On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:28:04 -0800 (PST)
Ted Havelka <ted@cs.pdx.edu> wrote:

> Hello Khaqq,

Hi Ted,

> I recongnized that having the cover off kept air from rushing over the
> blue Ross heatsinks.  I'd heard similar words of "keep the cover and slot
> covers on your PC..." for the same reason, and it makes good sense.  In
> the case of the stacked Ross processor cards, I also noted how little
> space remains between them when they are installed.  And these card
> necessarily install in the connectors closest to the motherboard CPU,
> which are slightly different than the other (standard?) SBUS connectors.

Those 2 connectors are MBUS (CPU bus). The other four are SBUS (expansion
bus).

> I also learned that (at least this Sparc 10) does not put anything out on
> its video card with a bad keyboard attached.  Not sure what's wrong with
> the first keyboard I used -- green LEDs blinked and system beeps, but no
> video from the Sparc 10 and no response to keys pressed.  Tested later on
> an IPX system which does show video despite bad keyboard, it complains "no
> keyboard found, putting console on tty1" or similar.

As all my SUN keyboards are working, I have no similar experience.

> As Sun no longer makes the Sparc type keyboards, is it worth trying to fix
> a seemingly dead one? 

Pick one on ebay or equiv. for a few dollars, or get one for free... People
dump them now.

> Back in the late 90's I remember our lead Unix
> admin at Portland State University talk about how the new keyboards for
> Sparcs cost $110 in their day.  Their market value is far less now, but
> I've heard that it's not easy to get a PS/2 keyboard to work with Sparc
> systems.

Their market value is far less, however those keyboards are nearly
unbreakable, which is not the case with modern PC kbs.
To use a PS/2 keyboard and mouse with your SS10, you need SUN P/N X465A 
( 370-2068 ), but this is not easy to find.
http://www.sunhelp.org/review-hardware-adapter

Best,

khaqq