RE: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[Martin]

On Mon, 2009-05-25 at 06:30 -0700, Peter Crawford wrote:
> At Mon, 25 May 2009 15:14:00 +0200
> joel.bertr...@systella.fr wrote,
> > Etch for both. SS2 cannot run with Sarge.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> > I know, but as sun4, sun4c and sun4m support have been dropped, you
> > have to install another OS or drop your SS2 :-(
> 
> OK thanks.  Will try to put Etch on the external 
> drive and keep NetBSD in mind.  What is likely 
> to fail if Etch is left on the SS2 for years?
> 
The first problem you are likely to have is that you won't recieve
security updates.  If you're willing to backport / monitor fixes, accept
that it is insecure* or lock down the machine to a state that there
aren't many viable attack vectors then this *may* not be a problem.
Apart from that nothing should 'fail' as such; but you will find that it
gets progressively harder to build / install up to date software as more
and more of the dependancies have to be built as the system ones are not
available or not up to date.

If you're OK with this then there is no reason that you can't keep using
the system until the hardware finally gives up the ghost.  Make sure
it's cooled adequately and power cycled as infrequenty as possible and
you should be able to run it for years to come.

Cheers,
 - Martin

*. and remember having an insecure box on the net doesn't just affect
you; it potentially affects everyone.


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RE: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[Peter Crawford]

At Mon, 25 May 2009 15:14:00 +0200
joel.bertr...@systella.fr wrote,
> Etch for both. SS2 cannot run with Sarge.

Thanks.

> I know, but as sun4, sun4c and sun4m support have been dropped, you
> have to install another OS or drop your SS2 :-(

OK thanks.  Will try to put Etch on the external 
drive and keep NetBSD in mind.  What is likely 
to fail if Etch is left on the SS2 for years?

The lifespan of these Sparcs is amazing.  The SS2 
demonstrates hardware durability and is good 
for low demand http service.

Regards,  ... Peter E.

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Re: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[BERTRAND Joël]

Peter Crawford a écrit :

At Mon, 25 May 2009 11:29:27 +0200
joel.bertr...@systella.fr wrote,


Etch worked fine. Sarge doesn't work due to some bugs in kernel and
libc. 



Is that for SS2 or SS20 or both?  I have a SS2.


Etch for both. SS2 cannot run with Sarge.


For an old SS2 (I have one), or all sun4[cdm] stations, you have to use
NetBSD 4.0.1 (or 5.0 in UP).  ...



Well I prefer to stick with Debian if possible.  Another 
system would absorb more precious hours.  One reason 
for choosing Debian originally was the claim to universality.


	I know, but as sun4, sun4c and sun4m support have been dropped, you 
have to install another OS or drop your SS2 :-(


JKB


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RE: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[Peter Crawford]

At Mon, 25 May 2009 11:29:27 +0200
joel.bertr...@systella.fr wrote,
> Etch worked fine. Sarge doesn't work due to some bugs in kernel and
> libc. 

Is that for SS2 or SS20 or both?  I have a SS2.

> For an old SS2 (I have one), or all sun4[cdm] stations, you have to use
> NetBSD 4.0.1 (or 5.0 in UP).  ...

Well I prefer to stick with Debian if possible.  Another 
system would absorb more precious hours.  One reason 
for choosing Debian originally was the claim to universality.

Thanks, ... Peter E.


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Re: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[BERTRAND Joël]

Chris Andrew a écrit :
I don't have the URL to hand, but support for sparc (32-bit) was dropped 
with Lenny. In practice the best I managed was Sarge on an SS20, with 
multiple problems with Etch, even if I installed Sarge then did a 
dist-upgrade.


	Etch worked fine. Sarge doesn't work due to some bugs in kernel and 
libc. I have tried to fix these bugs without success. I have obtain good 
results with lenny and 2.6 kernel (only UP and sparcv8 [SS20] without 
HyperSPARC because HyperSPARC's MMU supoort is totaly broken.). I have 
made a 'dist-upgrade' from sarge and from sources. I don't know status 
of sparc linux kernel (SMP), but I jnow there are two branchs : first 
from kernel.org, and another for leon processor. I've never tested 
second one.


	For an old SS2 (I have one), or all sun4[cdm] stations, you have to use 
NetBSD 4.0.1 (or 5.0 in UP). Even Solaris 9 isn't stable on a SS20 with 
more than two processors. SS2 can run Solaris 7 too (if I remember).


Regards,

JKB


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Re: RE: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[Chris Andrew]

I don't have the URL to hand, but support for sparc (32-bit) was dropped
with Lenny. In practice the best I managed was Sarge on an SS20, with
multiple problems with Etch, even if I installed Sarge then did a
dist-upgrade.

HTH,

Chris.

On May 24, 2009 2:04 PM, "Peter Crawford"  wrote:



Michelle wrote,

> ... for the SS10 Woody was the last

> release which worked. I suspect, that Sarge, Etch or even Lenny/Squeeze >
will work on the SS2.
I'm puzzled.  If Woody was the last release to work
on the SS10, why will a later release work on the
SS2?

Martin wrote,
> ... check when support for SPARC V7 / sun4c
machines was dropped.

Thanks.  Can anyone mention where to find this
information?
   ... p. crawford

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RE: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[Peter Crawford]

Michelle wrote,

> ... for the SS10 Woody was the last
> release which worked. I suspect, that Sarge, Etch or even Lenny/Squeeze
> will work on the SS2.

I'm puzzled.  If Woody was the last release to work
on the SS10, why will a later release work on the
SS2?

Martin wrote,
> ... check when support for SPARC V7 / sun4c 
machines was dropped.

Thanks.  Can anyone mention where to find this 
information?
... p. crawford



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Re: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[Martin]

On Sat, 2009-05-23 at 21:34 -0700, Peter Crawford wrote:
> An old Sparcstation 2 has been running Woody since
> it was installed ca. 2002 by diskette -> network.
> Recently I've added an external 18 GB drive and
> am interested to install a newer Debian to it.  Can
> anyone comment _pro_ or _con_ about installing etch
> or lenny or squeeze on a Sparc 2?
> 
> Efforts described below have failed.  If a system
> upgrade is warranted, can anyone suggest how to
> accomplish it.
You may want to check when support for SPARC V7 / sun4c machines was
dropped.  For releases where SPARC V8 / sun4m was supported, the
differences may be minimal and recompiling a few key binaries may be
sufficient.  I believe that Debian is moving to supporting only SPARC V9
based machines so for very recent code you may have problems.

HTH

Cheers,
 - Martin



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Re: Debian on a Sparcstation 2

[Michelle Konzack]

Hello Peter,

I am running a "HiFi-Tower" of ten SparcStation 10/512  (2 x 40MHz)  and
one SparcUltra 5 as controller, but for the  SS10  Woody  was  the  last
release which worked.  I suspect, that Sarge, Etch or even Lenny/Squeeze
will work on the SS2.

Thanks, Greetings and nice Day/Evening
Michelle Konzack
Systemadministrator
25.9V Electronic Engineer
Tamay Dogan Network
Debian GNU/Linux Consultant

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