Sun

11owners with an opinion

56%of verdicts positive

1/3positive/negative since 2024

0happy after 3+ years

Praised for comfort and display; criticized for performance and portability.

Where people moved

Left this for

AMD Opteron1

What people wrote

Doesn’t like it

Same here. I've been in the chip design industry since 1997. Everything was Sun and I was right out of college and convinced my manager to let me use a Linux/x86 machine and I used the savings to buy a large 21" monitor that would run at 2048x1536 resolution and use it as an X terminal to the Suns. Everyone else loved it and did the same. Around 2000 we started getting some EDA software released on Linux. I remember getting some Linux kernel patches and recompiling the kernel to change the user / kernel split from 2GB / 2GB to 3.5GB user / 0.5GB kernel. But we still needed the 64-bit Suns for some jobs that needed over 4GB RAM. Itanium was really expensive and slow and then AMD released the 64-bit Opteron in 2003. We bought them immediately and never bought another Sun. My high school in 1992 got a bunch of old Sun3 and first gen Sun4 systems. I absolutely loved them. My dream then was to have my own Sun workstation but they were way too expensive. My other dream was to go to college and then get a job at Sun. I heard about Linux in 1993 and got my Unix system at home. I did work on some Sun UltraSPARC III companion chipsets but Sun couldn't compete on the price to performance ratio with Linux/x86

Likes it

Sun had the prettiest and fastest machines back in my young days. Their keyboards also were a work of art. I still remember the feel of their keyboards and they were bigger than what we have now. Silky smooth.

Doesn’t like it

My experience of ancient CRT devices is that the display gets gradually dimmer. I once had a TV that was only really usable after dark -- but that's the only time I wanted to use it anyway -- and a huge Sun monitor that was only just about readable in total darkness, but we kept it because we also had a Sun server that we didn't know how to connect to any other monitor and we were worried that one day we wouldn't be able to SSH to it, but in fact the server never once failed.

Doesn’t like it

I can remember carrying a Sun machine around for demos in '95 or so - the IPX was easy to carry but the monitor less than easy. What I particularly remember is getting the occasional electric shocks from the monitor when carrying it (presumably from energy stored in capacitors) and being really careful not to drop it as our two person company only had one Sun monitor!

Doesn’t like it

In my experience it is not the amount but the composition of the pod/tablets that makes a huge difference. My machine (Miele) on the same cycle program has excellent results with Dreft pods, Ok'ish with Sun tablets and very poor with Finish.

Likes it

In 1992 I had an office with a door, a window, a Sun workstation, lots of bankable vacation time, a salary that let me buy a house in a nice neighborhood, and coded in a programming language that I could completely understand for a machine whose instruction set was tiny and sensible. Now I WFH with a really crappy corp-issued Windows laptop that's sluggish compared to that Sun, haven't had a real vacation in years despite "unlimited" PTO, and have to use a small safe subset of C++ to code for chips whose ISAs have bloated into behemoths. On the plus side, I now have git, instead of Cray's UPDATE, whose underlying metaphor was a box of punched cards.

Neutral

I recall this fondly when it came out. I had a few racks of Sun servers at that time...and anyone I showed the video too were convinced it was bullshit. April Fools anyone? However, Brendan and Bryan know their onions...and all the naysayers had to pause and think a bit. It too crazy to believe...and too crazy to not believe. I miss this stuff. Edit: This was done when everyone ran spinning media. I wonder how modern SSDs hold up?

Likes it

I personally loved the old Sun keyboards that backspace and delete right above each other so you could fix the most annoying^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcommon terminal problem by just moving a finger instead of screwing around with tty settings.

Likes it

I remember using a SUN keyboard on a pizzabox back in the 90s. I remember at the time thinking it was unusually nice to type on. How does your one connect to your PC? Did you have to buy a special ps2->USB adaptor?

Likes it

Virtually all electronics these days use switched-mode power supplies/chargers. I presume that your desktop computer has a metal case and typically desktop power supplies also have their own metal case. So if the desktop doesn't bother you, then it suggests that the double Faraday cage effect is working for you. It would appear that you are either reacting to the super-audio whine of switched-mode chargers or possibly even the high frequency EMF radiation. Both sources are known to cause distress in some persons. Personally, I sleep far better by not having any electronics in the bedroom and even switch-off power outlets near the bed. In the days of CRTs I used to be bothered by screen flicker. I could only tolerate Sun workstation monitors and some high-end Sony screens - all running at 75+Hz refresh rates.

Neutral

awesome article! I still remember switching back and forth from sun (and other unix) keyboards - ctrl and caps lock are reversed from today's standard 104. I haven't used the caps-lock since then. Pinky just goes on the shift key TO TYPE ALL SHOUTY. I don't really know if pinky ever gets used fro letters in any case, but I think he doesn't so unless you need capital ctrl- something what's the problem? Still it does also feel like the problem of designers that like to use the tail to wag the dog to justify yet another unnecessary change is just all too realistic.