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SPARCstation LX
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SPARCstation LX
The SPARCstation LX (Sun model number 4/30) is a workstation that was designed, manufactured, and sold by Sun Microsystems. It was introduced on November 10, 1992, with an initial list price of $7,995 (equivalent to about $18,000 in 2025). Volume shipments commenced in December 1992 from Sun's factory in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Though cheaper than mainstream models in Sun's SPARCstation range at the time, such as the SPARCstation 2, both the SPARCstation LX and the SPARCclassic sold relatively slowly; Sun shipped approximately 3,500 units combined of these two models in late 1992.
The SPARCstation LX shares the codename "Sunergy" with the SPARCclassic, SPARCclassic X, and SPARCstation ZX.
The SPARCstation LX supports several operating systems. It originally shipped with Solaris 2.1 (SunOS 5.1). It requires SunOS version 4.1.3 Revision C or later, or Solaris 2.3 (SunOS 5.3) or later. Compatibility with Solaris extends up to Solaris 9 (SunOS 5.9). Sun discontinued support for the sun4m architecture, which includes the SPARCstation LX, after Solaris 9.
NetBSD/sparc32 supports sun4m machines, including the SPARCstation LX and its cgsix framebuffer. OpenBSD/sparc32 supported it up to version 5.9. Various Linux distributions can run on the SPARCstation LX.
The SPARCstation LX is based on the sun4m architecture and is housed in Sun's "lunchbox" style chassis. It has a single 50 MHz MicroSPARC processor, which integrates the CPU, FPU, MMU, and cache.
The motherboard features three memory banks, each containing two DSIMM slots, for a total of six slots. Main memory configurations include 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, or 96 MB, installed in pairs of 4 MB or 16 MB 60ns 72-pin DSIMMs. Sun documentation consistently states 96 MB as the maximum official memory capacity. The first bank can unofficially accommodate 32 MB SIMMs, potentially allowing a total of 128 MB. A typical configuration shipped with 16 MB of RAM.
For graphics, the motherboard has an accelerated CG6 framebuffer, also referred to as TurboGX or GXplus. It includes 1 MB of VRAM standard, which is expandable to 2 MB via a dedicated VSIMM slot. The CG6 has improved performance over the CG3 framebuffer in the SPARCclassic. With the VRAM expansion, the CG6 can support resolutions up to 1600 × 1280.
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SPARCstation LX AI simulator
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SPARCstation LX
The SPARCstation LX (Sun model number 4/30) is a workstation that was designed, manufactured, and sold by Sun Microsystems. It was introduced on November 10, 1992, with an initial list price of $7,995 (equivalent to about $18,000 in 2025). Volume shipments commenced in December 1992 from Sun's factory in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Though cheaper than mainstream models in Sun's SPARCstation range at the time, such as the SPARCstation 2, both the SPARCstation LX and the SPARCclassic sold relatively slowly; Sun shipped approximately 3,500 units combined of these two models in late 1992.
The SPARCstation LX shares the codename "Sunergy" with the SPARCclassic, SPARCclassic X, and SPARCstation ZX.
The SPARCstation LX supports several operating systems. It originally shipped with Solaris 2.1 (SunOS 5.1). It requires SunOS version 4.1.3 Revision C or later, or Solaris 2.3 (SunOS 5.3) or later. Compatibility with Solaris extends up to Solaris 9 (SunOS 5.9). Sun discontinued support for the sun4m architecture, which includes the SPARCstation LX, after Solaris 9.
NetBSD/sparc32 supports sun4m machines, including the SPARCstation LX and its cgsix framebuffer. OpenBSD/sparc32 supported it up to version 5.9. Various Linux distributions can run on the SPARCstation LX.
The SPARCstation LX is based on the sun4m architecture and is housed in Sun's "lunchbox" style chassis. It has a single 50 MHz MicroSPARC processor, which integrates the CPU, FPU, MMU, and cache.
The motherboard features three memory banks, each containing two DSIMM slots, for a total of six slots. Main memory configurations include 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, or 96 MB, installed in pairs of 4 MB or 16 MB 60ns 72-pin DSIMMs. Sun documentation consistently states 96 MB as the maximum official memory capacity. The first bank can unofficially accommodate 32 MB SIMMs, potentially allowing a total of 128 MB. A typical configuration shipped with 16 MB of RAM.
For graphics, the motherboard has an accelerated CG6 framebuffer, also referred to as TurboGX or GXplus. It includes 1 MB of VRAM standard, which is expandable to 2 MB via a dedicated VSIMM slot. The CG6 has improved performance over the CG3 framebuffer in the SPARCclassic. With the VRAM expansion, the CG6 can support resolutions up to 1600 × 1280.
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