there's lots of good old ultra hardware out there available for a
song. i'm no stranger to it. my network is all sparc -- ultra 1 /
ultra 10 / ultra 60 at the moment -- and has been all risc for years
-- sun/dec/sgi/apple etc. i paid like $25 for some of my U10s and they
had a gig of ram. i love the sparc equipment. take it over an x86 box
anyday. but you definitely have to admit -- the ultra 60 is a more
"commodity" box. you can find one that is fairly loaded up on ebay for
like $100 any time day or night and get it shipped to anywhere in the
states for like $20. the e450s aren't expensive like they were new
expensive, but they are still relatively more expensive with regard to
boxes like the ultra 10 and ultra 60. you'll end up paying at least
probably $200-400 for the e450, and shipping? ouch. you'll need to
call a freight carrier. probably at least $100 to ship it or something
(i got mine locally, so i never checked). it was fun to have it while
it lasted, but i am just taking the once bitten, twice shy approach, i
guess. i feel as if it will at least be a bit easier & cheaper to get
parts and spares for the u60. and with the current level of MP support
in netbsd anyway :) :) :) you're just as well saving some money on
shipping [and electricity!] and getting an U10 or something unless you
need the ability to hold 24 sca drives or need 14 pci slots or
something. i must say that i've worked with a reasonable amount of sun
equipment and my personal experience is that the workstation platforms
(u1/2/5/10/30/60/80) can often be just as reliable, if not more so,
than the enterprise stuff. trust me, i am not in the "all hardware is
pc" mindset. regards, -S