 | |
| Codename | Phoenix |
|---|---|
| Also known as | 4/40 |
| Developer | Sun Microsystems |
| Manufacturer | Sun Microsystems |
| Product family | SPARCstation |
| Type | Workstation |
| Release date | July 25, 1990 (1990-07-25) |
| Availability | July 25, 1990 |
| Introductory price | US$8,995–9,995 |
| Operating system | |
| CPU | Fujitsu MB86901A orLSI L64801 (SPARC) at 25 MHz |
| Memory | 1–48 MB |
| Successor | SPARCstation IPX |
| Related | SPARCstation 1+ |
TheSPARCstation IPC (Sun 4/40, code-namedPhoenix) is aworkstation sold bySun Microsystems, introduced July 25, 1990. It is based on thesun4c architecture, and is enclosed in a lunchbox chassis. Intended as an inexpensive alternative to the mainstreamSPARCstation 1+, it sold forUS$8,995 as adiskless node and for US$9,995 with a 207-MBhard drive (equivalent to $21,649–24,056 in 2024).[1] The SPARCstation IPC was the top-selling Unix workstation for the first quarter of 1991, according toDataquest, sliding to the number-two slot the following quarter (behind the SPARCstation 2).[2]
The SPARCstation IPC incorporates a 25 MHzFujitsu MB86901A orLSI L64801 processor. The SPARCstation IPC is limited to use as a single-processor machine.
The SPARCstation IPC has twelve SIMM memory slots, in three 4-slot groups. Each group of four slots can be filled with either four 1 MB SIMMs or four 4 MB SIMMs, for a maximum of 48 MB.
The SPARCstation IPC can hold one internal 3.5", 50-pin, single-ended, fast-narrow SESCSI disk drive and a 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy drive. Both are mounted in the top cover of the case. The hard disk slot supports higher drives than the 1 inch format that became standard later. It also supports external SCSI devices. There is no IDE/ATAPI support. Modern 80-pinSCA drives can work with an adapter, but do not fit inside the case due to the size of the adapter.
The SPARCstation IPC has the following interfaces:[3]
The SPARCstation IPC comes with an on-boardAMD LanceEthernet chipset and a 15-pinAUI connector, which can connect to10BASE2,10BASE5 or10BASE-T via an appropriatetransceiver. The OpenBoot ROM is able to boot from network, using RARP and TFTP.[5] Like all otherSPARCstation systems, the IPC holds system information such as MAC address and serial number in NVRAM. If the battery on this chip dies, then the system will not be able to boot without manual intervention (keyboard entry of boot parameters).
The SPARCstation IPC uses an M48T02 battery-backedRTC with RAM chip which handles the real time clock and boot parameter storage. An issue with this chip is that the battery is internal, which means the entire chip must be replaced when its battery runs out. As all SPARCstation IPCs made are now older than the battery life of this chip, a substantial number of these systems now refuse to boot. Additionally, the SPARCstation IPC design used the reserved bits in the M48T02's NVRAM in a non-standard way; since later revisions of the M48T02 chip exert stricter control over these bits, a current M48T02 will store the NVRAM data, but the RTC will not function correctly and the system may fail to auto-boot.
Due to incompatibilities with modern M48T02s, it is common to modify failed NVRAMs by cutting into the encapsulation and patching in a new battery.[6] It is also possible to replace the entire encapsulation, which also contains a 32.768 kHz clock crystal.[7]
The following operating systems will run on a SPARCstation IPC:
TheSPARCstation 1+ (Sun 4/65) is architecturally very similar but housed in apizza box form factor.
TheSPARCstation IPX (Sun 4/50) is a later lunchbox form factor system.
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