SPARCstation 1

[1] The SPARCstation 1 has a distinctive slim enclosure (a square 3-inch-high "pizza box") and was first sold in April 1989, with Sun's support ending in 1995.

Designed for ease of production to compete with high-end PCs or Macs, its principal competitors were the IBM PS/2 Model 80, the NeXT Computer, and Sun's own 3/80.

The external design motif includes dot-patterned cooling vents on the side which are echoed by a "dimple" pattern on the front face, and "Sun purple" feet.

The SPARCstation 1 uses an M48T02 battery-backed RTC with RAM chip which handles the real time clock and boot parameter storage.

As all SPARCstation 1s made are now older than the battery life of this chip, a substantial number of these systems now refuse to boot.

Due to incompatibilities with modern M48T02s, it is common to modify failed NVRAMs by cutting into the encapsulation and patching in a new battery.