Tadpole SPARCbook 1 and 2

Tadpole SPARCbook 1992
© Byte 1992

Tadpole SPARCbook 1 and 2 are RISC laptops from the early 1990s for Unix computing. SPARCbook 1 was the first laptop Unix system that lives up to its name, introduced when most laptops were PC models with Intel 486 and MS-DOS.

These early SPARCbooks were not 100% compatible to Sun SPARC offerings and needed modified Solaris and SunOS. Reviews of the SPARCbook 1 were pretty positive, noting the unique possibilities of a truly mobile Unix syste with good performance and solid devices.

SPARCbook 1 SPARCbook 2
Introduced 1992 1993
CPU CY7C600 SPARC
25 MHz		 CY6111 SPARC
40 MHz
Cache 64 KB L1 64 KB L1
Design 32-bit RISC Sun SPARC with Sun custom chipset
RAM 8-32 MB 16-64 MB
Video GD6430 GD6410
Screen 9.4″ LCD 9.4″ TFT
Drives Two IDE drives, floppy Two SCSI drives
I/O Ethernet, PS/2, VGA, modem, serial, parallel
OS Solaris, SunOS
Price $4,950-14,850 $10,950-14,600

The processor in a SPARCbook 1 consists of a multi-chip Cypress CPU: CY601, CY602, CY604. There might also have been LSI Logic L64811 IU/L68414 processors used. SPARCbook 2 use multi-chip SPARC processors: CY6111 and maybe also MB86903.

Tadpole produced many SPARC-based SPARCbooks in the 1990s – the 1 and 2 were followed by SPARCbook 3 and 3000 and later by 64-bit Ultrabooks. Main competition of SPARCbook 1 and 2 were RDI PowerLites with faster microSPARC processors, introduced two years later in 1994.

Tadpole SPARCbook Tadpole SPARCbook ad Tadpole SPARCbook
Tadpole SPARCbook © Unixworld 1991, Tadpole 1991, Unixinfo 1992

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System chipset

Tadpole SPARCbooks are 32-bit SPARC computers based on non-standard workstation design, which Tadpole integrated into a laptop. Chipset and devices used are:

SPARCbook 1

[i] - integrated into chipset
Pbus might be ISA PC/AT style
Usage Device Type Bus
Chipset CY604 Memory controller 64-bit Mbus
Chipset MPI ASIC Tadpole Mbus to Pbus controller Mbus/Pbus
Chipset 82C710 Universal Peripheral Controler (UPC) Pbus
Storage 82C710[i] Floppy controller NEC765 Pbus
Storage 82C710[i] IDE controller Pbus
Network Fujitsu 86960 10 Mbit Ethernet controller Pbus
Video GD6410
GD6430		 display controller
color display controller		 Pbus
I/O [i] Serial and parallel I/O
I/O [i] PS/2 for mouse Pbus
Network SC11054 Modem 2400bps Pbus

SPARCbook 2

Tadpole SPARCbook 2 were quite different to SPARCbook 1, however there is not much information available nowadays.

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Expansion and I/O

There were only few possibilities to expand SPARCbook 1 and 2 with devices:

Device Type Details
Memory RAM SPARCbook 1 8-32 MB DRAM
SPARCbook 2 16-32 MB DRAM
Storage Drives SPARCbook 1 Two IDE drives (85-125MB)
SPARCbook 2 Two SCSI drives
Media Floppy 3.5″ Floppy for 1.44MB
Network Ethernet AUI
Network Modem RJ11
Input Keyboard 82-key keyboard
Input Pointer Mousekey
Ports Serial RS-232C mini-DIN
Ports Parallel Centronics
Ports PS/2 for mice
Output Screen SPARCbook 1 9.4″ LCD 640×480 color (256) or monochrome (64)
SPARCbook 2 9.4″ TFT 640×480 color
Output Video VGA
Case Magnesium alloy (AZ91)
Power Battery NiCad for up to 2.5 hours or more on SB1
and less than an hour on SB2

The sleep function, a soft shutdown when power-off (or low), was revolutionary for laptops and Unix systems in the 1990s.

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Operating systems

Tadpole SPARCbook 1 and 2 were portable Unix workstations and shipped with Sun Solaris. Supported versions Solaris 1.1vA (Sun OS 4.1.3) and Solaris 2.3vB.0 (Sun OS 5.3).

Apparently, there was support for the SPARCbook 1 in Linux 2.1.

It seems no further versions or operating systems were ported since early SPARCbooks used uncommon hardware not shared with Sun designs. Supported Solaris versions were apparently not Y2K-compliant.

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Performance

SPEC benchmark data and comparisons to contemporary laptops and workstations:

Based on SPEC92 and Dhrystone archives
* - approximate
System CPU SPEC92
int/fp		 SPEC95
int/fp		 MIPS
Tadpole SPARCbook 1 CY7C600 SPARC 25 MHz 18
Tadpole SPARCbook 2 CY6111 SPARC 40 MHz 21* 21* 30
Comparison
Siemens PCE-5S Intel Pentium 100MHz 96 81 4.04 2.35 79
RS/6000 N40 PowerPC 601 50MHz 41 51
Intel Intel 486DX2 66 MHz 32 16 31
RDI PowerLite 50 microSPARC 50MHz 26 21
SPARCbook 3 microSPARC 50MHz 26 21 59
Sun SPARCstation 1+ SPARC 25 MHz 13
Intel Intel 386 40 MHz 10

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Documentation

Specifications

Articles and reviews

Announcements

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