademark of SPARC International,
Inc. SPARC PRODUCT DIRECTORY(SM) is a service mark of SPARC International, Inc
used under license by .
Products using the SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by
Sun Microsystems, Inc.OpenBSD/sparc64
OpenBSD/sparc64 runs on the 64-bit Sun UltraSPARC machines based on
the UltraSPARC I, II, III, IV, T1 and T2 processors, Oracle Sun SPARC
machines based on the SPARC T3, T4, T5, M5 and M6 processors, and the
Fujitsu SPARC64 machines based on the SPARC64-V, SPARC64-VI,
SPARC64-VII and SPARC64-X processors.
A mailing list dedicated to the OpenBSD/sparc and OpenBSD/sparc64 ports is
available at sparc@openbsd.org.
To join the OpenBSD/sparc and OpenBSD/sparc64 mailing list, send a message
body of "subscribe sparc" to
Please be sure to check our
subscribing.
The current port maintainer is Mark Kettenis
Others are definitely welcome to contribute!
The original port was made for NetBSD by Eduardo Horvath and released for
the first time in January 1999.
The porting to OpenBSD started in August 2001 and in the end of September the
first binary snapshot was released. The porting was done mainly by Jason
Wright and Artur Grabowski and was done on both SBus and PCI machines so that
a decently wide range of hardware support was ready even before the system
could boot multiuser.
OpenBSD 3.0 was the first official release of OpenBSD/sparc64, and since
that release support for many more devices has been added (including
devices required for X11R6 support).
The other architectures that
OpenBSD supports have benefited because some kinds of bugs are
exposed more often by the 64-bit big endian nature of UltraSPARC.
Sun refused access to the necessary documentation for the (very bizarre)
host bridge and caches in the UltraSPARC III machines, so a few years were
lost before some reverse engineering figured out the changes in these
machines (and the undocumented processor bugs, too).
In 2007, Sun
to release the missing
information, and development progress became more rapid.
OpenBSD 4.0 was the first release to ship with support for the
UltraSPARC III OpenBSD 4.3 first with SMP support, and
OpenBSD 4.4 has been the first to support the UltraSPARC IV,
UltraSPARC T1, UltraSPARC T2, SPARC64-V, SPARC64-VI and SPARC64-VII
processors.
OpenBSD 5.7 has been the first to support the SPARC T3,
SPARC T4, SPARC T5, SPARC M5, SPARC M6 and SPARC64-X processors.
And since there are always little bits missing, work is continuing...
Current status:
Currently most of the hardware available to the developers boots
multiuser and supports enough of the on-board devices to be generally
The X Window System is supported on most systems.
Accelerated drivers are available for ATI graphics adapters, Tech
Source graphics adapters and the UPA Creator, Creator 3D and Elite 3D.
It is possible to use X in frame buffer mode with all supported SBus
cards, as well as the on-board ATI graphics, the UPA Creator,
Creator 3D or Elite 3D, and the Expert 3D at the boot resolution/depth
using either the wsfb(4) or the wildcatfb(4) driver.
The directions on how to enable the accelerated and unaccelerated X server
are present in the /usr/X11R6/README file on the installed system.
Supported hardware:
Supported machines
OpenBSD/sparc64 is known or expected to work on the following machines:
Ultra 1/1E
Ultra 3 Mobile Workstation
Ultra 5/10
Ultra 25/45
Ultra 30/60/80
SPARCengineUltra AX
SPARCengineUltra AXe
SPARCengineUltra AXi
SPARCengineUltra AXdp
SPARCengineUltra AXmp
SPARCengine CP1500
Enterprise 150
Enterprise 220R
Enterprise 250
Enterprise 420R
Enterprise 450
Enterprise 00/6000
Enterprise 00/6500
Enterprise 10000
Sun Blade 100/150
Sun Blade T6300
Sun Blade T6320
Sun Blade T6340
Sun Fire V100/V120
Sun Fire V125
Sun Fire V210/V240/V440
Sun Fire V215/V245/V445
Sun Fire V250
Sun Fire 280R
Sun Fire V480/V880
Sun Fire V490/V890
Sun Fire V1280
Sun Fire 10/6800
Sun Fire E/E6900
Sun Fire T
Sun SPARC Enterprise M
Sun SPARC Enterprise M
Sun SPARC Enterprise T
Sun SPARC Enterprise T
Sun SPARC Enterprise T
Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440
Sun SX1500
Sun SX2500
Sun SX3200
Oracle SPARC T3-1
Oracle SPARC T3-2
Oracle SPARC T3-4
Oracle SPARC T4-1
Oracle SPARC T4-2
Oracle SPARC T4-4
Oracle SPARC T5-2
Oracle SPARC T5-4
Oracle SPARC T5-8
Netra AX1105
Netra AX2200
Netra 20/T4
Netra 210/240/440
Netra 1280
Netra 1290
Netra T1 100/105
Netra T1 AC200/DC200
Netra T 1100
Netra CP3060
Netra CP3260
Netra T2000
Netra T5220
Netra T5440
Netra SPARC T3-1
Netra SPARC T4-1
Netra SPARC T4-2
Momentum Leopard-V
Fujitsu PRIMEPOWER 1
Fujitsu PRIMEPOWER 250/450
Fujitsu PRIMEPOWER 650/850
Fujitsu SPARC Enterprise M/M
Fujitsu SPARC Enterprise T
Fujitsu SPARC Enterprise T
Fujitsu SPARC Enterprise T
Fujitsu SPARC Enterprise T5440
Fujitsu SPARC M10-1
Fujitsu SPARC M10-4
Fujitsu SPARC M10-4S
RDI/Tadpole Ultrabook 170/200
Tadpole SPARCLE 550SX/650SX
Tadpole Viper
Tadpole/Sun Voyager IIi
Naturetech GENIALstation 777S
Naturetech PowerBook 777S
Naturetech PowerBook 888P
OpenBSD 4.4 may trigger a hardware fault on the SPARC Enterprise
M/M that can only be cleared by a field engineer.
A workaround for this problem is available in OpenBSD 4.5 and later.
The PRIMEPOWER 650/850 machines are only supported with SPARC64-V CPUs.
The Fujitsu M10 machines have only been tested with OpenBSD running in
a logical domain.
Please note, some machines like the Ultra1, Ultra2, Enterprise 220R
and SPARC Enterprise T may require upgrading the flashprom
before OpenBSD can be successfully installed.
The SPARC Enterprise
T needs at least OBP 4.28.0.
Supported devices
Processors
Sun UltraSPARC I
Sun UltraSPARC II, IIi, IIe
Sun UltraSPARC III, III+, IIIi
Sun UltraSPARC IV, IV+
Sun UltraSPARC T1
Sun UltraSPARC T2, T2+
Oracle SPARC T3
Oracle SPARC T4
Oracle SPARC T5
Oracle SPARC M5
Oracle SPARC M6
Fujitsu SPARC64-V
Fujitsu SPARC64-VI
Fujitsu SPARC64-VII
Fujitsu SPARC64-X
Keyboards/Mice
Type 4, 5, and 6 keyboards on Zilog serial ports ()
Type 4, 5, and 6 keyboards on NS16550 serial ports ()
Type 6 and 7 keyboards on USB ()
PS/2 AT keyboards ()
Sun mice on Zilog () or NS16550 () serial ports
Sun mice on USB ()
PS/2 mice ()
Frame buffers
SBus Video:
- monochrome, unaccelerated
- 8-bit color, unaccelerated
- 8-bit color, accelerated
- 24-bit color, accelerated (but the driver does not support hardware acceleration)
Fujitsu AG-10e
- 24-bit color, accelerated (currently only supported in unaccelerated 8-bit
Parallax XVideo and PowerVideo
- 24-bit color, accelerated (but the driver does not support hardware
acceleration)
RasterFlex family
- 8/24-bit color, accelerated (currently only supported in unaccelerated 8-bit
Southland Media Systems MGX and MGXPlus (mgx)
- 24-bit color, accelerated (currently only supported in unaccelerated 8-bit
VS10, VS11 and VS12 SBus frame buffers - 8-bit color, unaccelerated, selectable
VGA and Sun-compatible video modes
(aka Leo) - 8 or 24-bit color, overlay planes,
double-buffered, 3-D acceleration
PCI Video:
Sun PGX, PGX24 and PGX64
- 8/24-bit color, accelerated
Tech Source Raptor GFX-4M/8M
- 8/24-bit color, accelerated
Tech Source Raptor GFX-8P/Sun PGX32
- 8/24-bit color, accelerated
Sun XVR-100 and XVR-300
- 8/24-bit color, accelerated
Sun Expert3D, Expert3D-Lite, XVR-500, XVR-600 and XVR-1200
- 24-bit color, accelerated (currently restricted to 8-bit, unaccelerated
on the XVR-500 and XVR-600, accelerated on the Expert3D, Expert3D-Lite and
UPA Video:
Creator/Creator 3D/Elite 3D ()
SCSI Host Adapters
SBus NCR53c9x adapters ()
SBus 10/100Mbit SunSwift Ethernet+SCSI cards, aka HME + FAS366 cards ()
SBus and PCI Qlogic adapters ()
PCI NCR53c8xx adapters ()
Adaptec AIC-7770, AIC-7850, AIC-7860, AIC-7870, AIC-7880, AIC-7890,
AIC-7891, AIC-7892, AIC-7895, AIC-7896, AIC-7897 and AIC-7899 based PCI
host adapters
AMD Am53c974 PCscsi-PCI host adapters including the Tekram DC-390
LSI Logic Fusion-MPT (Symbios Logic/NCR)
LSI53C1020, LSI53C1020A, LSI53C1030, LSI53C1030T, LSI53C1035,
LSIFC909, LSIFC919, LSIFC919X, LSIFC929, LSIFC929X, LSIFC949, LSIFC949X,
LSISAS1064, LSISAS1064E, LSISAS1068, LSISAS1068E
Areca Technology Corporation PCI-X and PCI Express Sata RAID controllers
PCI IDE Controllers ()
Acer Labs M5229
CMD Technology PCI0646, PCI0680
National Semiconductor PC87415
Promise PDC20262, PDC20267, PDC20268
Other PCI IDE adapters may work, but are untested.
CD-ROM and DVD-ROM Drives ()
Most SCSI CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD and DVD-RW drives.
Most ATAPI (IDE) CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD and DVD-RW drives.
Ethernet Adapters
onboard SBus AMD Lance Ethernet ()
SBus AMD Lance cards ()
SBus 10/100Mbit qec+be Sun FastEthernet 1.0 cards (/)
SBus Quad 10Mbit qec+qe Sun Quad Ethernet (/)
onboard SBus and PCI HME Ethernet ()
SBus 10/100Mbit hme Ethernet cards ()
SBus 10/100Mbit SunSwift Ethernet+SCSI cards ()
SBus Quad 10/100Mbit hme and qfe Quad Fast Ethernet cards ()
SBus Gigabit Ethernet 1.0/1.1 ()
SBus Gigabit Ethernet 2.0 ()
PCI Fast Ethernet ()
PCI Quad Fast Ethernet ()
PCI Gigabit Ethernet 1.0/1.1 ()
PCI Gigabit Ethernet 2.0 ()
PCI GigaSwift Ethernet ()
Alteon Tigon I/II-based adapters ()
Digital DC21x4x-based PCI adapters ()
Davicom DM9102 Ethernet ()
Intel 21145-based adapters ()
Intel i8255x-based (except the i82556) adapters ()
3Com 3c9xx EtherLink XL adapters ()
SMC 83C170 ("EtherPower II") (EPIC/100) ()
AMD PCnet-based PCI adapters ()
Intel PRO/1000 based adapters
Broadcom BCM57xx/BCM590x (a.k.a. Tigon3) based PCI adapters ()
Broadcom NetXtreme II based PCI adapters ()
Sundance/Tamarack TC9021 based PCI adapters ()
RealTek -based adapters ()
Realtek S/8110S based PCI adapters ()
SysKonnect XMAC II and Marvell Yukon based PCI adapters ()
Tehuti Networks 10Gb based PCI adapters
ADMtek AN986-based USB adapters ()
ASIX Electronics AX88172 based USB adapters ()
CATC USB-EL1210A-based USB adapters ()
Davicom DM9601 USB Ethernet adapters ()
Kawasaki LSI KL5KUSB101B-based USB adapters ()
Realtek RTL8150L based USB adapters ()
Wireless Ethernet Adapters
Atheros IEEE 802.11a/b/g PCI/CardBus adapters ()
Atheros IEEE 802.11a/g/n PCI/CardBus adapters ()
Atheros USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g USB adapters ()
Atmel AT76C50x IEEE 802.11b USB adapters ()
Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC IEEE 802.11a/b/g PCI adapters ()
Marvell Libertas IEEE 802.11b/g Compact Flash adapters (will be detected as PCMCIA adapters) ()
Ralink Technology IEEE 802.11a/g/n PCI/CardBus adapters ()
Ralink Technology IEEE 802.11b/g USB adapters ()
Ralink Technology IEEE 802.11a/b/g USB adapters ()
Ralink Technology IEEE 802.11a/g/n USB adapters ()
TI ACX100/ACX111 IEEE 802.11a/b/g PCI adapters ()
WaveLAN/IEEE, PRISM 2-3, and Spectrum24 IEEE 802.11b PCMCIA/PCI/USB ()
Universal Serial Bus (USB) Devices
USB Audio ()
USB Diamond MultiMedia Rio MP3 players ()
USB Ethernet adapters (
USB Generic Human Interface Devices (catch-all) ()
USB Handspring Visor ()
USB Hubs ()
USB Keyboards ()
USB Mass Storage devices, i.e., USB floppy drives and USB memory stick controllers ()
USB Mice ()
USB Modems ()
USB Printers ()
USB-USB cables ()
USB Y@p phone ()
Sound Devices
onboard SBus CS4231 ()
onboard EBus/PCI CS4231 ()
Trident 4DW***E-DX/NX, Sis 7018, ALi M5451 ()
Ensoniq AudioPCI ()
ESS Solo-1 PCI AudioDrive ()
Serial Devices
onboard SBus Zilog 8530 ()
onboard EBus Infineon (Siemens) 82532 ()
onboard 16550 compatibles ()
SBus magma serial port cards, including: 4Sp, 8Sp, 12Sp, 16Sp, LC2+1Sp, 2+1Sp, 4+1Sp, 8+2Sp, 2+1HS Sp ()
SBus spif serial port cards ()
Aurora SBus sio2/pio1 (/)
PCI serial/parallel communication cards ()
Cryptography Accelerators
Hifn 6500 ()
Hifn 51/-based boards ()
Bluesteelnet , Broadcom uBsec 05/22/5823 ()
PC Cards (PCMCIA)
PCMCIA Controllers:
SBus PCMCIA bridge ()
Wireless Ethernet Adapters:
See above.
Radio Receiver Devices ()
D-Link DSB-R100 USB radio device ()
Miscellaneous Devices
EBus beeper ()
performance counters/system controller ()
FireHose controller ()
Central controller ()
Clock board
SBus Expansion Subsystem (SUNW,xbox) ()
[Currently restricted to non-DMA devices]
onboard floppy drive on SBus systems (such as Ultra 1 and Ultra 2)
Hardware monitoring sensors, including:
Analog Devices AD7416, AD7417 and AD7418 ()
Analog Devices ADM1021 ()
Analog Devices ADM1024 ()
Analog Devices ADM1025 ()
Analog Devices ADM1030 ()
Analog Devices ADM1031 ()
Analog Devices ADT7460 ()
National Semiconductor LM75, LM77 ()
National Semiconductor LM78, LM78-J, LM79 ()
National Semiconductor LM87 ()
Maxim DS1624/DS1631/DS1721 ()
Maxim MAX6642/MAX6690 ()
Philips PCF8591 ()
Meinberg Funkuhren radio clocks, including:
GPS170PCI 3.3V/5V 6-channel GPS receiver card ()
PCI32 5V DCF77 time signal station receiver card ()
PCI509 5V DCF77 time signal station receiver card ()
PCI511 3.3V/5V DCF77 time signal station receiver card ()
UVC-compatible Video devices ()
Untested machines (please help us test!)
The following machines may work, but have never been tested:
Sun Fire 12K/15K
Sun Fire E20K/E25K
Sun Netra CT 400
Sun Netra CT 410
Sun Netra CT 800
Sun Netra CT 810
Sun Netra CT 820
Sun Netra FT 1800
Sun Netra CP2040
Sun Netra CP2060
Sun Netra CP2080
Sun Netra CP2140
Sun Netra CP2160
Sun Netra CP2300
Sun SPARC Enterprise M3000
Oracle SPARC T3-1B
Oracle SPARC T4-1B
Oracle SPARC T5-1B
Oracle SPARC M5-32
Oracle SPARC M6-32
Fujitsu PRIMEPOWER 200/400/600/ (with SPARC64-V CPUs)
Fujitsu PRIMEPOWER 900/
Fujitsu SPARC Enterprise M3000
Fujitsu FX1
Tadpole Ultrabook IIi/IIe
Tadpole Sparcbook
Tadpole Bullfrog / Bullfrog EXP / V2 Bullfrog I
Naturetech Meso 999
Naturetech GENIALstation 737S/747S
Naturetech PowerBook 737S/747S
Naturetech PowerBook 777E/ES/P/V
Naturetech PowerBook 878P
Naturetech Proso 2000
Naturetech Proso 2400
Naturetech Proso 2600
Themis USP-2
Themis USPIIi-1V/3V
Themis USPIIe-Gb/USB/cPCI
Themis USPIIIi
Themis RES-32s
Themis T2BC
Force Computers CPU-50/CPU-50G
Force Computers CPU-56/CPU-56T
Force Computers CPCI-520
Force Computers CPSB-560
Most of these machines will almost certainly just work.
If you have
one of these machines available for testing, please give it a try and
tell us about the result.
Unsupported machines
The following machines do not run OpenBSD/sparc64 just yet:
Fujitsu HALstation 330/350/375/385
Fujitsu S-7/300
Fujitsu GP7000F Model 200/400/600/
Fujitsu PRIMEPOWER 200/400/600/ (with SPARC64-IV CPUs)
Unsupported devices
SBus cards other than those listed above.
PCI video cards other than those listed above.
Hardware documentation:
Previous to 2007, it was extremely difficult or impossible to get much of
the necessary hardware documentation for these machines.
Members of our
team (in particular David Gwynne) were instrumental in pressuring and
convincing Sun to go back into their archives and dig up the data sheets
that they had written in-house, describing the operation of their chips to
their own engineers.
These documents can now be found at
Some documents are still missing at that site, so we ask that interested
developers contact Sun and request additional information.
Getting and installing OpenBSD/sparc64:
The latest supported OpenBSD/sparc64 release is
Here are the
Snapshots are made available from time to time, in
as well as in a few
Here are the
There are several installation media provided, so that
OpenBSD/sparc64 can be installed or upgraded via CD, floppy boot images on
some models, miniroot images for machines without floppies,
as well as network and diskless installs.
Booting off the CD provides a small ffs filesystem with a kernel containing
drivers for the most popular devices found on UltraSPARC hardware.
For the latest list of drivers available on this image, take a look at the
kernel configuration file.
The CD can be booted off the OpenFirmware prompt with
boot cdrom
Floppy A (floppy60.fs)
Booting off the floppy provides a small ffs filesystem with a kernel
containing supporting the following sparc64 hardware:
Ultra 1/1E
as well as support for the on-board devices found on these machines.
However due to lack of space there are only a few other drivers.
In particular, this floppy lacks cdrom support and will not
allow installation from cdrom media.
For the latest list of drivers available on this image, take a look at the
kernel configuration file.
The floppy can be booted off the OpenFirmware prompt with
boot floppy
Floppy B (floppyB60.fs)
Booting off the floppy provides a small ffs filesystem with a kernel
containing supporting the following sparc64 hardware:
SPARCengineUltra AX
SPARCengineUltra AXe
SPARCengineUltra AXi
as well as support for the on-board devices found on these machines.
However due to lack of space there are only a few other drivers.
In particular, this floppy lacks cdrom support and will not
allow installation from cdrom media.
For the latest list of drivers available on this image, take a look at the
kernel configuration file.
The floppy can be booted off the OpenFirmware prompt with
boot floppy
Miniroot (miniroot60.fs)
The miniroot provides the same installation environment as the bootable CD,
and is intended for easy bootstrap if there is already an operating system
installed on the machine.
After dumping the miniroot to the primary swap partition with dd, the
miniroot can be booted off the OpenFirmware prompt with a command such as
boot disk:b
(the disk designation may be different, depending on the chosen swap
partition).
Network boot (ofwboot.net, bsd.rd)
Using a diskless setup, it is also possible to boot the OpenBSD/sparc64
boot loader, ofwboot.net, from the network via tftp, and access
the bsd.rd standalone miniroot over NFS.
Refer to the
manual page for details on how to setup a network boot environment.
Please note that booting from floppy might not
Ultra 1, 1E and 2 systems might require a PROM update (they usually don't if
they are able to boot Solaris in 64bit-mode); please refer to the
for details.