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New score today in NZ ... SGI Indy

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paul

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Joined
Mar 18, 2004
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818
Location
New Zealand
The SGI Indy made me drool when it first came out, I wanted one so bad. One showed up this week on our ebay-equivalent "TradeMe" and so I took a chance, bid to win it and got for the equivalent of about US$75. These, like any '90 unix workstations are very rare in this country and usually they are in poor condition having been passed around by one tinkerer after another - not like the pristine machines I have in my collection.

Just completed my 5 hour round trip to collect it. The young lad selling it on behalf of his dad had said in the auction it was in "near-new" condition but I was skeptical.

Well, he didn't exaggerate - it's damn near perfect. Not a scratch on any parts, not even dusty and mostly in the original packing. Just a bit of wear on the underside of the mouse. It came with the keyboard, mouse, camera, and 21" SGI Trinitron monitor. No docs or disks but I'm so happy with the condition I can live with that!

Now if I can just figure out how to open the cover I can find out what's inside...
 

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Hi Paul,

Well done! I saw that unit on TradeMe and thought it looked an interesting item.

Tez
 
paul said:
The SGI Indy made me drool when it first came out, I wanted one so bad. One showed up this week on our ebay-equivalent "TradeMe" and so I took a chance, bid to win it and got for the equivalent of about US$75. These, like any '90 unix workstations are very rare in this country and usually they are in poor condition having been passed around by one tinkerer after another - not like the pristine machines I have in my collection.

Just completed my 5 hour round trip to collect it. The young lad selling it on behalf of his dad had said in the auction it was in "near-new" condition but I was skeptical.

Well, he didn't exaggerate - it's damn near perfect. Not a scratch on any parts, not even dusty and mostly in the original packing. Just a bit of wear on the underside of the mouse. It came with the keyboard, mouse, camera, and 21" SGI Trinitron monitor. No docs or disks but I'm so happy with the condition I can live with that!

Now if I can just figure out how to open the cover I can find out what's inside...
Click to expand...

There's a bit of a trick to opening the cover. I know... when I first got mine and tried to open the cover, I was fumbling with it like a frustrated ape trying to open a coconut.

Put your thumb on the black plastic... thing... above the protruding metal hoop... thing... at the top back. (I'm using technical terms here ;)) With that same hand, use your first two fingers to lift up on the flap and push (like hell) with your thumb. The case should slide forward. (initially, it might be a bit difficult... sometimes it's stuck)

(By the way, you can see the inside of my Indy in my signature link.)
 
Got any idea on what is under the hood in the way of a processor, graphics and ram? You know what an hinv is?
I got a stack of three Indys here (one has the N64 dev board in it) and I'm waiting for some SCA to 50 pin SCSI adapters to arrive.
 
Thanks, I managed to eventually figure out the cover and now have a few relevant CDs courtesy of a relative in Australia. I also rewired the fan to run all the time since in the stock Sony PS it doesn't normally operate. The real time clock/NVRAM battery is still good after 14 years but I will have to modify it sometime for an external button cell. Specs are:

R4400SC 175 Mhz
128 MB RAM
XL24 graphics
Seagate ST32430N (2 GB) root file system=efs
Floptical drive
IRIX 6.2
Mouse, keyboard, and IndyCAM
Monitor: GDM-20D11
 
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