Re: Looking for a 1998 era Sun VME computer

Hi,

On 18/01/2011, Craig Dewick <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Dec 2010, William Merrill wrote:
>
>> I am the NASA radio manager at Kennedy Space Center and am in need of a
>> power supply for a 1998 era Sun computer.  My request is not for home
>> use so I hope this doesn't violate a policy of this email list.  The
>> computer was re-badged by Motorola and sold as the "Zone Controller" in
>> our two-way radio system.  The box is 19" wide by 32" tall 25" deep.
>> Ours is 16 port model containing two power supply cards (and two 115 VAC
>> power plugs), two CPU cards, a DB15 connector for Ethernet (we use an
>> adapter to convert to RJ45), a horizontal fan module, and several I/O
>> cards.  Cards are inserted from the front and back of the computer.  It
>> was originally made by the British telecom supplier "Integrated Micro
>> Products" which Sun acquired in 1996.  Any leads are much appreciated!
>> T. William Merrill
>
> If you can provide maybe the Sun part number (if the power supply even has
> one) it could be helpful to tracking one down.
>
> Sun's system handbooks do have references to a few wierd systems like some
> Cray servers, etc. so you at least might be able to figure out what you're
> looking for and go from there. 1998 is not that old in Sun history.

I was going to reply to this earlier but the original message got
pushed down out of sight in my inbox. :(

Some photos would be great. I an not sure of any *Sun* VME systems
that used cards in the front and rear. After reading the email a few
times, and a couple of years of searching for VME stuff on ebay for my
own collection, I think this may be a MVME or similar system.

As for a replacement power supply. Without either the Sun part numbers
or a photo, it is difficult to tell if the power supplies have any
self monitoring intelligence, or if they blindly provide +12V, +5V and
-5V to the card cages.

Given the rack has two power supplies, I am guessing this is a
redundent configuration and hence it would probably be a bad idea if
the box was down for any period of time. Is it possible to remove the
old, I assume failed, power supply, and have it repaired? If a like
for like is not possible, does the machine form part of a safety
system that would require large amounts of change control and
revalidation if you graft in non-standard modules?

Simon

-- 
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"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh