<s>
SunPCi	B-Device
is	O
a	O
series	O
of	O
single-board	B-Device
computers	I-Device
with	O
a	O
connector	O
that	O
effectively	O
allows	O
a	O
PC	O
motherboard	O
to	O
be	O
fitted	O
in	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
SPARC-based	O
workstations	B-Device
based	O
on	O
the	O
PCI	B-Protocol
architecture	O
adding	O
the	O
capability	O
for	O
the	O
workstation	B-Device
to	O
act	O
as	O
a	O
'	O
IBM	O
PC	O
compatible	O
 '	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Sun	B-Device
PCi	I-Device
cards	O
included	O
an	O
x86	B-Operating_System
processor	O
,	O
RAM	O
,	O
expansion	O
ports	O
,	O
and	O
an	O
onboard	O
graphics	O
controller	O
,	O
allowing	O
a	O
complete	O
Wintel	B-Device
operating	B-General_Concept
environment	I-General_Concept
on	O
a	O
Solaris	B-Application
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SunPCi	B-Device
software	O
running	O
on	O
Solaris	B-Application
emulates	B-Application
the	O
disk	O
drives	O
that	O
contain	O
the	O
PC	O
filesystem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
PC	O
software	O
running	O
on	O
the	O
embedded	O
hardware	O
is	O
displayed	O
in	O
an	O
X	B-Operating_System
window	I-Operating_System
on	O
the	O
host	O
desktop	O
;	O
there	O
is	O
also	O
a	O
connector	O
on	O
the	O
edge	O
of	O
the	O
board	O
that	O
can	O
optionally	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
connect	O
a	O
PC	O
monitor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
product	O
arose	O
from	O
the	O
issue	O
of	O
people	O
who	O
were	O
working	O
on	O
a	O
Unix	B-Device
workstation	I-Device
that	O
was	O
typically	O
not	O
Intel-based	O
being	O
sent	O
a	O
file	O
from	O
a	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
based	O
PC	O
and	O
being	O
unable	O
to	O
handle	O
the	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
year	O
2000	O
solutions	O
to	O
the	O
problem	O
such	O
as	O
emulators	B-Application
were	O
available	O
but	O
their	O
performance	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
was	O
quite	O
problematic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
Sun	O
workstations	B-Device
adopting	O
the	O
PCI	B-Protocol
hardware	O
bus	O
standard	O
this	O
became	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
cards	O
were	O
the	O
successor	O
to	O
the	O
earlier	O
SunPC	B-Device
cards	O
that	O
had	O
been	O
available	O
for	O
Sun	O
SBus	B-Architecture
or	O
VME	B-Architecture
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
this	O
a	O
software	O
only	O
application	B-Operating_System
binary	I-Operating_System
interface	I-Operating_System
and	O
DOS	O
emulator	B-Application
called	O
Wabi	B-General_Concept
was	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SunPC	B-Device
was	O
offered	O
as	O
a	O
replacement	O
software	B-Application
emulator	I-Application
that	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
run	O
more	O
advanced	O
applications	O
,	O
with	O
higher	O
performance	O
,	O
by	O
adding	O
an	O
X86	B-Operating_System
hardware	O
accelerator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1992	O
the	O
SunPC	B-Device
Accelerator	O
SX	O
(	O
16	O
MHz	O
486SX	O
)	O
or	O
SunPC	B-Device
Accelerator	O
DX	O
(	O
25	O
MHz	O
486DX	O
)	O
were	O
available	O
for	O
SBus	B-Architecture
workstations	B-Device
,	O
though	O
the	O
SunPC	B-Device
program	O
emulates	B-Application
the	O
PC	O
memory	O
with	O
or	O
without	O
the	O
accelerator	O
present	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
accelerator	O
card	O
is	O
needed	O
for	O
software	O
that	O
requires	O
80386	O
or	O
80486	O
hardware	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Windows	O
3.11	O
running	O
in	O
enhanced	O
mode	O
or	O
Windows	O
95	O
;	O
without	O
this	O
hardware	O
SunPC	B-Device
runs	O
in	O
software-only	O
mode	O
which	O
emulates	B-Application
an	O
80286	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1997	O
a	O
133	O
MHz	O
5x86	O
AMD	O
SBus	B-Architecture
co-processor	O
was	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Ultra	B-Architecture
5	I-Architecture
workstation	B-Device
with	O
an	O
optional	O
SunPCi	B-Device
for	O
running	O
Windows	O
95	O
or	O
NT	O
was	O
announced	O
in	O
November	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
next	O
year	O
Ultra	B-Architecture
5	I-Architecture
systems	O
including	O
a	O
SunPCi	B-Device
with	O
a	O
300	O
MHz	O
AMD	O
K6-2	O
processor	O
and	O
64	O
to	O
256	O
MB	O
RAM	O
were	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Windows	B-Application
applications	I-Application
running	O
on	O
this	O
system	O
were	O
measured	O
to	O
be	O
40%	O
slower	O
than	O
a	O
desktop	O
PC	O
with	O
a	O
300	O
MHz	O
Pentium	O
II	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
card	O
was	O
cheaper	O
than	O
purchasing	O
a	O
new	O
PC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
an	O
in-depth	O
review	O
in	O
1999	O
with	O
an	O
original	O
300MHz	O
64mb	O
memory	O
SunPCi	B-Device
card	O
,	O
Kevin	O
Railsback	O
in	O
InfoWorld	O
magazine	O
noted	O
the	O
price	O
was	O
competitive	O
and	O
the	O
performance	O
was	O
suitable	O
for	O
business	O
applications	O
especially	O
when	O
using	O
the	O
output	O
attached	O
to	O
the	O
SunPCi	B-Device
to	O
a	O
dedicated	O
monitor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
downsides	O
were	O
that	O
a	O
separate	O
license	O
was	O
required	O
for	O
the	O
Windows	O
95	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
MS-DOS	O
disk	O
drivers	O
performed	O
slowly	O
and	O
DirectX	O
was	O
not	O
available	O
unless	O
using	O
the	O
separate	O
dedicated	O
monitor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
600	O
MHz	O
SunPCi	B-Device
II	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
version	O
2.2	O
of	O
the	O
SunPCi	B-Device
II	O
software	O
in	O
2001	O
it	O
was	O
possible	O
to	O
have	O
more	O
than	O
one	O
accelerator	O
card	O
in	O
a	O
workstation	B-Device
or	O
entry-level	O
Sun	B-Architecture
Enterprise	I-Architecture
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
2005	O
the	O
SunPCi	B-Device
IIIpro	O
was	O
available	O
for	O
workstations	B-Device
such	O
as	O
the	O
Sun	B-Architecture
Blade	I-Architecture
150	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SunPCi	B-Device
I	O
coprocessor	O
with	O
version	O
1.3	O
software	O
,	O
the	O
final	O
release	O
for	O
SunPCi	B-Device
I	O
hardware	O
,	O
is	O
compatible	O
with	O
Solaris	O
2.5.1	O
,	O
2.6	O
,	O
7	O
or	O
8	O
running	O
on	O
the	O
host	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Solaris	B-Application
9	I-Application
support	O
was	O
included	O
starting	O
with	O
the	O
SunPCi	B-Device
II	O
hardware	O
and	O
version	O
2.3.1	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SunPCi	B-Device
III	O
is	O
supported	O
on	O
Solaris	B-Application
10	I-Application
with	O
patches	O
,	O
but	O
SunPCi	B-Device
II	O
is	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
SunPCi	B-Device
card	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
run	O
Windows	O
95	O
or	O
NT	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
cards	O
were	O
not	O
limited	O
to	O
just	O
"	O
officially	O
"	O
supported	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
;	O
according	O
to	O
Sun	O
"	O
Because	O
the	O
card	O
is	O
a	O
PC	O
system	O
,	O
future	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
operating	I-Application
systems	I-Application
should	O
also	O
be	O
compatible.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
,	O
the	O
following	O
Windows	O
and	O
Linux	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
were	O
officially	O
supported	O
by	O
Sun	O
on	O
the	O
SunPCi	B-Device
IIIpro	O
:	O
</s>
