Hello Henry,
On Mon, 9 Jun 2025 14:52:54 -0400
Henry Bent <henry.r.bent@gmail.com> wrote:
> Something like a SPARCstation 2 or 5 might be ideal since you would be able
> to run a variety of operating systems both historic and modern - SunOS 4,
> Solaris, NetBSD, probably Linux if you really wanted to, NeXTstep, and I'm
> probably forgetting a few more. The historical significance of a system
> like that is that they were everywhere - Sun sold a ton of them and they
> were used in all sorts of applications, which also makes it a good entry
> level machine since they're fairly easy to come by and not terribly
> expensive. Parts are usually easy to find and inexpensive if you need
> them. You would also have options like using a modern SCSI emulator
> instead of a hard disk or connecting to an LCD monitor, but you could also
> do the full original workstation setup without too much trouble.
>
> -Henry
>
Do the models you mentioned generally "age" well? Do they usually
require significant repairs to get them running again?
They've held up as well as anything else of that age, in my experience. As far as I'm aware there haven't been any significant problems with those models over time which is also part of why I recommended them. As long as you get one that is in reasonably good condition, I would expect it to last for at least a few more years of light to moderate use. I haven't powered on my SS2 in a while but the last time I did it was okay; I also have an SS10 that I have used very heavily over the years and it's been fine, which is a machine from the same era.
Saying that does make me think - if you're not quite as worried about running as many OSes as possible and you like the form factor, you might also consider an SS10 or 20. It will be a little larger investment but a much higher powered machine, depending on how it's configured.
Al Kossow made a good point - all of these machines are going to be slow by modern standards. How slow are you willing to put up with? Do you want something that was a representation of an average workstation at the time, or do you want to go all out and build a four processor SunOS 4 monster? Are you more interested in having fast interactive performance, so you invest in a higher end SBUS graphics card? Lots of options to consider.
-Henry
-Henry