xiphos (Vigor Ultra-III)
Table of Contents
Summary
TODO
Notes
- This machine has NASA SOFIA asset tags. I even found a photo of one on the SOFIA.
- NextCom also made the FlexSPARC series which is nearly identical, but with Sun Blade 2500 Red/A39 hardware instead of the later Silver.
Hardware
| Make | NextCom |
| Year | 2007 |
| Model | Vigor ULTRA-III |
| Chassis | Vigor |
| Power Supply | Mean Well GST280A20-C6P (20V 13A) |
| Processor | 2x 1.6GHz UltraSPARC IIIi |
| Memory | 16GB DDR |
| Ports | VGA (Internal) |
| DVI | |
| DB-9 Serial | |
| 2x USB A 1.0 | |
| 2x USB A 2.0 | |
| 3.5mm Line Out | |
| 3.5mm Line In | |
| 2x RJ-45 LAN | |
| VHDCI SCSI | |
| Graphics | Sun XVR-100 |
| Storage | 30GB OCZ Vertex SSD (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G) |
| 160GB Seagate Momentus 5400.3 (ST9160821AS) | |
| Display | 15" 1600x1200 VGA LCD |
| Int. Peripherals | LSI SAS1064 4-port SAS Controller |
| LSI 53C1010R Ultra320 SCSI Controller | |
| 2x Broadcom BCM5703CKHB NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet | |
| Ext. Peripherals | |
| Dimensions | |
| Length/Depth | 15.1 cm |
| Width | 42.1 cm |
| Height/Thickness | 29.3 cm |
| Weight | 9.82 kg (21 lbs 10.4 oz) |
Software
| Operating System | Solaris 10 |
| Unique applications |
Links
Log
Ebay purchase
Bought this briefcase SPARC machine.
Vigor Ultra Sparc Briefcase-sized Mobile Military NASA Workstation and Server DUAL PROCESSORS, 16gb Ram memory, No Hard Drives used for the NASA SOFIA SPACE PROGRAM due to age sold as is and no returns thanks boot screen present Rugged, Portable SPARC Server and High-performance Workstation Vigor ULTRA represents the pinnacle of highperformance, Sun UltraSPARC® mobility. Housed in a durable, rugged chassis designed for portability, the Vigor ULTRA-III is ready for your most critical deployed applications and harsh environments. With the industry’s highest-resolution 15-inch integrated display, flipdown keyboard, FEATURES: MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS CPU: Dual UltraSPARC® IIIi processors, 1.6 GHz Memory/Storage: 16GB DDR RAM; removable internal SATA/ No hard drives; internal DVD-R/RW PCI Expansion: Single 3/4 length PCI 64-bit/66MHz slot for networking or additional I/O Graphics/Display: Sun XVR-100 Graphics with 64MB of SDRAM; Integrated 15-inch LCD display (1600x1200) I/O: (2) Gigabit Ethernet ports; (4) USB ports; (1) Serial port; (1) CRT video port; (1) Audio Line-In/Out OS Support: Solaris 64-bit (Pre-installed) keyboard has all keys Solaris™ 64-bit, and Trusted Solaris Dimensions: 5.6" D x 11.1" H x 16.6" W
Note the auction photos include two different Vigors. Mine is serial 226, but there is also a 227 in some photos. I think this is why the power supply wasn't included. Also why some photos are missing a key cap. I never saw the second machine for sale.
Getting a power supply
This is from memory. I got the machine, but was without a power supply.
Somehow it was determined it used a locking Kycon connector. Perhaps this came later after the Mean Well supply was chosen. It lists Kycon KPJX-CM-4S as an optional connector, but their pinout differs from what I found.
The 20V info came from NextCom specification sheets as well as mentions of 250W converter.
The only supply I could find in this range was Mean Well 260W 20V 13A GST280A20-C6P. It comes with a 6-pin molex connector so that has to be adapted.
1x GST280A20-C6P MEAN WELL 260W 20V 13A 1x KPPX-4P Kycon 4P POWER PLUG 1x 39-01-2061 Molex 6 CKT PLUG HOUSING 4x 46012-3142 Molex MF PLUS HCS CRIMP TE
Anyway, I got all that. Used a meter to find the ground pins, and assumed the other two were 20V. Built my little adapter cable and heatshrinked the crap out of it.
The machine boots. Fans are loud. It gets hot.
I don't have good info between this and the next post. I added some 2.5" hard drives. It's been through at least a couple Solaris installs. I think they were all 10, but there may have been a 9 install too. The hardware is pretty standard Sun fare other than a potentially modified OpenBoot PROM. I don't recall any special work for drivers or hardware configuration.
Photo on the SOFIA
I was posting some photos for #Suntember, and I started looking for other SOFIA hardware to see if their asset tags were like the ones on this machine. Instead I found an actual photo of a Vigor on the SOFIA.
It could be the same one, but there's not enough detail to pick out anything unique. Mine has an extra asset tag, but that could have been added any time.
I like that they appear to be using the same Mean Well power supply, but they have a more professionally done adapter. Also that he's waiting for it to boot. It spends quite a long time on that OpenBoot screen.
Original source seems to be: 2012 News: NASA's SOFIA to Embark on New Cycle of Science Observations.
The photos I posted are below. A couple VGA screen captures too while I had it out.
