In the last few months, we have been making small steps of upgrade by buying
ULTRA-1 and ULTRA-2 from ebay. This was originally Feng Qiu's idea.
ULTRA-1 and 2 can take the same ethernet card that was used in the
UnityInova systems, and they came with SCSI, so that there is no need to buy
the exhorbitantly expensive SUN ethernet/SCSI card. It is possible to buy
systems with sufficient memory without costing a lot of money and it is easy
to put in cheap SCSI drives to expand the space.
ULTRA-2 posts a small complication for the Unity and UnityPlus systems
because its SCSI port is 68 pin, whereas the Varian cable to the
differential box is a 50 pin micro (Male) to 50 pin "D" (Male). Varian's
solution is to have a 68-pin micro (M) to 50-pin micro (M) cable plus a
50-pin micro (F) to 50-pin "D" (M) adaptor. The first item is common, but
the second one may only be available from Varian. They are quite expensive
(it would be improper for me to quote the prices here). I think there is an
alternative: I found that QVS sells 68-pin micro (M) to 50-pin micro (F)
adaptor for $25-$30 each. It seems that coupling this with the cable we
already have for the differential box, it should work. I have not got a QVS
adaptor to test this out because I eventually decided to use ULTRA-1, which
has 50-pin SCSI, for these systems.
Varian is also recommending that the differential box be terminated with an
active terminator, 50-pin "D" male. That is really expensive. So far I
have not found it necessary with my Solaris 8, vnmr6.1C, Ultra-1 systems
yet.
Hsin
--
Hsin Wang, Ph.D.
NMR Facility Manager
College of Staten Island
2800 Victory Boulevard
Staten Island, NY 10314
Phone: 718-982-3809
Fax: 718-982-3910
Email: wang_at_postbox.csi.cuny.edu
-----Original Message-----
> From: Pellechia, Perry [mailto:pellechia_at_mail.chem.sc.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 8:56 AM
> To: Ammrl (E-mail)
> Subject: Network card for Sun Blade 150s (Varian VNMR)
Hello Group,
I am looking to upgrade the host Sun workstations (Sparc 5's) on our
Varian systems. The options from either Sun or Varian for a second NIC is
pretty expensive and I am sure that there are cheaper options. What cards
have you gotten to work on the newer Sun system (Solaris 8; VNMR 6.1C). I
know this question has been asked before, but I cannot find the answer in
the archives. I would be happy to summarize the responses I get.
Thanks,
Perry.
============================================
Perry J. Pellechia
Director of NMR Services
University of South Carolina
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
mailto:pellechia_at_sc.edu
http://homer.chem.sc.edu/perry
============================================
Received on Thu Sep 19 2002 - 17:08:13 MST