Sun Ultra 20 revived
====================

I almost  have finished my  attempts to re-animate my  Sun Microsystems
Ultra 20 computer.

I have replaced the original  mainboard (a customised Tyan Tomcat) with
the stock  one (i.e. with additional  Ethernet and PS/2 ports  but sans
the sound and FireWire chips). After  a lot of struggling I managed the
integrated graphics  to work at  1280x1024. It was  not-accelerated and
the was  problem with the OpenGL  (it did no  worked at all) so  I have
decided to install a really cheap (ASUS-branded) PCIe nVidia card which
works  much better  with  the "nouveau"  drivers  (the OpenGL  problems
persist which is strange - I'll have  top manage this). So now I'm able
to use the Ultra on the  1920x1200 screen without problems (the Firefox
works very well).

I also have installed a PCI SCSI card. I have not connected any device,
yet. But  the card has been  identified by the OS  without problems. So
now it  should be possible  to connect a SCSI  CD-ROM or a  DVD-ROM (or
even a tape drive).

What does  not work?  The front panels  seems to be  dead -  the On/Off
button works,  the indicator light  works but that's all.  The FireWire
ports are  not connected (there is  no FireWire chip on  the mainboard)
and the USB port do now work at all. The RAM is just 2GB which seems to
be fine  for FVWM+Firefox combo but  it will be too  limiting for other
workloads. I don't  have no the GNOME/Unity nor the  MATE desktops here
and I will probably keep the FVWM  (it I will be able to configure some
tools on this OS).

So, what's now? There are some areas of possible improvements:

- the Ubuntu 18.04 (now there is the 16.04). Hope it will work, too.
- OpenGL/GLX issue still has to be fixed.
- more RAM (there are 2 free slots).
- a PCIe card with some USB-3 ports (I should have one somewhere).
- maybe a PCI/PCIe FireWire card (I have a few FireWire peripherals).
- a new (quieter and 4-pin one, if possible) case fan.
- a sound card (I have an USB one which will be probably just fine).

At the  moment I'm planning  to use the  computer for my  standing desk
project. I have set up a standing  desk in my office. Now it's based on
the original Raspberry Pi model B which  is not the best solution for a
office computer. After some months of  sporadic use I thing that I need
here a computer which will be (at  least) able to run software like the
Octave and  which will  be able  to use LaTeX  at an  acceptable speed.
Unlike the Pi the Ultra 20 is able to do this quite easily.