Getting Started, Documentation, Tips & Tricks

Krokodil wrote:

armanox wrote: Reasonable is also relative to your goals with it. Although since bumping mine from 384MB RAM to 1280, quite a few things work better. Now if I could only come into a dual 600MHz CPU, I'd be fantastic.

I just bumped my Octane up to a dual 360MHZ. I think finding anything above 400MHZ, probably requires some kind of miracle.

600MHz Octane CPU modules do pop up on Sqee bay occasionally but almost never for a price that isn't outright laughable...

vishnu wrote:

Krokodil wrote:

armanox wrote: Reasonable is also relative to your goals with it. Although since bumping mine from 384MB RAM to 1280, quite a few things work better. Now if I could only come into a dual 600MHz CPU, I'd be fantastic.

I just bumped my Octane up to a dual 360MHZ. I think finding anything above 400MHZ, probably requires some kind of miracle.

600MHz Octane CPU modules do pop up on Sqee bay occasionally but almost never for a price that isn't outright laughable...

For the prices that the 600MHz (and 2x600) come up for, I'd lean towards just buying a Tezro instead. Except the Octane will always be special to me since it was the first real UNIX system I ever used (after that I got to learn Solaris on a Sunblade 150, and used SunOS a few times on a Sparc Classic, then got to play with some O2's. First one I had running at home was an O2, and it's been dead for a while. Second was a Sun Netra T1 that I still have) and earned IRIX a special place in my heart as the OS that works like I always wanted Linux to.

the octane has one advantage over the tezro: mgras. there's quite a bunch of stuff that doesn't work so well with vpro so unless you have a late onyx model an impact octane is the max you can get

foetz wrote: the octane has one advantage over the tezro: mgras. there's quite a bunch of stuff that doesn't work so well with vpro so unless you have a late onyx model an impact octane is the max you can get

I can testify to the fact that Adobe Premier is absolutely incapable of running on a VPro Octane, and also the Octane Personal Video option has to be jury-rigged considerably to get it to work with VPro, but if you want to run applications like Maya or Pro/E or Shake, having VPro is hugely beneficial...

armanox wrote: For the prices that the 600MHz (and 2x600) come up for, I'd lean towards just buying a Tezro instead.

As the owner/operator of an O350 and the ex-owner of a Fuel, I would not. I wish the Octane were faster but even more, I wish I hadn't got so deep into the O3x crap. And I do mean crap.

vishnu wrote: if you want to run applications like Maya or Pro/E or Shake, having VPro is hugely beneficial...

sure, those that do work fine with vpro run well of course

Yeah - I bought a set of TRAM modules, but at least one of them isn't functional. Luckily, I'm not out that much money.

I was really hoping to upgrade this from an ESSI to an MXE. It isn't much of an issue yet since I haven't had time to sit down and try to install an OS yet.

What kinds of programs can I expect to be able to run with 1GB RAM, ESSI\MXE? I have what I have, and I'm not looking to throw hundreds of dollars at this side project. Mostly, I just want to get it up and running, maybe some conversation piece programs I can show off .

bushnrvn wrote: What kinds of programs can I expect to be able to run with 1GB RAM, ESSI\MXE?

everything. an octane mxe is quite at the end of the irix evolution so pretty much everything that's available for irix runs there very nicely

Back from the dead. I put the Octane on a shelf and let it sit unused for the last several months. Just before that, I got my hands on two new TRAM modules, but they fail the hardware test. Oh well. That's life.

Anyway, I have some discs that I think are what I need to get this thing working. I am going to try and set up a Linux network install this weekend.
It also occurred to me to try using a SCSI zip disk for storage - is this possible?

bushnrvn wrote: Back from the dead. I put the Octane on a shelf and let it sit unused for the last several months. Just before that, I got my hands on two new TRAM modules, but they fail the hardware test. Oh well. That's life.

Anyway, I have some discs that I think are what I need to get this thing working. I am going to try and set up a Linux network install this weekend.
It also occurred to me to try using a SCSI zip disk for storage - is this possible?

Maybe? I've never successfully done a local Linux boot on an octane (outside of a Gentoo live CD I used to have). I suppose you could NetBoot it and just use the Zip afterwards, but that only is going to give you what, 100 megabytes of storage? Might be better off using NFS for storage.

bushnrvn wrote: It also occurred to me to try using a SCSI zip disk for storage - is this possible?

SCSI Syquest 270MB worked for me on a Fuel (internal) and Indigo2 (external) so chances are a SCSI Zip will too.

Just to clarify, when I am talking about a network boot with Linux, I am talking about doing a network install of Irix via a Linux host. It is outlined here:

http://techpubs.spinlocksolutions.com/irix/remote-irix-6.5-installation-from-linux.html

bushnrvn wrote: Just to clarify, when I am talking about a network boot with Linux, I am talking about doing a network install of Irix via a Linux host. It is outlined here:

http://techpubs.spinlocksolutions.com/irix/remote-irix-6.5-installation-from-linux.html

Ah okay. I thought you meant running Linux on the Octane. I put together a more recent guide then the one you listed (there was a detail or two missing when I tried to use it) about a year ago that you're welcome to use: Installing IRIX from Fedora Linux

Also, if you haven't done it yet have a look at your /etc/fstab and purge anything that looks like it's an NFS mount. Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that it might be trying to load network volumes that the previous owner had but I don't think the cure of editing fstab was specifically mentioned...

Another necro update

I eventually got IRIX working on this machine. I split my retrocomputing time between Apple\TI-99\Other - and since this is the only SGI machine I own it ends up sitting for long periods of time.

Curious exactly where I might be able to pick up some working TRAM modules. Are those very rare? Otherwise, it doesn't seem like I can do much with the machine (3D, demos, etc.)

TRAM's for Octane EMXI/MXE can often be found on Fleabay. Sometimes you can get a complete Max Impact board with TRAMS too.

Better if you can get a complete set, if they were removed they may have been damaged in the process. They are rather fragile.

Which is the proper serial number for the EMXI TRAM? I think I read somewhere that they have to be a faster revision of the hardware?

Seems to be alot of confusion between MXE and EMXI. Some people claim they are the same and other people say there are slight differences. But here are the

It's one of these.

TRAM Module for E-type MGRAS graphics (SE/SSE):(SGI PN 030-1263-002, upgrade SSE to MXE)
TRAM Module for I-type MGRAS graphics (SI/SSI): (SGI PN 030-1277-001, upgrade SSI to MXI)
TRAM Module for I-type MGRAS graphics (SI/SSI): (SGI PN 030-0961-002, upgrade SSI to MXI)

MXE and EMXI are exactly the same. They are just the marketing designation and the manufacturing name for the same board.