Sun Computers

I'm looking at buying a Sun Microsystems Workstation off of eBay. I only have a limited amount of money, about $150 or so. I found some great deals on eBay, all I'm looking for is a basic Sun Workstation with a Sparc CPU. The problem is that I don't know if my monitor will work with it. I have a monitor waiting for a computer to be put to use with it . This monitor should be VGA/SVGA (standard for PC -- learned from Answers.com). However, the Sun workstation has this 3D Creator Card for the video card. Somehow I think that this card does not accept VGA/SVGA monitors? It wants a SGI or something like that? The item I'm looking at for the moment is:
here
If the computer does need this SGI or whatever it was, and all I have for monitor is a VGA/SVGA, can I get a converter to allow my VGA/SVGA monitor work with this computer (or, its video card actually?) that wants SGI? If I can get a converter, would this be what I need?

Also, if I can't use a VGA/SVGA monitor because of the type of video card in the Sun computer, would it be possible for me to put an ATI Radeon video card in the Sun computer to allow my VGA/SVGA monitor to work with it perhaps?

All this hardware stuff is way beyond me, so this is very difficult for me to explain to you. If you don't understand something then tell me and I'll do my best to rephrase it.

It looks like you might be ok as stated in the advert it has an onboard video SVGA connector as well as a 3D creator card. I'm not all that familiar with Sun workstations but have seen the Ultra 5 model in the past and it had a VGA connector on it. You may need to get a convertor for it though, a 13W3M/HD15F model and these vary in price from $5 up to $60 from what I can see.

I have read that the resolution on the monitor has to be 1152x900 with 66Hz vertical refresh rate in order to see the boot but I'm not sure if that's correct or not.

Details about the Ultra10 ==> Clicky

Thanks for the help, aitken. I'll see what I can do. It just seems that these Sun workstations are all different, depending on model. While that would seem oh so obvious, it is just so different than with PCs. The average computer user sees a computer and sees a monitor, and thinks that they both must go together, but in reality, certain monitors go with certain computers. I noticed a certain Sun workstation had VGA/SVGA builtin, I saw it in the picture (luckily the auctioner showed pictures of more than just the front of the computer). So, I know that my VGA/SVGA monitors work with it, however some of these workstations either don't show the back of the computer in the picture, they use information that simply confuses me: I'd like not to purchase something I can't use.

So anyways, thanks for the help, I'm pretty sure I can figure out the proper computer to get. Just to let you know, if I don't choose a Sun I'm aiming at an Apple iMac or Apple PowerMac G3 or G4. I'd just prefer Sun over Mac (I want to learn both processors though). Again, thanks for the help.

No problem. Have a look on eBay though for a Sun monitor, you should be able to pick one up for about $20 as they're not too expensive and guaranteed to work ! (some people actually buy them and use an adapter to fit them to a PC as they are cheaper than a PC CRT monitor, well, used to be anyway !)

The problem is that finding a decent and cheap Sun workstation from eBay is difficult. And I've only got about $150 or so to spend. I don't, and won't make an income until after my high school soccer season ends because I would like to put my time into soccer rather than work. So, I'd like to buy a Sun workstation (or a PowerMac G4) ASAP so I can start learning on one (I plan to learn both). So, to get a Sun monitor as well as a decent Sun workstation could be hard. I'd have to get a slower Sun workstation to afford the monitor, because from what I've seen, monitors on eBay have pretty high shipping prices. Although, there are some types of Sun workstations that I saw that do support VGA/SVGA monitors, I could just purchase one of those. Unfortunately I have to wait until the end of this month to receive money for working for someone, due to a mistake on his part. By the end of the month I'll be once again searching for a Sun workstation. I'll know what to be searching for though. I just think it would be best not to get a Sun monitor because of my limit of money. Plus, I got a used, very well working CRT monitor from my uncle that I plan to use for the next computer I buy. Anyways, thanks for your help.