Can you use SMD disks on a Sun 330?

[Jeff Weber]

In article <1539 at brazos.Rice.edu> you write:
>X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 125, message 10 of 19
>
>The Sun sparcstation 330 has 5 VME slots (3x9U 2x6U).  The VME slots can
>presumably be used for any reasonable VME board, (like a third party
>VME/SMD disk controller) but Sun does not offer the 330 in any
>configuration with SMD disks.
>
>Why? Is it that their SMD-4 controller is 9U and won't fit?  (why not? the
>cpu takes only one 9U slot?)

How about: Sun wants you to buy a bigger machine so they can make more
money?

Look closely; the framebuffer mounting on the CPU board extends into the
next 9u slot preventing you from using it, it seems.  This results in
having 1-9u and 2-6u slots to grow in.

Try a Xylogic 753 SMD controller.  It seems pretty well assumed around the
net that they are the same as Sun's SMD-4 and it is in a 6u form factor.

>Is there anything that would  stop me from using someone else's disk
>subsystem?  Do you know of any that definitely work on the 330? (I know of
>lots of SMD systems, but they might not work).

Well let's see.....  The install tapes are the same between 330 and 370's
w/SMD.  The CPU is the same.  They both are VME bus.  I do this type of
cross building quite often.  Usually you can get away with it.

>We are trying to get a SPARC system which for political reasons has to be
><= $30,000 ,but we want to expand it next year into a reasonable server.
>SMD disks are preferred for swapping and paging large cpu-intensive jobs.

You may try IPI.  SMD is dying.

>Any comments are appreciated. Please mail me, as I am (our site is)
>way behind in News, so I won't see anything there for a while.
>Thanks. If I find out anything useful, I'll summarize.