# SunPCi

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Series of single-board computers

SunPCi card with 400 MHz processor

**SunPCi** is a series of [single-board computers](/source/Single-board_computer) with a connector that effectively allows a PC motherboard to be fitted in [Sun Microsystems](/source/Sun_Microsystems) [SPARC](/source/SPARC)-based [workstations](/source/Workstation) based on the [PCI](/source/Peripheral_Component_Interconnect) architecture adding the capability for the workstation to act as a '[IBM PC compatible](/source/IBM_PC_compatible)' computer.[1] The Sun PCi cards included an [x86](/source/X86) processor, RAM, expansion ports, and an onboard [graphics controller](/source/Graphics_controller), allowing a complete [Wintel](/source/Wintel) [operating environment](/source/Operating_system)[a] on a [Solaris](/source/Solaris_(operating_system)) system.[2] The SunPCi software running on Solaris emulates the disk drives that contain the PC filesystem. The PC software running on the embedded hardware is displayed in an [X window](/source/X_Window_System) on the host desktop; there is also a connector on the edge of the board that can optionally be used to connect a PC monitor.[3]

## History

The product arose from the issue of people who were working on a [Unix](/source/Unix) workstation that was typically not [Intel](/source/Intel)-based being sent a file from a [Microsoft Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows) based PC and being unable to handle the file.[1] Sun termed this problem *interoperability*.[1] By the year 2000 solutions to the problem such as [emulators](/source/Emulator) were available but their performance at the time was quite problematic.[1] With Sun workstations adopting the PCI hardware bus standard this became possible.[1]

SunPC Accelerator DX

These cards were the successor to the earlier **SunPC** cards that had been available for Sun [SBus](/source/SBus) or [VME](/source/VMEbus) systems.[4][5] Prior to this a software only [application binary interface](/source/Application_binary_interface) and DOS emulator called [Wabi](/source/Wabi_(software)) was used.[4] SunPC was offered as a replacement software emulator that could be used to run more advanced applications, with higher performance, by adding an X86 [hardware accelerator](/source/Hardware_accelerator).[6] In 1992 the SunPC Accelerator SX (16 MHz [486SX](/source/486SX)) or SunPC Accelerator DX (25 MHz [486DX](/source/486DX)) were available for SBus workstations,[7] though the SunPC program emulates the PC memory with or without the accelerator present.[8] An accelerator card is needed for software that requires [80386](/source/80386) or 80486 hardware, such as [Windows 3.11](/source/Windows_3.11) running in enhanced mode or [Windows 95](/source/Windows_95); without this hardware SunPC runs in software-only mode which emulates an [80286](/source/80286).[8] In 1997 a 133 MHz 5x86 [AMD](/source/AMD) SBus co-processor was available.[9]

The SunPCi was originally used in workstations such as the Ultra 5

The [Ultra 5](/source/Ultra_5%2F10) workstation with an optional SunPCi for running Windows 95 or [NT](/source/Windows_NT) was announced in November 1998.[2][10] The next year Ultra 5 systems including a SunPCi with a 300 MHz [AMD K6-2](/source/AMD_K6-2) processor and 64 to 256 MB RAM were available.[3][2] Windows applications running on this system were measured to be 40% slower than a desktop PC with a 300 MHz [Pentium II](/source/Pentium_II), but the card was cheaper than purchasing a new PC.[11] Following an in-depth review in 1999 with an original 300MHz 64mb memory SunPCi card, Kevin Railsback in *[InfoWorld](/source/InfoWorld)* magazine noted the price was competitive and the performance was suitable for business applications especially when using the output attached to the SunPCi to a dedicated monitor. The downsides were that a separate license was required for the Windows 95 operating system, [MS-DOS](/source/MS-DOS) disk [drivers](/source/Device_driver) performed slowly and [DirectX](/source/DirectX) was not available unless using the separate dedicated monitor.[2] The 600 MHz SunPCi II was introduced in 2000.[12] With the release of version 2.2 of the SunPCi II software in 2001 it was possible to have more than one accelerator card in a workstation or entry-level [Sun Enterprise](/source/Sun_Enterprise) server.[13] By 2005 the SunPCi IIIpro was available for workstations such as the [Sun Blade](/source/Sun_Blade_(workstation)) 150.[14]

## Hardware and software

### Hardware

According to Sun documentation the "... coprocessor card is not just PC-compatible, it is an actual PC that is constructed from real PC components and follows the *de facto* and emerging PC hardware design standards."[15]

Model CPU type Clock speed Part number SunPCi AMD K6-2 300 MHz 375-0075 SunPCi AMD K6-2 400 MHz 375-0095 SunPCi II 600 MHz 375-0131 SunPCi IIpro 733 MHz 375-3051 SunPCi III 1.4 GHz 375-3116 SunPCi IIIpro 1.6 GHz 375-3203

### Software

The SunPCi I[b] coprocessor with version 1.3 software, the final release for SunPCi I hardware, is compatible with Solaris 2.5.1, 2.6, 7 or 8 running on the host. Solaris 9 support was included starting with the SunPCi II hardware and version 2.3.1 software.[16] The SunPCi III is supported on Solaris 10 with patches, but SunPCi II is not.[17]

The first version of the SunPCi card was intended to run Windows 95 or NT. The cards were not limited to just "officially" supported operating systems; according to Sun "Because the card is a PC system, future Microsoft Windows operating systems should also be compatible."[15] Later, the following Windows and [Linux](/source/Linux) operating systems were officially supported by Sun on the SunPCi IIIpro:[18]

- [Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional](/source/Windows_2000)

- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

- [Microsoft Windows XP](/source/Microsoft_Windows_XP)

- [Microsoft Windows Server 2003](/source/Microsoft_Windows_Server_2003)

- [Red Hat 9 Personal/Professional](/source/Red_Hat_Linux)

- [Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 WS/ES](/source/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux)

Some people have also claimed to successfully run some other operating systems on particular SunPCi cards, including [NetBSD](/source/NetBSD)[19] and [Debian Linux](/source/Debian_Linux)[20]

## See also

- [Sun386i](/source/Sun386i), Sun Microsystems Intel based workstation product

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Sun microsystems tended to use the term *operating environment* where many would simply use *operating system*, there may be some specific reasoning behind the different terminology.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Later documentation retroactively refers to the first generation "SunPCi" as "SunPCi I."

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Tougaw_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Tougaw_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Tougaw_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Tougaw_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Tougaw_1-4) Tougaw, Douglas (15 August 2000). "Sun PCi Provides the Best of Two Worlds". *Computing in Science & Engineering*. **42** (4). IEEE/AIP: 4–8. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2000CSE.....2d...4T](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000CSE.....2d...4T). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1109/MCISE.2000.852386](https://doi.org/10.1109%2FMCISE.2000.852386).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Railsback_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Railsback_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Railsback_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Railsback_3-3) Railsback, Kevin (April 12, 1999). ["SunPCi puts Wintel in your workstation"](https://books.google.com/books?id=EFAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA43). *InfoWorld*. pp. 49–50. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0199-6649](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0199-6649). Retrieved 15 December 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Barker_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Barker_4-1) Barker, Ralph (October 1999). "Sun's Ultra 5 with SunPCi". *Performance Computing*. Vol. 17, no. 11. San Francisco.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Wells2007_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Wells2007_5-1) Wells, April J. (28 November 2007). ["Virtualization"](https://books.google.com/books?id=V6VF08_CZbUC&pg=PA177). *Grid Application Systems Design*. CRC Press. pp. 177–178. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781420012972](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781420012972). Retrieved 15 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** DeVitt, Don (August 1999). [SunPCi Supporting Highly Available PC Applications with Solaris](https://web.archive.org/web/20191215191140/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8b76/bdddf4ad8b7b610c405db69feb77580ebecf.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Sun Microsystems. [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [201656164](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:201656164). Archived from [the original](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8b76/bdddf4ad8b7b610c405db69feb77580ebecf.pdf) (PDF) on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 15 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Conover, Joel (August 1, 1995). "DOS And Windows Have Their Moment In The Sun, Thanks To SunSoft's SunPC". *Network Computing*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Wylie, Margie (April 20, 1992). ["Sun seeks to connect Unix, other PC operating systems"](https://books.google.com/books?id=mBEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15). *Network World*. pp. 15, 17. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0887-7661](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0887-7661). Retrieved 15 December 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-SunPC_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-SunPC_9-1) [SunPC 4.2 User's Guide](https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19957-01/805-2933-10/805-2933-10.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Sun Microsystems. November 1997. pp. 1, 8, 94–95. Retrieved 15 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [SunPC: Just the Facts](http://www.erimez.com/misc/SunPC.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Sun Microsystems. October 1997. Retrieved 15 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Comerford, R. (1999). "The changing workstation". *IEEE Spectrum*. **36** (5): 98. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1109/6.763200](https://doi.org/10.1109%2F6.763200).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Caton, Michael (May 3, 1999). "PC on a card does its job, but...". *PC Week*. p. 51. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0740-1604](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0740-1604).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** "Sun debuts 600 MHz co processor card for PCI-based workstations". *Computer Workstations*. Vol. 13, no. 12. Boston. December 1, 2000.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** [SunPCi II 2.2 Installation Guide](https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19085-01/pci2.card/806-4788-13/806-4788-13.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Sun Microsystems. March 2001. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 16 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** [Sun Blade 150 Product Notes](https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19127-01/blade150.ws/816-1163-17/816-1163-17.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Sun Microsystems. July 2005. Retrieved 15 December 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-TWP_16-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-TWP_16-1) [SunPCi IIpro](https://web.archive.org/web/20040801010435/http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/sunpci/sunpciiipro_wp010520.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Technical White Paper. Sun Microsystems. 2001. p. 1–2. Archived from [the original](http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/sunpci/sunpciiipro_wp010520.pdf) (PDF) on August 1, 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["SunPCi Downloads"](http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/sunpci/downloads.html). Sun Microsystems. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090211125215/http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/sunpci/downloads.html) from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["SunVTS 6.0 Release Notes"](https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19957-01/817-7687/RNs.html). *Oracle*. Sun Microsystems. 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-IIIpro_20-0)** [Datasheet: SunPCi IIIpro](https://web.archive.org/web/20070106013909/http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/sunpcipro/datasheet.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Sun Microsystems. August 2004. Archived from [the original](http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/sunpcipro/datasheet.pdf) (PDF) on January 6, 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["netbsd_sun_pci \[subsole.org\]"](http://www.subsole.org/netbsd_sun_pci). *www.subsole.org*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20191215122704/http://www.subsole.org/netbsd_sun_pci) from the original on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2019-12-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** ["Linux on SunPCi-II Mini-HOWTO"](http://www.vdberg.org/~richard/Linux-on-SunPCi-mini-Howto/). *www.vdberg.org*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160814215737/http://www.vdberg.org/~richard/Linux-on-SunPCi-mini-Howto/) from the original on 2016-08-14. Retrieved 2019-12-15.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [SunPCi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunPCi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunPCi?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.