>> I've got a SS4.  [I want it to do unattended recovery from a mains
>> power failure.]

One response:

> Does your nvram set auto-boot?=true ?

Yes.  That means that once it does power up, it will come the rest of
the way up on its own...but it doesn't seem to affect what it takes to
get it to power up.

Another response:

> does the sparc4 have ther right power-supply to do this?  i seem to
> remember that certain Sun workstations had the "soft" power suppplies
> but didn't have the memory of the sparc5/20/etc.  my sparc5 and
> sparc20s "remember" what state they were in when then lose power, if
> they were off, then they stay off when the power comes back on, but
> if they were on, then they turn on when the power comes back.

At one of my workplaces, I have occasion to use an Intel box that can
be set that way.  Very nice.  Almost as nice as having a real power
switch instead of this stupid soft power idioc^H^H^H^H^Huh..."feature".
(There is exactly one thing I like about soft power, that being that
you can not only shut down but actually power off the box remotely.
But that is at least counterbalanced by its never *really* being
powered off.  I've seen machines that have a real power switch *and*
soft power, but not many.)

> if you don't have the PS-memory, the best solution i've ever run
> across is to get a paperclip or a piece of tape and make the
> power-on/off key on the keyboard stay down.

*What* power-on/off key on the keyboard? :-)  I'm using a type-3 and
that isn't going to change, even if it means living with the current
non-power-recovery.  I have considered opening things up and replacing
the back-panel switch with some soldered jumpers so that the switch is
effectively held in the "please turn on" position...though first I'd
experiment to see if actually holding it thus gives me behaviour close
enough to what I want to make it worth doing.

					der Mouse

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