Getting Started, Documentation, Tips & Tricks

I am very excited to be tinkering with my first SGI - an Octane. I've got the machine up and running, read a ton about the hardware\history\current status and I am ready to get my hands dirty. Only one problem - The IRIX install that came with the machine seems to be either broken or setup for very minimal functionality. I've got verbose mode turned on and from what I can tell, the machine checks ESP, sees that it is off, starts Appletalk and finishes up with a system ready message. That's it.

What am I missing here?

Single user mode works, I can see the file system on the drive designated as the boot volume.

I'll post the specific output tomorrow morning if needed. I've been working with this for some time tonight and I'm not going to turn the machine back on until I get some sleep

Thanks.

Well, for starters and just off the top of my head make sure that chkconfig windowsystem, xdm and desktop are on . chkconfig -s will report the status of every configuration flag on your system, or, to state it more accurately, of every configuration flag found in the directory /var/config.

I've attached a screen cap of the boot messages. The services you've indicated are on. I am only able to check them in single user mode. Am I supposed to be able to interact with the machine at the System is ready message? It seems like the machine is lying in wait for some outside communication.

I had a similar problem, but it may not be exactly the same:

uunix wrote: YAY!! Got a login (all-be-it non-visual login - even though chkconfig is on) and a desktop (minimal).

Copied /var/X11/xdm folder from working system.

I feel deflated!

The thread is http://forums.nekochan.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16729495

I had a similar problem, but it may not be exactly the same:

Thanks, looks like it might be similar. I have s suspicion this machine was set up as a headless unit at some point. There are some indications that IRIX was working for the previous owner since there are a number of nekoware installations.

I ran startx from my X11 folder and it went to a blank black screen. This makes me believe that more than just the desktop environment isn't working. It appears as if I can't login outside of single user mode.

If you don't mind trying something bold, daring and reckless you could do enableall and resetenv from the command monitor...

Haha! Challenge accepted.

Fail. No such file or directory for enableall.

bushnrvn wrote: Haha! Challenge accepted.

Fail. No such file or directory for enableall.

But you did resetenv ? Have you chkconfiged appletalk to off ? Could be it's stuck waiting to see an appletalk network or somesuch...

I did. I've got Appletalk off now. I pretty much turned off anything that didn't seem essential.

So weird.

bushnrvn wrote: Fail. No such file or directory for enableall.

If I haven't read too much into your post, it sounds like you might have run those commands inside IRIX. It wasn't explictly mentioned, but they're are meant to be run from the PROM, before IRIX loads.

recondas wrote:

bushnrvn wrote: Fail. No such file or directory for enableall.

If I haven't read too much into your post, it sounds like you might have run those commands inside IRIX. It wasn't explictly mentioned, but they're are meant to be run from the PROM, before IRIX loads.

Hrm yes I said "from the command monitor" whereas should have said "from the PROM"...

welcome here bushnrvn and congrats on your aquisition

bushnrvn wrote: What am I missing here?

well, the search for example. problems with pre-installed systems are very common because of obvious reasons hence there's been a lot of talk about such cases here. for example:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16724526
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16728465
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16720706
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16722996

these links cover common problems as well as new, clean installations

vishnu wrote: Hrm yes I said "from the command monitor" whereas should have said "from the PROM"...

No sweat. You gave good sound advice....and after all, it is correctly called the prom * Command Monitor *. I only added the (over) clarification because I wasn't certain how familiar bushnrvn was with the ins-n-outs of IRIX technospeak.

Thanks everyone. A couple points.

I'm new to IRIX but not Unix. The idiosyncrasies have been greater than I anticipated. Is there any official literature available on IRIX?

I've entered these commands into the Command Monitor window after selecting option 5 from the maintenance menu.

I get no feedback after the system ready message aside from shutdown notifications when I power off the machine.

I've just gotten in for the night. I am giving it one more go before I call it a night.

One last thing, reading some threads here, I'm wondering if it would be possible to recreate the necessary X11 configuration on an existing Unix-like machine and export it? Even if I had to manually write out the files?

bushnrvn wrote: Is there any official literature available on IRIX?

Techpubs has most everything you'd ever need. They just don't answer back like here

I get no feedback after the system ready message aside from shutdown notifications when I power off the machine.

I'm guessing you don't have a desktop installed. Not that I've ever done that, you understand, but sounds similar to what an ... errr .. "friend" had happen. Look under /usr/bin/X11 and tell us what you see.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to recreate the necessary X11 configuration on an existing Unix-like machine and export it? Even if I had to manually write out the files?

Not really. Seems easier but in the end, doing it from Irix is the easiest. 4Dwm is its own creature.

There's quite a bit in that folder.

I've done that before, but IRIX seems to be so...obtuse? Compared to other systems I've used.

Attached.

bushnrvn wrote: There's quite a bit in that folder.

Yes there is, but the part you are missing is the X server "Xsgi", to be exact ...

IRIX seems to be so...obtuse?

Try Solaris 11, jesus. Oh well, you live with what you gotta live with. Irix is more of a desktop system than other Unixes. If you come to it thinking "server" it's a little weird.

Yep that's the problem alright, he doesn't have the xserver installed. We should have had him check the messages file (in /var/adm) it's probably screaming to holy hell about not being able to find it...

EDIT: According to swmgr on my Octane, it's in X11 Execution Environment, 6.5.30, based on X11R6.6, pop that open and find X11 Window Server and Font Server , pop that open and /usr/bin/X11/Xsgi is in there. Just a guess but I'll bet bushnrvn doesn't have the necessary Irix installation media for that...

EDIT2: Here's the swmgr getinfo dialog for that installation:

Just a guess but I'll bet bushnrvn doesn't have the necessary Irix installation media for that...

Correct. I'd like to say that'd I'll just run OpenBSD until that changes, but looks like X doesn't work on the Octane with OpenBSD?
That's another issue for another day.

If that is the most likely cause, I don't have the media to test. So here we are.

I appreciate all the help so far. I only learned of SGI about two weeks ago, and I was surprised to see that they had a thriving hobbyist community. Glad to be here.

IRIX seems to be so...obtuse?

That's because this is real UNIX, not loonix kludge.