Title: SS20 24-bit VSIMMs available
Post by: crimsonRE on April 30, 2007, 09:46:23 AM
Post by: crimsonRE on April 30, 2007, 09:46:23 AM
I do an occasional search through eBay for the various models of Sun graphics boards- GS,GX,TGX,Expert3D,XVR*,etc and I notice that at the bottom of the results screen I see listings for the CG14/SX VSIMM (though it's actually a framebuffer 'board' - uses main memory for the display, quite fast) that's needed to get 24-bit color on the SS20 (& the rare SS10SX). And best of all they are cheap...
Hope some of all can use these.
Hope some of all can use these.
Title: SS20 24-bit VSIMMs available
Post by: dlundh on April 30, 2007, 10:09:26 AM
Post by: dlundh on April 30, 2007, 10:09:26 AM
I was under the impression OPENSTEP didn't support those?
Title: SS20 24-bit VSIMMs available
Post by: crimsonRE on May 01, 2007, 02:43:36 PM
Post by: crimsonRE on May 01, 2007, 02:43:36 PM
I don't have a copy of OpenStep for SPARC, but I can't imagine that NeXT dropped support of the CG14...
Anybody out there running OS for SPARC and can have a look at the list of graphics drivers?
Anybody out there running OS for SPARC and can have a look at the list of graphics drivers?
Title: onboard 24 bit framebuffer in NS 3.3
Post by: rice0067 on May 03, 2007, 04:33:57 PM
Post by: rice0067 on May 03, 2007, 04:33:57 PM
I used one of those simms for the onboard frame buffer in an SS20.
This was NS 3.3.
The machine had dual 75s and 512 meg ram
Of course only one proc was seen, and I *think* it only saw 256 megs of ram.
NS ran a lot better than linux did :). except for lack of modern web browser
This was NS 3.3.
The machine had dual 75s and 512 meg ram
Of course only one proc was seen, and I *think* it only saw 256 megs of ram.
NS ran a lot better than linux did :). except for lack of modern web browser
Title: Re: onboard 24 bit framebuffer in NS 3.3
Post by: da9000 on May 06, 2007, 06:39:02 PM
Post by: da9000 on May 06, 2007, 06:39:02 PM
Quote from: "rice0067"
NS ran a lot better than linux did :). except for lack of modern web browser
That's hard to believe with a 2.x or newer kernel, but then again I've not tried it myself :? One thing's for certain: NeXTSTEP running it would certainly get a higher "geek coolness" rating :)
Title: Re: onboard 24 bit framebuffer in NS 3.3
Post by: crimsonRE on May 07, 2007, 03:28:32 PM
Post by: crimsonRE on May 07, 2007, 03:28:32 PM
Quote from: "rice0067"I used one of those simms for the onboard frame buffer in an SS20.
This was NS 3.3.
The machine had dual 75s and 512 meg ram
Of course only one proc was seen, and I *think* it only saw 256 megs of ram.
NS ran a lot better than linux did :). except for lack of modern web browser
Hmmm, my SS20's running NextStep see >256MB.
Now, you would not have seen 512MB because the 'VSIMM' uses one of the SIMM slots - the last 2 SIMM slots have an extra connector to the right of the memory connector that are utilized by the VSIMM(s).
If I want to use a modern browser, I run cubXwindow on the NextStep machine, start the browser on one of my newer machines (Sun or SGI) and point it to display on the machine running NextStep (I do this with my NeXT TurboColor relatively often, too).
Cheers!
Title: SS20 24-bit VSIMMs available
Post by: iDork on May 11, 2007, 12:02:50 AM
Post by: iDork on May 11, 2007, 12:02:50 AM
Here's the list of supported "video cards" in OPENSTEP 4.2 Sparc (no patches).
Title: SS20 24-bit VSIMMs available
Post by: adcurtin on March 07, 2009, 05:14:11 PM
Post by: adcurtin on March 07, 2009, 05:14:11 PM
What is a good price for a VSIMM? I have a few SS20s, and I was thinking about getting a VSIMM for one of them. There is a seller on ebay asking $60. I offered $15, and he countered with $30. Is $30 a decent price for a 4MB vsimm? (I guess I don't really care about 1280x1024 vs. 11** x *** [whatever that res is], because all the monitors I'm using will do both just fine).
Title: SS20 24-bit VSIMMs available
Post by: bart86 on October 13, 2009, 08:56:29 PM
Post by: bart86 on October 13, 2009, 08:56:29 PM
The 8mb VSIMM is the fastest 24bit subsystem you can use on a SS20 with NS/OS. There is no acceleration, but it sits directly on the memory buss so even as a primitive frame buffer its pretty fast all things considered.
I have a drive with 4.2 that I pop in and play with sometimes on my SS20 with dual SM81 (only one is recognized). Nice system, certainly the fastest non-intel system that ran OS 4.2.
I have a drive with 4.2 that I pop in and play with sometimes on my SS20 with dual SM81 (only one is recognized). Nice system, certainly the fastest non-intel system that ran OS 4.2.