Re: Ultra 10 doesn't respond to any keyboard input? Help?

graham salkin wrote: 
I'm curious about just one thing at this moment...do these units have
the power to play DVDs?


Unfortunately it seems not. I have tried with an Ultra 5 350, (Running Debian Linux) and it wasnt nearly close to being watchable.

I think this has more to do with the power of the default graphics card in an Ultra 5 rather than the power of the machine itself though.

Highlu unlikely. The graphics chip (even the crappy onboard on the U5/10) only has one job: sending the pictures the CPU generates to the screen. Even though the ATI chip claims to be a "Rage+ DVD", Solaris only uses the pure framebuffer functionality (as does Linux, Sparc or x86). In other words all MPEG2-decoding is done in CPU. Unfortunately if my MPEG4/XViD experiences are anything to go by, this is not one of the strong points of the UltraSparc architecture, as it seems to perform marginally worse than a similarly equipped and clocked Pentium 2.

I tried on both onboard framebuffer and a nice UPA Creator3D. No noticeable difference (apart from higher max resolutions of course, but the CPU wasn't able to cope with the m64's max, let alone what the Creator could do).

Still as someone else has pointed out, they make great mass storage devices, especially as Solaris now comes on DVD. I have had no problems reading and writing DVDs with my U5.

I presume that DVD drives are available that will run with them?

Mine was from a local UK computer sales chain. Nothing special. Worked out of the box. Even booted a Solaris install DVD.

Yep, the old days of buggering around with soldered jumpers on obscure half-height Toshiba CDRom drives are well and truly over. Here my U10 is fitted out with a crappy Cyberdrive CDRW and and an AOpen DVD-ROM. Works like a dream.

I'd really like to use it as a media server for HD movies, but
somehow, I doubt that a U10 has the video power to run them at
the resolution I need. (1920x1080, 60 FPS)

Certainly on my machine, the default video doesnt seem to be up to the task at 1024x768. I dont know about how much better a Creator 3D would be.

A media server does not need to display anything itself. It should even be able to work headlessly if required. All it needs is good I/O performance, which is something the SparcStations excel in.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Philips DVP642 DVD player not starting up
    ... The DVP642 is a divx player and is worth fixing, most DVD players won`t ... most likely power supply problem. ...
    (sci.electronics.repair)
  • Re: Phew!
    ... No new toys - in fact, I have neglected, until today, to ... on the DVD. ... lights on, ... We agreed that I'd call the power company to ...
    (soc.singles.moderated)
  • Re: Sylvania/Funai TV/DVD/VCR shutdown question
    ... units with DVD, but have repaired a few of the TV/VCR types. ... My approach would be to confirm that any power supply sources (any that are ... but unable to avoid the challenge of repairs. ... All of the other diodes in this area also ...
    (sci.electronics.repair)
  • Re: Live TV Freezes
    ... recording since the tuner card is also drawing power and by starting up your ... DVD drive by putting a disk it that would also draw more power. ... It uses Conexant 23880 drivers. ... Do you have any problem playing DVDs with either MCE or Media Player? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
  • Re: Seeking portable player that can do WMV
    ... are watching movies on my laptop. ... The laptop consumes a lot of power: about 4 amps (running off its car ... and can handle DVD discs with WMVs. ...
    (rec.video.dvd.players)