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Silicon Graphics Systems are the only Systems

dillera

hacking irix in philly
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Jan 8, 2021
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I have a lot of computers, but the only things I really collect now are older SGI systems.

In my collection:

  • IP7 Powerseries 4D/320VGX (runs 4D/IRIX 3.3)
  • IP12 Personal Iris
  • IP20 Indigo 4k
  • IP22 Indigo2
  • IP25 Power Challenge
  • IP30 Octane
  • IP31 2100/Origin
  • IP32 O2 10k
  • IP35 Fuel

I love them all and love using IRIX on each one of them. Always looking for older software - let me know if you have any for IRIX.


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very nice. i wish i looked harder for these years ago.. now they are pretty hard and pricey to obtain. ill stick with SUN systems u less one falls in my lap.. but wow.. nice collection
 
very nice. i wish i looked harder for these years ago.. now they are pretty hard and pricey to obtain. ill stick with SUN systems u less one falls in my lap.. but wow.. nice collection
Surprisingly I've built this since only 2019. In fact, my very first ever VCF encounter was to come up to a Festivus and trade a Next slab for the Personal Iris- my very first SGI at that time. Since then I've been very lucky with people and being at the right place at the right time. The most expensive thing I have was getting the PSU on the Powerseries professionally rebuilt, most everything else was just waiting for the right price.

If you hang around the SGI discord long enough people find the deals.
 
Pretty nice collection. I have never user nor seen an SGI system. They look pretty nice though.
 
So do SGI systems have the same crap plastics that old macs do?
Some actually do. The O2s are well known for their incredibly brittle plastics. The older systems are made like tanks. There seems to be a link with quality of plastics and price of system. A 100k system has better plastics than a 20k system.
 
I remember a few members over at 68kmla messing around with Idy's and O2's (think they had a rare LCD monitor for them) but getting bored and selling them off. I never snagged one when they were cheap mostly because of the lack of software (same reason I never got a NEXT). The only Unix type system (other then Apple A/UX) I have is a Sun Ultra 5.
 
I remember a few members over at 68kmla messing around with Idy's and O2's (think they had a rare LCD monitor for them) but getting bored and selling them off. I never snagged one when they were cheap mostly because of the lack of software (same reason I never got a NEXT). The only Unix type system (other then Apple A/UX) I have is a Sun Ultra 5.
O2s are the Mac Mini's of SGI: just bring your own keyboard, mouse (uses PS/2) and Monitor (VGA). SGI did make an early LCD panel, so early it was before DVI standard so it uses a very special digital connector and you have to have a special sub-board in your O2 to use it. I have a panel and O2, just not that video card. The O2 has very nice unified memory so it can do some cool things. Most other SGIs require special keyboards and 13W3 video (like older Suns). Suns were great general purpose UNIX systems, and IRIX is also a very nice 90's UNIX, but their deal was real-time GFX before there were GPUs you could put in your PC for $1000...

The Indy is just a low end, slow slow slow system.

 
Nice collection. "Just" a couple Indys, an Indigo2 that may or may not be working with 3D printed footsies, and my usual SGI workstation, a 900MHz Fuel with a V12 and DCD here.

I'll defend the Indy, though. My usual one is an R4400 with XL graphics and an IndyCam (and the Indy bag, and a Presenter around here somewhere), and it's no speed demon but it works well enough. I have a fondness for the Indy because it was the first SGI workstation I ever used, and used at the time it was new (imaging work when I was an undergrad at Salk Institute).
 
Nice collection. "Just" a couple Indys, an Indigo2 that may or may not be working with 3D printed footsies, and my usual SGI workstation, a 900MHz Fuel with a V12 and DCD here.

I'll defend the Indy, though. My usual one is an R4400 with XL graphics and an IndyCam (and the Indy bag, and a Presenter around here somewhere), and it's no speed demon but it works well enough. I have a fondness for the Indy because it was the first SGI workstation I ever used, and used at the time it was new (imaging work when I was an undergrad at Salk Institute).

I don't want to knock indys that much - hey they run IRIX. If you have a personal attachment to them yes. Most I've seen were just rips for printing :)

Nice Fuel- so far you are the only person I've met w/ the 900mhz IP35 and V12 (same as mine). Mine does not have the DCD so you have me beat. If you have 4G and maybe a sound card and 1G ethernet- you may be at peak SGI with that system! I know there are many Tezero fans, but I don't consider the tez to be in the same space as the Fuel. Have your replaced the PSU?
 
I never snagged one when they were cheap mostly because of the lack of software ...

As for software- if you ever get a SGI that can run the last two versions of IRIX - 6.5.22 or 6.5.30 - most of the R5k systems or greater - you are in luck.

I'm part of a group that has been working for a few years now (since 2020) on RSE - RPM Software Environment for IRIX. It's a project that has ported over a modern GCC and gnu build tools, and RPM, and we have been working on a full modern tool-chain and basic 'unix' software for a while now. Even LLVM and Clang has recently been ported over and we can build MIPS ELF executables using those tools!


Currently it's an easy install - just untar and go, we have a repo in AWS S3 and you can use DNF just like a more modern system to install packages that we have built. Some fun things like CinePaint, Pidgeon, XMMS, Diablo plus many many others (to support things like those apps). The performance is not bad at all when you factor in what a MIPS cpu is capable of. It's certainly interesting if you like 90's UNIX and solving build issues. There are also many major packages that were available for SGI in it's heyday and there are uh, methods around to get them to work today.

So check it out if you ever pick up a SGI, they are great fun.

As for ported packages as part of RSE:

dillera@fuel ~ $ sudo tdnf list |wc -l 5764

You can see there are quite a few now.
 
Nice Fuel- so far you are the only person I've met w/ the 900mhz IP35 and V12 (same as mine). Mine does not have the DCD so you have me beat. If you have 4G and maybe a sound card and 1G ethernet- you may be at peak SGI with that system! I know there are many Tezero fans, but I don't consider the tez to be in the same space as the Fuel. Have your replaced the PSU?

It's got the M-Audio sound card but still base Ethernet. It's on its second PSU. I assume you were on Nekochan back in the day and I picked up one of the ATX-Fuel converter boards someone was selling. I haven't tried it out but it would be logical to give it a spin when this one blows.

I have mixed feelings about the Tez. On paper it should be awesome. However, the case is wacky and (a Power Mac G5 Quad being my daily driver for almost 13 years) I don't need another hot and loud computer under my desk. The Raptor Talos II I use as my daily driver now generates less heat, is much more quiet (even without liquid cooling) and stomps either system into the ground. But, of course, POWER9 is rather newer ...

Gotta give that Netsurf port a spin. Firefox 3 is kinda long in the toof now.
 
I have a lot of computers, but the only things I really collect now are older SGI systems.

In my collection:

  • IP7 Powerseries 4D/320VGX (runs 4D/IRIX 3.3)
  • IP12 Personal Iris
  • IP20 Indigo 4k
  • IP22 Indigo2
  • IP25 Power Challenge
  • IP30 Octane
  • IP31 2100/Origin
  • IP32 O2 10k
  • IP35 Fuel

I love them all and love using IRIX on each one of them. Always looking for older software - let me know if you have any for IRIX.


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It appears that you don’t have any 68k machines. Is that correct?
 
It appears that you don’t have any 68k machines. Is that correct?
I do not. I've only seen one in the flesh. there is a VCF member who has a 3000 series that isn't fully working. That is a magnificed system. Hope it runs soon.
 
It's got the M-Audio sound card but still base Ethernet. It's on its second PSU. I assume you were on Nekochan back in the day and I picked up one of the ATX-Fuel converter boards someone was selling. I haven't tried it out but it would be logical to give it a spin when this one blows.

I was never on Neko, it went belly up before I started collecting. But the Fuel PSU converters are back:


I got one and have been using a gamer PSU from Amazon (to get max 5v rail) for over a year without issues.
 
Wow, what a great collection. Nice to see another SGI enthusiast from Philly! I was fortunate enough to pick up an Octane two years ago over in Jersey. First time ever having an SGI. I got a little time on an Onyx in college, and had an Indy at my summer job back in '95. I always loved those Indy cases but in retrospect sure do seem underpowered. Though still would love to get one some day. Along with an O2. My Octane doesn't have any texture memory so pretty limited until I can upgrade the graphics.
 
Thanks. I'm mostly interested in the older SGI now. Working on a Personal Iris IP6 with just 12M of RAM from about 1990ish. Trying to rescue and image the drive that has an early version of Alias/3 software on it.



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