The SPARCstation 10 system is a high-performance workstation designed to be used on its own or as part of a network.
This chapter introduces you to the SPARCstation 10 system and covers the following topics:
After you finish reading this chapter, you will be ready to take the first steps in connecting some of the basic system components and plugging in the power cords. Chapter 2 covers these steps.
Before unpacking your system, decide where you want to put it and how you want to use it.
Select an appropriate work area. Start with an area on your desktop that allows plenty of room for the system unit, monitor, keyboard, and mouse, as well as for the cables and power cords.
The SPARCstation 10 system unit has vents on its left and right panels for ventilation and a slot on its right panel for diskettes. When you place the unit on a desktop, make sure that objects do not block the vents on either side of the unit.
Caution -
Allow at least 3 inches (76 millimeters) of unobstructed space on either side of the system unit.
Do not place to the right of your SPARCstation 10 system unit any equipment that emits warm exhaust air. Your system requires room temperature air input from its right side, and expels warm air output from its left side.
The SPARCstation 10 system is a sturdy machine, but it is a piece of electronic equipment and must be treated properly. Avoid extremes in temperature and other environmental hazards.
Generally, if your working conditions are comfortable for you, your environment is suitable for the SPARCstation 10 system.
The acceptable environmental ranges are:
Your SPARCstation 10 system and associated equipment use nominal input voltages of 115 VAC or 230 VAC. Sun products are designed to work with single-phase power systems having a grounded neutral conductor.
To reduce the risk of electrical shock, do not plug Sun products into any other type of power system. Contact your facilities manager or a qualified electrician if you are not sure what type of power is supplied to your building.
In planning where to place your equipment, remember that each of the following items requires access (by way of a separate power cord) to a power outlet:
Note - The monitor power cord plugs either into a power outlet or into the system unit, in compliance with the requirements of your country. The appropriate power cord is included with your system.
Cables supplied with Sun equipment are of sufficient length to meet the needs of most installations. Some of these cables are of specific lengths in conformity with engineering and safety standards. If the cables packed with your equipment are too short for your installation, ask your Sun sales representative about the availability of appropriate alternate cables.
Caution -
To
If there is evidence of damage to a carton, contact your sales representative and arrange for an agent of the carrier to be present when you remove the equipment.
The inside flaps of the shipping cartons for the monitor and system unit show you how to remove the contents.
The system unit and monitor are packed tightly in protective foam molds. Carefully remove them from the cartons.
The monitor is heavy, so you may need assistance to lift it into position.
This sheet is in the plastic envelope on the side of the system unit carton. Retain this sheet for your records. If you are connecting your system to a network, you will need this sheet during the installation procedure.
This card is included with the keyboard. If you are connecting your system to a network, you will need this card during the installation procedure.
You will need them if you ever want to ship your system elsewhere.
Check the packing slip to make sure you have everything you ordered. Figures 1-1 through 1-6 show the basic parts of the system. If you have ordered optional parts, such as external drives, see the installation manuals that come with them.
Figure 1-1 A Typical Monitor
Figure 1-2 System Unit
Figure 1-3
SpeakerBox and SunMicrophone
Figure 1-4 Keyboard
Figure 1-5 Mouse and Pad
Figure 1-6 Lock Block
Each SPARCstation 10 system unit comes with the cables shown in Figures 1-7 through 1-10.
Figure 1-7 Power Cable
Figure 1-8 Keyboard Cable
Figure 1-9 Twisted-Pair Ethernet Cable
Figure 1-10 Video Cable
Note - Some of the cables shipped with your system have plastic caps to protect the connectors. Remove the protective caps before using the cables.
The cables shown in Figures 1-12 through 1-15 do not come packed with your SPARCstation 10 system, and must be ordered separately for use with peripheral devices (for example, printers and external disk drives) and networks (for example, thick Ethernet) that require them.
Figure 1-11 Parallel Interface Cable, IBM" Interface
Figure 1-12 Parallel Interface Cable, Centronics Interface
Figure 1-13 Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) Cable
Figure 1-14 Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) Adapter Cable
Figure 1-15 Serial Interface Y-Cable
Familiarize yourself with the front and back panels of the SPARCstation 10 system unit. The front panel is shown in Figure 1-16. The back panel is shown in Figure 1-17.
The front panel has a green LED (light-emitting diode) that is lit when the power to the system unit is on.
Figure 1-16 Front Panel of the System Unit
The back panel has a power switch, a power receptacle, connector openings, and ports. These are shown in Figure 1-17 to help you locate them as you connect the rest of the system.
Figure 1-17 Back Panel of the System Unit
Unused MBus and SBus connector openings are protected by filler panels. The filler panels remain in place in the MBus area and when no additional internal SBus cards are installed.
Your SPARCstation 10 system unit has two Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) ports on its back panel. ISDN is a technical standard that provides for fully digital transmission and reception of data, and fully digital end-to-end connectivity of telecommunications devices across a public network.
Caution -
The parallel port on the back panel of your SPARCstation 10 system unit is the
connection point for the optional parallel interface cables shown in Figures
1-12 and 1-13. A typical use of this port is for connecting printers to the system
unit.
The Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) port on the back panel of your SPARCstation 10 system unit is the connection point for the SpeakerBox (Figure 1-3) and the AUI adapter cable (Figure 1-14).
Figure 1-18 Thick Ethernet Cable
The keyboard port on the back panel of your SPARCstation 10 system unit is the connection point for the keyboard cable shown in Figure 1-8.
The optional serial interface Y-cable shown in Figure 1-15 connects to the serial connector marked "A/B" on the back panel of the system unit. See Appendix D for information on connecting serial devices.
The twisted-pair Ethernet (TPE) connector on the back panel of the SPARCstation 10 system unit is the connection point for the system unit to a twisted-pair Ethernet computer network. A twisted-pair Ethernet cable is similar in appearance to a modular telephone cable. (Figure 1-9)
The small computer system interface (SCSI) port on the back panel of the SPARCstation 10 system unit is the connection point for the system unit to external storage units like hard disk, cartridge tape, and compact disc drives. (Figure 1-13)
This section gives an overview of the types of internal parts and peripheral devices that you can add to your basic SPARCstation 10 system, and tells you where to find the procedures for installing them.
Note -
Get your basic system up and running before adding internal parts or
peripheral devices. That way you can make sure the basic system is working
as it should.
After your basic system is working, follow the appropriate instructions to add
an internal part or device. This makes it easier for you to isolate any problems
that might occur. Although it is possible to add devices before you power up
your system for the first time, doing so makes the initial installation more
complex.
Your system comes with an MBus module, internal hard disk drive, 32 megabytes of dynamic random access memory, one SBus frame buffer card, and a diskette drive already installed. The MBus module contains the SPARC" central processing integrated circuits. The hard drive provides internal storage for software and data files. The diskette drive lets you use diskettes to load software onto the system, save work files, and make backup copies of your work files for data security.
Internal parts that you can add to your system include SBus cards, MBus modules, DSIMMs (dynamic random access memory single inline memory modules), and a second hard disk drive.
SBus cards (Figure 1-19) are printed circuit boards that allow you to connect certain devices such as monitors to your SPARCstation 10 system. A variety of SBus cards is available, including Ethernet cards for additional Ethernet connections, SCSI host adapter cards for additional SCSI devices, the SBus printer card for the SPARCprinter, and monochrome and color frame buffer cards for video monitors.
See Installing SBus Cards in Desktop SPARCstations for more information.
Figure 1-19 An SBus Card
Your SPARCstation 10 system comes equipped with an MBus module. The MBus module contains the central-processing SPARC integrated circuits, including:
As new MBus modules become available, you can upgrade your
SPARCstation 10 system by removing an MBus module that is already installed
and replacing it with a newer one. Procedures for doing this will be in
documents packed with each new MBus module.
Figure 1-20 SPARCstation 10 MBus Module (Factory-Installed)
Dynamic random access memory single inline memory modules, or DSIMMs,
provide memory for your system (see Figure 1-21). Sixteen-megabyte
(16-megabyte) and 64-megabyte DSIMMs are available for the
SPARCstation 10 system. Your system comes with 32 megabytes of memory
(two 16-megabyte DSIMMs) already installed. You can install up to a total of
eight modules (16-megabyte and 64-megabyte DSIMMs) to increase your
system memory to a maximum of 512 megabytes.
See SPARCstation 10 DSIMMs Installation for more information.
Figure 1-21 16-Megabyte or 64-Megabyte DSIMM
Your system comes with one hard drive already installed (drive 0). You may
add one additional hard disk drive inside your SPARCstation 10 system
(drive 1). Consult your Sun sales representative for a list of currently available
hard disk drives for the SPARCstation 10 system. All add-on hard disk drives
come with their own installation documents.
Figure 1-22 Internal Hard Disk Drives
Several types of peripheral devices can be connected to your SPARCstation 10 system. These include SCSI devices to increase your system storage capacity, serial devices such as printers, modems, and terminals, and audio devices.
Some of the SCSI devices you can connect to your system include:
Desktop Storage Packs
Desktop Storage Modules
External Storage Modules
In order for the system to recognize a SCSI device, you must power down the system, connect the device, and then power the system back up.
A bus is a signal route to which several parts of a computer system may be connected so that signals can be passed between them. The SCSI standard sets a maximum total bus length of 6.0 meters. The internal SCSI bus length of the SPARCstation 10 system unit is 0.80 meter. For specific information about installing SCSI peripheral devices to your system unit, see the manuals that come with the devices.
These devices can be connected to your system while it is up and running.
Appendix D tells you how to connect printers, terminals, and modems. Appendix E describes the cables used with serial devices.
Chapter 6 tells you more about the SpeakerBox.
You can use diskettes, cartridge tapes, and compact discs with your SPARCstation 10 system to:
You must purchase your own new diskettes, cartridge tapes, or compact discs.
The SPARCstation 10 system uses 3.5-inch (88.9 mm) high-density (HD) diskettes. For information about handling, inserting and removing, formatting, and write-protecting diskettes, see Appendix B of the Sun System User's Guide.
Figure 1-23 Location of Diskette Drive Slot on System Unit
Use cartridge tapes with the SPARCstation 10 system if it is:
For information about cartridge tapes, see the Desktop Storage Pack Installation Guide, the Desktop Storage Module Installation Guide, and the Sun External Storage Module Installation Manual.
Use compact discs with the SPARCstation 10 system if it is:
You
You have also learned about:
Now you are ready for Chapter 2 and the first steps in setting up your system - connecting the basic system components and plugging in the power cords.
