Well i just bought my first sparc!
an ss1+ with 32mb ram and a 1.2 gig hd.
no monitor so i will be using a serial console and later 
an NCD17 xterminal as its head.

if the xterminal thing doesnt work out well, i may invest in a keyboard/mouse combo along with a 16" monitor or so...

does an ss1+ have a built in frame buffer or would i have to buy one of those as well?

i have been running netbsd/alpha for a little while now, and i think that netbsd is what i want for the new sparc as well...

i have a few questions about netbsd/sparc and ss1+'s in general:

1. what are the chances of getting an ss1+ on a 100baseTX network?  do i need an SBus card?  any idea on how much this would cost me?

2. what about having an ss1 as a gateway box with ipf and ipnat.  it has one 10 mbit connection but can i add another?  via an SBus slot?  how much would another 10 mbit adapter cost me?

3. any stability problems with netbsd on ss1+'s?

4. i assume that it has a fast narrow scsi-2 adapter with it.  what about using external scsi disks?  any way to use a wide or ultra disk with an ss1?

5. anything that doesnt work that i should know about?  does X work?  etc...

i may be over doing it here with the talk of using ultra wide scsi disks and 100 mbit networks with an ss1+ but i just wanted to check into it a little

well i look forward to getting to use my new sparc... i wont get a chance to play with it until late aug or early sept im afraid :(

any good info sources on where i can get details about the hardware on ss1's?  the bus type, add on adapters, 
scsi adapter info, ethernet adapter info, etc 

Thanks
Nick Maniscalco
nickm@mindless.com