brimbelle.org funny machines
I'm really interested in old and funny computers. Here is a little place dedicated to the machines running at brimbelle.org. My favorite operating system is OpenBSD, so I try to run it on most of my machines.
MicroVAX 3100/m20e
An ancestral server machine introduced in 1987, without framebuffer, serial only. The processor is a KA41-D: CVAX-60, built on CMOS2 DEC technology, running at precisely 16,67 MHz (wouhouuuuhhh!!!), 1 Kb internal cache, no external cache. It has 8 Mb of RAM and three disks (a 200 Mb Maxtor disk, a 100 Mb DEC RZ23 disk, plus a 200 Mb Conner disk from my SPARCClassic). It was running OpenVMS 6.1, but now it runs OpenBSD/vax. I use the machine with a DEC VT525 terminal base, which is multisession, support colors, etc. No need to say that this machine is definitively not a rocket :) but it's so exciting to see a 20 year-old machine running like a charm...
dmesg | photos
| CPU | KA41-D (CVAX-60) 16,67 MHz |
| RAM | 8 Mb |
| Graphics | n/a: serial only |
| OS | OpenBSD/vax |
| Purchase | 2006/11/14 |
SPARCclassic
Probably the first shuttle computer :D. The SPARCclassic was introduced in 1992 and is a really nice workstation. Full connectivity : cgthree framebuffer, audio i/o, serial port, parallel port, external scsi connector and a 10 Mb RJ45 ethernet port. The processor is a 50 MHz MicroSPARC-1. The machine currently has 48 Mb of RAM and a rather big hard drive : 4 Gb (the stock disk's size was 200 Mb...). When I got it, SunOS 5.2 (Solaris 2.2) was running, but I rapidly replaced this old beast with OpenBSD/sparc.
dmesg | photos
| CPU | MicroSPARC-1 50 MHz |
| RAM | 48 Mo |
| Graphics | cgthree |
| OS | OpenBSD/sparc |
| Purchase | 2007/06/08 |
Ultra 30
It's a very cool machine launched by Sun in 1996, fully supported by OpenBSD, stable and rather fast. I bought it on ebay. The Ultra 30 is a traditional Sun UltraSPARC II based machine (mine has a 300 MHz USII) with SCSI controller and UPA frame buffer. Moreover it has four PCI slots, which expand hardware possibilities with modern OS like OpenBSD. The original amount of RAM wasn't very high (256 Mb) but during years I've put more. My U30 now has 1 Gb. I've two disks (18 Gb + 9 Gb), and a Sun Fast Quad Ethernet adapter. Actually, it runs OpenBSD/sparc64.
dmesg | photos
| CPU | UltraSPARC II 300 MHz |
| RAM | 1 Gb |
| Graphics | Creator 3D |
| OS | OpenBSD/sparc64 - Solaris 11 |
| Purchase | 2005/01/14 |
Blade 1500
This machine is the first revision of the more recent Sun Blade 1500 workstation, designed on the powerful UltraSPARC IIIi processor running at 1.062 GHz. Whereas the previous Sun machines were traditionnal workstations, the Blade 1500 shares some components with the PC world : the 80 Gb hard disk uses the IDE interface. The connectivity is excellent : 4 USB 1.1 ports, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 2 IEEE 1394 (Firewire 400) ports, Gigabit Ethernet, PCI 32/64 bits at 33/66 MHz, etc. I have 1 Gb of RAM (PC2300 ECC) and an XVR-1200 graphics card which is the most advanced one from Sun (except the XVR-2500, which is PCI-Express). This card has 128 Mb of frame buffer memory, 256 Mb of texture memory and 32 Mb of display list memory. I use my Blade 1500 under OpenBSD/sparc64 or Solaris Express (which needs such a machine to run decently...).
dmesg | photos
| CPU | UltraSPARC IIIi 1.062 GHz |
| RAM | 1 Gb |
| Graphics | XVR-1200 |
| OS | OpenBSD/sparc64 - Solaris 11 |
| Purchase | 2008/01/31 |
Octane
This workstation just rocks! My version is a "D" revision, from january 2000 (first Octane models were introduced in 1997). Originally, my Octane had a R12k 300 MHz processor, 512 Mb of RAM and an ESI frame buffer. I've upgraded it with a Dual R12k 300 MHz processor module, 1.5 Gb of RAM, 18 Gb + 9 Gb hard disks, and last, but not least, an Odissey VPro V6 graphics board. It's probably the most upgradable workstation ever produced by SGI: my Octane now have all the parts of an Octane2 except the skin. The performances are simply impressive for a machine of this age! My Octane runs under IRIX 6.5.30 (August 16, 2006), which is probably the last official release of this system from SGI.
hinv1 | hinv2 | photos
| CPU | MIPS Dual R12k 300 MHz |
| RAM | 1.5 Gb |
| Graphics | Odissey VPro V6 |
| OS | IRIX 6.5.30 |
| Purchase | 2006/01/02 |
Netfinity 5100
Well, it's a PC (from 2000), but it's a good machine afterall! This server is fully supported by OpenBSD and the two processors with GENERIC.MP kernel work just fine. These two processors are PIII 667 MHz, which are known to be rock solid. I've put three SCSI U160/10krpm hard disks of 18 Gb each in it. The first is for the system and the others are concatenated via CCD for storage. It's the machine which host this website. Actually, it runs OpenBSD/i386.
dmesg | photos
| CPU | 2 x PIII 667 MHz |
| RAM | 768 Mb |
| Graphics | S3 Savage |
| OS | OpenBSD/i386 |
| Purchase | 2005/05/19 |
