Sun2

Sun-2, or SUN2, is an early workstation produced by Sun Microsystems during the early 1980s as part of its first generation of graphical Unix workstations. It followed the original Sun-1 line and helped establish Sun's reputation for hardware and software integration. The SUN2 family was designed for researchers and engineers requiring a desktop environment with a Unix-like operating system and a graphical user interface.

Hardware and architecture: The SUN2 machines used the Motorola 68000 family processors and shipped with several megabytes of RAM, expandable in common configurations of the era. They featured a built-in monochrome or color display, a framebuffer-based graphics subsystem, and a variety of I/O options including serial ports, a floppy and/or hard disk, and network interfaces. The machines communicated with other systems over Ethernet and used Sun’s system bus architecture for expansion.

Software: SUN2 systems ran SunOS, Sun Microsystems' Unix variant, and shipped with the SunView GUI environment. Later upgrades offered compatibility with the X Window System. The software stack emphasized a Unix-like development environment suitable for engineering, research, and software development workflows.

Legacy: The SUN2 line contributed to the early success of Sun Microsystems in establishing a hardware-software ecosystem around Unix workstations. It was eventually supplanted by newer generations such as the SPARC-based Sun-3 and Sun-4 families, but remains part of the historical record of Sun’s early product strategy.

See also: Sun Microsystems, SunOS, SunView, SPARC.