Hello,
I received 2 Sun Ultra 5 Workstations, but I have no Sun monitor, mouse, or keyboard, not even any cables or anything for these machines. They have a hard drive but I don't know if they have an operating system on them or not, it has 4 RAM chips, and everything looks OK inside of the system. No chips, nothing rattling, everything seems fine. Can I use my PC monitor on this? And where do I get a keyboard and mouse? What is the highest version of Solaris that this system can run, Solaris 9 or 10? Thanks.

hello,

i have just been through some of the same as you.

Having read up on these machines the video port is a standard affair, so provided the plug fits it should work. But, a big BUT, i give you no guarantee that it will.

You can get hold of keyboards from places like ebay, and i'm sure you could find loads more places on the net, or in a town near you.

Alternatively you can plug a null modem cable in to serial port A. This will give you full access, but only CLI.

For you info i asked a similar question on here, which you can find here

My monitor does work with my Ultra 5. It gives me a message on boot saying something like no keyboard detected or something. So I really need to find a keyboard and mouse. Also, is it possible to install Solaris 10 Express on it, and use it in the Java Desktop Environment? Or maybe on Solaris 9 GUI? Thanks. I really need to find a keyboard and mouse, that's my main concern at this point.

Hey There,

This is a bit pricey, but if you want it, I'm sure more will pop up on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUN-Microsystems...2em118Q2el1247

Otherwise, you can get a db25 connector and nullmodem (or a combo) and hook that up to the serial port on your PC (probably a db9 port) and Solaris will use that (ttya) as the input/output instead of a regular keyboard/mouse/monitor. Just use hyperterm (or the Mac equivalent, if that's what you have) and you should be able to access it.

Hope that helps

, Mike

As I already answered to you, there is no such thing: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...33#post3161933
It is either Solaris 10 or Solaris Express.
It might be possible if the U5 has enough RAM (512 or 1GB).

Solaris Express I meant, I am on it using 256MB of RAM, not on the U5. But my U5 does have 4 chips, that look like RAM chips inside of it, so it probably has 512MB of ram, or 256. Maybe even 1GB if they are 256MB chips. I am making a deal with someone on ebay, the bid ended before I could make an offer, but he is selling me a Sun Type 5 Keyboard and mouse for 10 dollars plus shipping. Solaris 10 (not express) would probably work fine on this U5 wouldn't it? Does the Ultra 5 support 64-bit, I don't know where I heard that but somewhere I did. And it's on an UltraSPARC platform right? Thanks.

They can't be 256MB according to the specs (http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub...ystems/U5/spec ). Four chips means you have between 64 and 512 MB.
If you have 512 (or 256 maybe) yes. Select the text only installer.
Yes.
Yes.

Wow! This Ultra 5 has more memory than the computer I always use! It does have 512MB of RAM. I looked on the memory chips and there are 4 128MB chips. So I should be able to run Solaris 10/Solaris Express right? And is there any different places where I can buy a Sun Type 5 keyboard and mouse? Thanks.

eBay is probably the best bet but as already stated, a keyboard isn't required to use this box.

If no display, keyboard and mouse is plugged in, the console will fall-back to the serial line.

All you need is a terminal emulator connected to the serial line (9600/8-N-1 no flow control) and the right cable (null-modem DB25 to whatever is on your other device), which is easier to find and cheaper that a Type 5 keyboard / mouse.

I think that $10.00 for a Sun Type 5c keyboard and mouse is good, and $8.00 for shipping is not that bad. So I am getting the keyboard and mouse. Then I am going to give installing Solaris 10 or Solaris Express a shot. Will I have to change anything to get the Java Desktop System running on it? Thanks.

No, JDS is part of Solaris 10 and Express. Just more memory hungry.

I am on something called Nexenta. It is OpenSolaris/GNU or something. I like it but I got tired of all the problems with Solaris Express. I loved it, but I always had something wrong. I am going to use my Sun Ultra 5 for solaris from now on. The Solaris Express just stopped booting today, so I installed this, and this is perfect, although I liked Solaris Express more.

I am starting to wonder if this is a dead ultra 5. after it says no keyboard or input device, it just does nothing. i will try plugging in the keyboard and mouse. i will post what happens later. thanks.

oh and is there any possible way to get wireless internet working on this? thanks.

Along with the response for my other questions, I have a problem with one of my ultra 5s. It powers on, the green light on the front does not come on, the fan runs, nothing comes on the screen, the CD drive doesn't work. I don't know much about these systems yet, so I don't know what could be wrong. Is it dead or what? Thanks.