I've found sources and RPMs for a few SPARC audio things on Dementia (along with Xview RPMs). Unfortunately, the hacked version of mpg123 supplied doesn't compile and the binaries are all for libc5. Another dead end?
Further reading of the Red Hat S/Linux mailing list archives and FAQ uncovered some obscure, illogical X resource settings to force the Xlock background to black. They also cause all the animations to go monochrome. Ah well.
The problems with Navigator have been remarked upon on the Red Hat SPARC mailing list, but no solution is forthcoming. The bug in dialogue box handling has become increasingly irritating; even entering requests into search engines has become fraught.
Revision 1.2 of this article has been publicised on the Red Hat SPARC mailing list (sparc-list@redhat.com), as a result of which I've had some appreciative and informative emails. In particular, Derrick Brashear at Dementia pointed me towards some compatible OpenLook RPMs announced earlier on the list by Vincent Cojot. As a result, today finally saw OLVWM running on my SS5 under S/Linux. Bye bye, colour problems. Bye bye, smartarse window managers. Hello, usability. Don't say I lack staying power. (Red Hat, if you're listening: bundle this with your distribution to aid migrating Solaris users.)
Furthermore, the include file from Derrick's most recent audio snapshot fixed the compilation problems with his mpg123 port. The office went wild (to the strains of `Money for Nothing' actually). And using his handy reference to the comp.sys.sun.admin FAQ, I was able to confirm that it was easy to pull the relevant SunOS4 libs off the install CD. Tomorrow, I'll try SunOS Netscape. Respect to Derrick.
Others offered an OpenLook theme for KDE (which I may try, although it appears to address the look more than the feel), PDF viewing alternatives and a port of Sun's JDK. However, after further discussion we agreed that Java would still run like a dog.
The feeling persists that this system has been glued together with sticky tape ...