Solaris 8 Install - How? (Total SPARC/Sun Newbie)

[TheNeil2001]

Hi,

I landed a load of Sun hardware over the weekend (2xSPARCStation 10, 1xSPARC Ultra 5 and other bits and pieces) and wanted to start playing with it. One problem though is that I haven't got the faintest idea where to start as I've never used Sun/Solaris ever before - be honest, I did put 'newbie' in the subject title (I'm more of a Mac/PC person)

I've powered up my Ultra 5 and it boots to Gentoo Linux (which then asks for a password/login which I don't know) so I inserted the Solaris 8 install CD, rebooted, hit Stop+A and tried using 'boot cdrom' from the 'ok' prompt. The machine then restarts but says that it can't find the drive. I've also tried using the Solaris 7 install CD and get the same results. Any ideas? Would an external CD drive make any difference?

If the Ultra 5 isn't an option, then what's the best thing to do with the SPARCStation 10s? One has a second CPU fitted and twin hard drives (1.5Gb in total if I remember correctly) and both machines boot but, obviously, want logins which I don't have. I haven't had time to play with these as I was concentrating on the Ultra 5 but I'll end up re-installing the OS on both but which version would run best/well? At my disposal I have Solaris 2.6, 7, and 8 but I know that these are nowhere near 'current' so don't want to aim too high

Basically, I need some major hand holding

 

[tuka]

Sun CDROM should be configured for 512, I remember in the past when I would change a jumper for Sun or a PC.

I would use Solaris 8, The SparcStation 10 is a Sun4M, which solaris 8 will load as 32 bit. The Ultra5 will load up on 64bit

 

[cndcadams]

I second the Solaris 8, no need to use the older OS.

CA

 

[KenCunningham]

Good news, Neil and I third the Solaris 8 choice.

All I ask of you is make my wildest dreams come true

 

[TheNeil2001]

I was pretty certain that the Sun drive would already have been setup correctly but it certainly didn't want to play ball and there aren't any external dip switches on it (it's a pretty old caddy loading box). Looks like the old Pioneer drive really came to my rescue

I'm also getting a mental message that Solaris 8 would be the OS of choice

Thanks people

http://www.TheNeil.plus.com