[rescue] SS10SX Value

[Lionel Peterson]

That was my recollection, that the VSIMM was a complete "connector-less" video framebuffer, not just memory to augment an already on-board video framebuffer.

There wasn't interest in making an alternative 3rd-party VSIMM when SS10SX and SS20SX machines were in production, likely due to the niche place such systems occupied - high-end (for the time) desktops/workstations before UltraSPARC desktops came and took over that niche with UPA graphic options.

Anyway, that's what I recall from the sidelines, I only really had hands-on experience with Ultra 2 systems and IPC/IPX/LX essentially as X Terminals for desktop use.

Ken

> On Jun 16, 2026, at 19:15, foo bar via rescue <rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Jun 16, 2026 at 2:55 PM Mouse via rescue <rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> Yes, it is an SS10 with a 4 MB VSIMM.  They are rare, so [...]
>> 
>> Not only rare; 4MB VSIMMs are useful.  Some people - me, if I weren't
>> in a "shedding hardware" phase - would buy it for that alone.
> 
> The SS10SX uses different VSIMMs from the SS20. ( 70ns VRAM vs. 60ns VRAM )
> 
>> I'm actually somewhat surprised nobody has produced an aftermarket
>> VSIMM by now; I would think recent tech would make it easy, but perhaps
>> there are issues I know nothing about.
> 
> Nobody has made an aftermarket VSIMM because it's not a VSIMM, it is
> literally an entire video card on a memory stick. It has the graphics
> chip, the RAMDAC, the clock generator, and a DMA engine. The VSIMM
> outputs analog video and clock pulses.
> 
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