Athena at MIT: Recommended and Supported Athena Configurations

Before deciding to purchase an Athena workstation, customers should understand the advantages and disadvantages of making such a purchase and that there are annual fees associated with a private Athena workstation. 

Notes:

• These hardware configurations are recommended for anyone planning to purchase an Athena workstation in FY2003. The Private Athena Workstation Owner's Guide gives more information about using your Athena workstation.
  
  
• All these workstations require a dedicated UTP network drop; they will not work with multiport transceivers. 

The products listed on this page can be purchased directly from the manufacturers.  For instructions and important information about purchasing Athena workstations select the link below:

• Purchasing an Athena Workstation

Sun Blade 1500
Sun part number: A43ULB1-C1WW-D1GDM

Specifications:

This tower configuration has high performance graphics and is what has been deployed to the Athena general use clusters in August 2004 and August 2005.

• Processor: 1.5 GHz UltraSPARC-IIIi, 1 MB on-die L2 cache
• Memory: 1 GB SDRAM
• Drives: 120GB internal disk drive, DVD-ROM, 1.44MB floppy drive
• Networking: Integrated 10/100/1000-BaseT Ethernet
• Internal Disk SmartCard
• Solaris 8 or 10 pre-install
• Universal language
• Standard configuration
• Sun XVR-600 graphics card
• Monitor sold separately

Requires Keyboard Kit:

• X3538A Unix-style, or X3531A PC-style keyboard

Recommended monitor:

• 19" Color TFT LCD, Sun part number: X7198A

Other supported monitors:

• 21" Color CRT
  Sun part number: X7199A
• 24.1" Color LCD, Sun part number: X7197A

Sun Blade 150
Sun part number: A41-UTA19A-512M-DK

Specifications:

This desktop configuration has high performance graphics and is what was deployed to the Athena general use clusters in August 2002 and August 2003.

• Processor: 650 MHz UltraSPARC-IIi, 512KB L2 cache
• Memory: 512 MB SDRAM
• Drives: 40GB internal disk drive, DVD-ROM, 1.44MB floppy drive
• Networking: Integrated 10/100MB Ethernet
• Internal Disk SmartCard
• Solaris 8 pre-install
• Universal language
• Standard configuration
• Graphics: Onboard PGX64
• Sun XVR-500 graphics card
• Monitor sold separately

Requires Keyboard Kit:

• X3538A Unix-style, or X3531A PC-style keyboard

Monitors: Same as above.

Sun Blade 150
Sun part number: A41-UTA19C-256M-BA
GovConnection Catalog # 426196

Specifications:

This is a basic configuration lacking the high performance XVR-500 graphics accelerator found in the Athena clusters.

• Processor: 650 MHz UltraSPARC-IIi, 512KB L2 cache
• Memory: 256 MB SDRAM
• Drives: 40GB internal disk drive, DVD-ROM, 1.44MB floppy drive
• Networking: Integrated 10/100MB Ethernet
• Internal Disk SmartCard
• Solaris 8 pre-install
• Universal language
• Standard configuration
• Graphics: Onboard PGX64
• Monitor sold separately
• Required: 256MB (1 x 256 MB DIMM) SDRAM expansion. Sun part number: X6180A

Requires Keyboard Kit:

• X3538A Unix-style, or X3531A PC-style keyboard

Monitors: Same as above.

Dell GX620 Small Form Factor w/ 19" LCD
Tested and certified as working with Linux by IS&T
Available for purchase at the Dell Premier Web site for MIT. MIT Certificate Required.

Caveat:

• This configuration requires Athena version 9.4 available via PXE install on campus or Athena install media version 5a of August 2006 or later.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 650 w/HT (3.40GHz, 2MB, 800MHz FSB)
• Memory: 1 GB Non-ECC 533MHz DDR-2 RAM (2X512)
• Graphics: 128MB Radeon X600SE Card.
• Drives: 160GB Serial ATA hard drive, 16x DVD+/-RW, NO Floppy
• Networking: Integrated Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express.
• PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mechanical mouse with scroll wheel.

Recommended monitor:

• Dell E196FP 19-inch analog LCD display

This system also works with non-Athenized, stock Red Hat Enterprise 4 Update 4 or later, but currently requires hand editing the X configuration file as documented in an IS&T Stock Answer.

There is an assortment of configurations, some of which are approaching end-of-life, that are still supported, but that are no longer being purchased for Public Athena Clusters. 

All suggested Athena Workstation Configurations and their support status can be found in the Athena Hardware Life-Cycle Summary, which covers from newest through dead.