I am looking into getting some cards for the SunFire V440. Not sure how most folks go about this but I am assuming we can find compatible cards for this server platform without going through SUN. Do you guys recommend getting this video card from SUN? Yeah we got these servers without the video cards so cannot connect a monitor or KVM. What characteristic do you look for when trying to find a compatible video card for this hardware platform?
why do you need a video card? a 440 comes with an alom card. so there is no need for a video card... if you won't use alom you can also go and get a terminal concentrator for all your sun servers and use the serial port for management. this is easier and cheaper (i think) then a video card for every server!
Duke,
Thanks for replying. I got tracked to other stuff and now am back. I agree with you there are easier ways to take care of this...but it would be easier to have a video card set up so we can connect to a KVM which we have a few here. The video card is the show stopper haha.
I agree with you in that we should get a terminal concentrator. We use KVM's here exclusively. This card is need for a server...actually for probably 6 to 8 servers. I do not know why my company ordered these V440 servers without a card but aside from that we need to get this card in.
I have used ALOM before and would not mind using it again but that does not solve the issue we have with these other servers.
I have looked at SUN website and cannot find any recommend video cards for this server. I think I saw where someone said I need a 66Mhz card and there is one server with a 66Mhz card so this is probably what is needed. What does one look for when trying to match a video card to a SunFire V440 server? I am willing to get a non-SUN video card but need to query to see what works so I get the correct part.
Let me know if anyone has had the experience with a card that works for SUNFire platforms or specifically V440.
Thanks.
Presumably the framebuffer/video card's "BIOS"/PROM has to have SPARC code in it rather than Intel X86 code for use in a SPARC machine?
The machines I have used recently have either had an M64 or XVR-100 card in them, but using the ttya serial port or ALOM card is better for a server if you can.
the only part for a v440:
Sun Fire[tm] V440, RoHS:YL - Full Components List
i've no experience with vga cards in servers, so i don't no if any other card will work. but i believe a normal pci vga adapter should work...
But the SPARC processor will not run the Intel X86 code in the VGA card's BIOS, or is it the case that Sun SPARC machine would ignore/bypass the BIOS?
The page pointed to by DukeNuke2 lists the XVR-100 card:
Option # - Manufacturing Part # - Description
X7296A - 375-3290 - XVR-100 Graphics Accelerator (64MB), RoHS:Y