234 lines
7.0 KiB
HTML
234 lines
7.0 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9">
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<TITLE>SPARC-HOWTO.: Buying a SPARC computer.</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="SPARC-HOWTO-4.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="SPARC-HOWTO-2.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="SPARC-HOWTO.html#toc3" REL=contents>
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<BODY>
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<A HREF="SPARC-HOWTO-4.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="SPARC-HOWTO-2.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="SPARC-HOWTO.html#toc3">Contents</A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s3">3. Buying a SPARC computer.</A></H2>
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<P>
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<P>You have decided to buy a SPARC based computer, now you
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can tell what CPU each model sports, but can you tell how that
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particuliar model looks like? How its is inside?
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<P>Do not worry, this section will help you on that topic as well as
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providing you with some hints on how to inspect and test the hardware.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 Gaigning a visual familiarity with SPARC hardware</A>
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</H2>
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<P>
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PC hardware is everywhere and usualy one is quite
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familiar with it, this is not exactly the case with SPARC based hardware,
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even more when it comes to the innards of a computer. The good news
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is that it exists some sites on the web, where you can find pictures
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of Sun hardware, with some very detailed shots, thus you should be
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able to instantly identify the model and its condition prior to buy it.
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The two main site where I usualy go are:
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<UL>
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<LI>
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<A HREF="http://www.sun.com/">sun </A>In Sun's database, you can find technical data as well as
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picture of some of Sun's product, the pictures are crisp, and the
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hardware is always at its best, this is technicaly interesting, in
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order to compare brand new hardware and the used one that is usualy
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featured on the two sites below.</LI>
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<LI>
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<A HREF="http://www.black-cube.net/Sun/">HAL</A> This site features very detailed pictures of a lot of
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hardware, from CPU modules to Servers, even mice. </LI>
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<LI>
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<A HREF="http://www.obsolyte.com/sunPICS/">obsolyte</A> This site has different pictures, it is very useful too.</LI>
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</UL>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 Sun made hardware or clones ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>On the one hand, it is very easy to find information on Sun hardware, while it can be
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difficult to find it for clone systems on the other hand it should be
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more fun to work with exotic hardware.
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<P>Clone systems have been or are still manufactured, at least by:
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<UL>
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<LI>Fujitsu.</LI>
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<LI>Toshiba</LI>
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<LI>Ross</LI>
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<LI>Tadpole/RDI manufactures SPARC based laptops.</LI>
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<LI>
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<A HREF="http://www.tsti.com">Tatung</A> is still in the market and sells SBus, PCI cards, and
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of course systems up to the UltraSPARC III based 2U and 4U servers.
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For more information about tatung's COMPServer and COMPStations, please read
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the Tatung's Workstations and Servers sections of this document.
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</LI>
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<LI>Toshiba, used to manufacture SPARC based laptops:
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The AS1000.
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</LI>
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</UL>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3 Where to buy.</A>
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</H2>
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<P>Of course if you buy first hand hardware everything should be fine,
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but if you decide to go for second hand hardware, you will have to
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decide how you want to buy it, and you should be able to test it by yourself.
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<P>Second hand hardware can be brought from Sun as
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refurbished hardware, at auction websites, or in
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specialised stores, or directly from companys that upgrade their
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hardware.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.4">3.4 Checklist</A>
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</H2>
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<P>When it comes to second hand hardware one has to be as cautious as
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possible about the source, and the condition of that hardware.
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<P>For the source of the hardware, if you can track it, it is a very good
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point. If you can't track it, it is up to you to decide if you trust
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the seller or not ( If the seller cannot give you the reference of the
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hardwre and if, obviously he/she is clueless about Sun hardware, you
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should switch to condition red ).
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<P>Another interesting point is to see if check is accepted as a
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payement.
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<P>If you can check the hardware before buying it
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then first have a general look at it, search for
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cracks, for stains; check the connector's pin. If this first
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inspection is OK, then ask to see the inside, look for spills, watch
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carefuly the connectors, then if it is OK ask to see it running,
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watch carefully boot messages, issue the <CODE>dmesg|more</CODE>
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or if it runs Solaris you can issue the <CODE>more /var/adm/messages</CODE> command,
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and also very important listen to your computer, do you hear unusual
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noises? Does it smell OK?. Then enter the OpenBoot by the
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<CODE>stop+a</CODE> command and run some tests ( see the OpenBoot section
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).
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When you have decided to purchase it, it is very important that you
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always make sure that the computer you are purchasing is the one
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you have tested: always keep an eye on it, do not let someone go to
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the backoffice with it for example, do not accept to leave without
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your computer.
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<P>Then, when you are at home, recheck it as if it was the first time you
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see it.
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If it comes with CDROM drive, try to mount/umount a few CDs
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and read them in order to check that device. If there is a floppy disk
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read/write/format a few floppys, this should be a good test.
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<P>
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<P>
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<P>Of course, it exists tools to automaticaly test the hardware, but
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usualy you do not have them when you need them, thus the script
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below relies only on ressources provided by a Linux base system.
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<P>
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<P>You should run the following script for three days, basicaly it
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is going to use the CDROM, floppy and hard drive, and to reboot
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the computer every 3 hours. This should stress it,
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<P>
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<P>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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#
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# Enter this in the crontab(5)
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# run the torture.sh script every 3 hours if possible
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#
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0 */3 * * * /root/torture.sh
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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Where <CODE>torture.sh</CODE> is
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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#!/bin/sh
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#
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# these are for controlling the loops
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# the CDLIMITS and FDLIMITS
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# are for the CD and FD loops
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#
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CPT=1
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CDLIMIT=3
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FDLIMIT=10
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#
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# to which devices are
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# CDROM and floppy attached
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#
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CDROM=/dev/sr0
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FLOPPY=/dev/fd0
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#
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# where is the program we
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# intend to compile
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PATH=/path_to_big_package_to_compile
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#
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# this section si meant to
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# test the CDROM and floppy drives
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# comment what you do not need to
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# test
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while [ $CPT -le $CDLIMIT ]
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do
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#
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# CDROM drive
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#
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mount -rt iso9660 $CDROM /cdrom
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find /cdrom -exec cat {} \; >>/dev/null 2>&1
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umount /cdrom
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CPT=$(($CPT+1))
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done
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#
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# floppy drive
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#
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CPT=1
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while [ $CPT -le $FDLIMIT ]
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do
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mke2fs -c $FLOPPY >/dev/null 2>&1
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mount -t ext2 $FLOPPY /floppy
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cd /bin/
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cp dd ps echo sh /floppy
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find /floppy -exec cat {} \; >>/dev/null 2>&1
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umount /floppy
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CPT=$(($CPT+1))
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done
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#
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# The big, intensive
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# compilation
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#
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cd $PATH
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#
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# now compile
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#
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make
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#
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#
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# we remove every .a .o .s and every executable
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#
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find $PATH -name "*.[aos]" -exec rm -f {} \; >/dev/null 2>&1
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find $PATH -exec test -x {} \; -exec rm -f {} \; >/dev/null 2>&1
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#
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# time to reboot
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#
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reboot
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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<P>Of course you should run this script manualy once in order to know how
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much time it requires to complete, this is just an idea on how to
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automate things.
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A HREF="SPARC-HOWTO-4.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="SPARC-HOWTO-2.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="SPARC-HOWTO.html#toc3">Contents</A>
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</HTML>
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