The Sun386i (codenamed ''Roadrunner'') is a discontinued hybrid

UNIX Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...

computer system produced by Sun Microsystems, launched in 1988. It is based on the

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

80386

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...

but shares many features with the contemporary

Sun-3 Sun-3 is a series of UNIX computer workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched on September 9, 1985. The Sun-3 series are VMEbus-based systems similar to some of the earlier Sun-2 series, but using the Motorola 68020 microp ...

series systems.

Hardware

Unlike the Sun-3 models, the Sun386i has a PC-like motherboard and "mini-tower"-style chassis. Two variants were produced, the Sun386i/150 and the Sun386i/250 with a 20 or 25 MHz CPU respectively. The motherboard includes the CPU, 80387 FPU, 82380 timer/DMA/interrupt controller and a custom

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...

IC called ''BABE'' ("Bus Adapter Between Ethernet"). Floppy disk, SCSI,

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such ...

and

Centronics Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a division ...

parallel interface In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (parallel c ...

s are also provided, as are four ISA slots (one 8-bit, three 16-bit) and four proprietary 32-bit "local" bus slots. The latter are used for RAM and

frame buffer A framebuffer (frame buffer, or sometimes framestore) is a portion of random-access memory (RAM) containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It is a memory buffer containing data representing all the pixels in a complete video frame. Mode ...

cards. Two types of RAM card are available, a 4 or 8 MB card, and the "XP Cache" card, incorporating up to 8 MB with an 82385 cache controller and 32 KB of cache SRAM. Up to two memory cards can be installed, to give a maximum RAM capacity of 16 MB. Mass storage options are either 91 or 327 MB internal SCSI hard disks and a 1.44 MB 3.5-in floppy drive. A storage expansion box that holds two more disks can be mounted to the top of the chassis. Frame buffer options include the 1024×768 or 1152×900-pixel monochrome BW2 card, the 8-bit color CG3 with similar resolutions, or the accelerated 8-bit color CG5, otherwise known as the ''Roadracer'' or GXi framebuffer. This uses the TI

TMS34010 The TMS34010, developed by Texas Instruments and released in 1986, was the first programmable graphics processor integrated circuit. While specialized graphics hardware existed earlier, such as blitters, the TMS34010 chip is a microprocessor ...

graphics processor and had a resolution of 1152x900. In addition, a "SunVGA" accelerator card can be installed in the ISA expansion slot that allows a DOS session to display a full VGA window on the desktop. The Sun386i introduced the Sun Type 4 keyboard, a hybrid of the earlier Type 3 and

PC/AT The IBM Personal Computer/AT (model 5170, abbreviated as IBM AT or PC/AT) was released in 1984 as the fourth model in the IBM Personal Computer line, following the IBM PC/XT and its IBM Portable PC variant. It was designed around the Intel 802 ...

layouts. This was later used for the

SPARCstation The SPARCstation, SPARCserver and SPARCcenter product lines are a series of SPARC-based computer workstations and servers in desktop, desk side (pedestal) and rack-based form factor configurations, that were developed and sold by Sun Microsyst ...

line of workstations.

Software

The Sun386i's firmware is similar to the Sun-3's "PROM Monitor". A 386 port of SunOS is the native

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

. SunOS releases 4.0, 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 support the architecture. A beta version of SunOS 4.0.3 for the Sun386i also exists but was not generally available, except possibly to the U.S. government. Included with SunOS are the SunView

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

and VP/ix

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

emulator. This runs as a SunOS process and thus allows multiple MS-DOS session to be run simultaneously, a major selling point of the Sun386i. Unix long file names are accessed using a mapping to DOS

8.3 filename An 8.3 filename (also called a short filename or SFN) is a filename convention used by old versions of DOS and versions of Microsoft Windows prior to Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.5. It is also used in modern Microsoft operating systems as an alterna ...

s, the file names being modified to include a tilde and to be unique as far as possible. This system is similar to, but predates, that used for long file names in Microsoft's

VFAT File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on hard disks and other devices. It is often supported for compatibility reasons by ...

. Special drive letters are used including H: for the user's home directory and D: for the current working directory when the DOS shell is started. The C: drive corresponds to a file in the Unix file system which appears to DOS as a 20 MB hard disk. This is used especially for the installation of copy-protected software; files in this virtual drive are inaccessible to Unix programs. The Sun386i version of SunOS includes many features not found in the versions then shipped with Sun-3 workstations (and later with then-new SPARC workstations), in addition to VP/ix. These additions focus on ease of use for end users who are likely not to be UNIX experts, and includes enhanced desktop tools (which, for the first time at Sun, used color by default) and an "out of box experience" that was painless and administrator-free, targeted to bring a system onto the network ("box to mail") in fifteen minutes. It uses the pioneering Dynamic

RARP The Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) is an obsolete computer communication protocol used by a client computer to request its Internet Protocol ( IPv4) address from a computer network, when all it has available is its link layer or har ...

RFC 1931
Dynamic RARP Extensions for Automatic Network Address Acquisition network protocol. At the time, and for a few years afterwards until DHCP later became standard, no other vendors' workstations (or PCs) were as easy to install on

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

networks.

Sun486i

An upgraded model, the Sun486i (codename ''Apache'') was designed, incorporating a 25 MHz 80486 CPU and improved SCSI interface. A small pre-production batch was built but the product was canceled in 1990, before its official launch.

Easter egg

The inside surface of the right side cover has the Roadrunner logo and the developer's signatures molded in.

Reception

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...

'' in 1989 listed the Sun386i as among the "Excellence" winners of the BYTE Awards, praising its ability to run multiple MS-DOS applications under SunOS.

References

External links

Sun Microsystems

''PC Week'' review of the Sun386i

Some informative postings to the Sun386i mailing list

Ralph Neill's 1996 FAQ
{{Sun Microsystems Sun workstations