Ultra 60

The Ultra 60 is a fairly large and heavy computer workstation in a tower enclosure from Sun Microsystems. The Ultra 60 was launched in November 1997 and shipped with Solaris 7. It was available in several specifications.

  • Sun Ultra 60 workstation # 1 CPU Model 1300 and # 2 CPU Model 2300, with Sun Creator3D graphics – began shipping February 1998. The last order date was August 4, 1999.
  • Sun Ultra 60 workstation # 1 CPU Model 1300 and # 2 CPU Model 2300, with Sun Elite3D graphics – began shipping March 1998.
  • Sun Ultra 60 workstation # 1 CPU Models 1360 and # 2 CPU 2360, with Sun Creator and Sun Elite3D graphics – began shipping April 1998.
  • Sun Ultra 60 workstation # 1 CPU Models 1450 and # 2 CPU 2450 – began shipping in May 1999.
  • Sun Ultra 60 workstation models began shipping with 18-GB SCSI SCA, 10000-rpm internal drives in November 1999.
Ultra 60
ManufacturerSun Microsystems
TypeWorkstation
Release dateFebruary 1998 (1998-02)
Lifespan1998–2003
Units sold500K+
MediaCD, floppy
Operating systemSolaris, Linux, BSD
CPUUltraSPARC II
Memory2 GB
StorageSCSI SCA
DisplayVGA via 13W3
InputSerial, standard mini DIN-8 connector for Sun keyboard + Sun mouse
Connectivity10/100 Ethernet
Power110–240 V 50/60 Hz
DimensionsHeight 45.0 cm (17.7 in.), Width 19.0 cm (7.5 in.), Depth 49.8 cm (19.6 in.)
Mass22.65 kg (50 lb.)
PredecessorUltra 1 (Single CPU)
Ultra 2 (Dual CPU)
SuccessorUltra 80

The Ultra 60 is similar to the higher-cost Sun Ultra 80, but is somewhat smaller and supports fewer CPUs and less memory. The Ultra 60 may be rack-mounted using an optional kit (X9627A or 560-2548) although they were generally not rack-mounted, since the Ultra 60 was designed for use as a workstation rather than a server. Details can be found in the Sun Ultra 80 Rack Mount Installation Guide. The Enterprise 220R is an Ultra 60 motherboard in a specialized rackmount case with custom power supplies and other parts.

The Ultra 60 is no longer sold new and was replaced by the Ultra 45. The last order date for the Ultra 60 was July 2002 and the last model to be shipped was in 2003, so it is now considered by Sun to be end of life.

Operating system

Although it shipped with Solaris 7, the Ultra 60 will run later versions of Solaris up to 10, as well as Linux and FreeBSD.[1] The Ultra 60 can not run Microsoft Windows directly, although an internal PCI card (SunPCi II pro and similar) from Sun could be fitted to allow the use of Windows.

Hardware specifications and notes

CPU

The Ultra 60 came equipped with 1 or 2 CPUs. The CPUs run at 300, 360, or 450 MHz and have 16-KB data and 16-KB instruction cache on chip with a 2MB or 4MB external secondary cache (secondary cache size depends on CPU model).

Memory

The Ultra 60 uses 144-pin 5V 60ns DIMM memory modules of either 32, 64, or 128 MB which should be installed in sets of four identical DIMMs. There are 16 DIMM sockets, so it is possible to fit up to 2 GB with 16 128 MB modules. The memory bus is 576 bits wide; 512 bits are used for data and 64 bits for error correction. The specifications give the maximum throughput of 1.78-GB/s. Performance is improved if 2-way interleaving is used (giving 512 MB or 2 GB).

Internal storage

The Ultra 60 takes one or two 1" high SCA SCSI disk drives internally. It was sold with 18.2 GB or 36.4 GB disks, but can in practice use any SCA disk. The internal disks must be mounted in a carrier or spud-bracket (Sun part number 540-3024). The SCSI IDs of the internal disks are 0 and 3. These are set by the SCA backplane and can not be changed.

An optional 1.44 MB 3.5" MS-DOS/IBM compatible floppy drive can be fitted. An optional 644 MB SunCD 32X-speed, Photo CD compatible CD-ROM drive or an optional 10X DVD-ROM could be specified as well. Many Ultra 60s in current use will be fitted with a rewritable CD-ROM drive.

PCI and UPA slots

PCI
  • Four full-size PCI slots compliant with PCI specification version 2.1:
  • Three slots operating at 33-MHz, 32- or 64-bit data bus width, 5 volt
  • One slot operating at 33- or 66-MHz, 32- or 64-bit data bus width, 3.3 volt

Some systems might be inoperable if a PCI 2.2 card is installed.

Video Card: Framebuffer / UPA

There are #2 UPA graphics slots running at 112 MHz supporting one Elite3D m3 and/or Elite3D m6 graphics options, or up to two Creator3D graphics options. The XVR-1000 graphics option is not officially supported but does work, under Solaris 9 or Solaris 10.

SCSI

The Sun Ultra 60 is fitted with a dual channel Ultra-3 SCSI controller. The speed is 40 MB/s. One controller (c0) is used for the internal disk(s) and CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and tape. The second channel (c1) is used for the external 68-pin Ultra wide SCSI connector on the rear of the Ultra 60.

Input and Output connectors
  • Two RS-232C/RS-423 serial ports using 25-pin D connectors
  • A 2 MB/s Centronics compatible parallel port using a 25-pin D connector
  • Standard mini DIN-8 connector for Sun keyboard / Sun mouse
  • External Ultra Wide SCSI 68-pin connector
  • 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet using the HME adapter
  • IEC mains input connector.

1 Gbit/s Ethernet can be used with the optional Sun X1141A Ethernet card. USB is not officially supported, but various USB boards for PCs have been known to work with Linux and Solaris.

Power consumption

According to the hardware specifications on the Sun web site, the maximum power consumption is 380 W. The components list lists the power supply (Sun part number 300-1357) as a Sony 670 W 12A power supply. A well fitted system (2x450MHz, 2GB memory, Elite3D graphics, one disk) draws about 200 watts when idle.

Reducing Power

Remove 2nd video card and 2nd CPU.[2]

Construction quality

The Ultra 60 is a well built workstation. It does not use cheap mass-produced commodity PC parts like other Ultra workstations such as the Ultra 5 and Ultra 10. It is well cooled, suffering none of the problems of overheating like Sun's previous quad processor machine, the SPARCstation 20.

Support

The Ultra 60 is no longer sold new, but it is Sun's policy to support hardware for 5 years from the date of last shipment, so the Ultra 60 was officially supported until October 2007. In addition to official support, knowledgeable people (often Sun employees) are regular visitors to the comp.unix.solaris, comp.sys.sun.hardware and comp.sys.sun.admin Usenet newsgroups.

OS

References
  1. "FreeBSD/sparc64 Project".
  2. https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1145784
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