SGI: hinv

hamei wrote:

R-ten-K wrote: I may be having a brain fart here... I have seen the exact same case skins internally inside SGI, but it was a generic x86 ATX machine.

Probably the 230 - 330 ? The only part of a fuel case that's actually different from a peecee is the front plastic thingy.

plus the ATX back-panel, and the lack of a stiffening brace across the side, and the drives mount 90 degrees in the brackets. But it's obvious that much of the sheetmetal is shared, just by the holes punched in them and not used. Those ATX cases are quite nice, as far as ATX cases go.

Dr. Dave wrote: plus the ATX back-panel, and the lack of a stiffening brace across the side, and the drives mount 90 degrees in the brackets. But it's obvious that much of the sheetmetal is shared, just by the holes punched in them and not used. Those ATX cases are quite nice, as far as ATX cases go.

They must be a standard OEM case. I've seen photos of some IBM's and HPs which are exactly the same case, up to the swing-out disk cage where the drives sit at an angle, stiffener bar, everything. Only difference is the front plastic.

I just meant that what R10 saw in the belly of the monster was most likely a 230 or 330. If one were just walking thru then remembering it six years later, it'd be an understandable mistake.

Dr. Dave wrote: plus the ATX back-panel, and the lack of a stiffening brace across the side, and the drives mount 90 degrees in the brackets. But it's obvious that much of the sheetmetal is shared, just by the holes punched in them and not used. Those ATX cases are quite nice, as far as ATX cases go.

Mine actually did come with the brace on the side though its gone now. I just compared the two cases hoping I could swap the Fuel's swing-out drive mount into the PC but no such luck.

recondas wrote:

R-ten-K wrote: I have seen the exact same case skins internally inside SGI, but it was a generic x86 ATX machine.

You aren't the only nekochan reader to have had the opportunity to have been "internally inside SGI", but you're certainly in the minority.

I never claimed I was. The prototypes I was referring to: having identical bezel shape to the fuel, greyish skinned, but x86 feecee internals. I don't know enough to know if they were released in the wild as actual products or not. That is why I was referring about seeing them only inside SGI.

That being said, following hamei's... it seems the chassis and the side skins of the x86 330/550 are pretty much the same as the SGI fuel. So maybe those are the machines I remember seeing... who knows. My recollection is that the bezel was definitively solid like the fuel though, and looking at the blue fuel that originated this thread was that reminded me of those feecees as looking identical to jj's system. But now, I am all confused in my twilight years...

Also, it seems that mechanically the case of the fuel and the SUN Blade 1500 are almost the same chassis. Does anyone know if this was some OEM design popular at the time? I am asking because I have some fuel misc boards laying around... but no chassis. I can have access to a dead blade 1500... so maybe the old swaperoo may work out, with some help from Mr. Dremmel.

The SGI ATX chassis have a grey plastic front, with a blue 'swoop' for an air intake, but interestingly on the opposite side of a Fuel.

R-ten-K wrote: That being said, following hamei's... it seems the chassis and the side skins of the x86 330/550 are pretty much the same as the SGI fuel. So maybe those are the machines I remember seeing... who knows. My recollection is that the bezel was definitively solid like the fuel though, and looking at the blue fuel that originated this thread was that reminded me of those feecees as looking identical to jj's system. But now, I am all confused in my twilight years...

< Pure conjecture mode > They could have been trying out some front bezel dies on existing hardware before deciding to make the production machines red. Usually you'd want to try a few pieces of a new part before running off thousands so could have been the equivalent of the clear O2 case and they stuck them onto some machines they already had for testing the fit. </Pure conjecture mode >

Or there could have been more than one blue Fuel prototype ... are you sure they were x86 inside ? Or they could have been Itanics running the mythical never-released 4Dwm for Suse Linux

I have seen a few "red" Asterix machines used for demonstrations. These were actually the original blue skins that had been spray painted red! I don't think they had the "silicon graphics fuel" labeling yet. Tezro didn't have any prototype skins that I'm aware of, just the sheetmetal and a "Chimera Prototype" sticker. I forget the code name of the Infinite Performance FireGL systems offhand. Those were just Origin 300 with an AGP 1x adapter and a hole cut in the sheetmetal to make room for the card and adapter.

SGI Japan sold the Asterix x86 systems for a while. I wonder if the their site still has the info...

Ian.

Two more pictures:


Notice how the secondary SCSI channel is wired

Since I bought a Fuel myself, I have always wondered what are those 2 other "big" cooling fins keeping cool? The small one on the "extra" board is the CPU right?


/Jonas

I want one.


lol

Is it effective?

indyman007 wrote: I want one.


lol

Is it effective?

Well, I'm not sure if you mean if it is effective overall, since all Fuel "coolers" looks just like that, Except the "Turbo Air" sticker. But who knows, maybe that sticker makes it extra good?

/Jonas

sgtprobe wrote: the "Turbo Air" sticker.

It's not a sticker, it's a sheet of plastic. In the normal Fuel it's transparent.

indyman007 wrote: I want one.

It is not for sale. It's not even mine. And since this is a prototype, you won't find it anywhere, except inside SGI maybe.

Oh yeah, the turbo badge is easily an extra +25 horses

jan-jaap wrote:

sgtprobe wrote: the "Turbo Air" sticker.

It's not a sticker, it's a sheet of plastic. In the normal Fuel it's transparent.

Yeah, I know, but I meant that the "turbo air" is a sticker put on the transparent plastic, got a Fool myself, so I know that it is transparent plastic. But maybe it's printed on, instead of a sticker?

/Jonas

sgtprobe wrote: Yeah, I know, but I meant that the "turbo air" is a sticker put on the transparent plastic, got a Fool myself, so I know that it is transparent plastic. But maybe it's printed on, instead of a sticker?

Scan it, jan-jaap, and we can all upgrade our Fools !

hamei wrote: Scan it, jan-jaap, and we can all upgrade our Fools !

Doesn't look hard to recreate from scratch; SGI corporate font and a jaggy looking silver graphic effect

jan-jaap wrote:

sgtprobe wrote: the "Turbo Air" sticker.

It's not a sticker, it's a sheet of plastic. In the normal Fuel it's transparent.

In my regular Fuel it is also blue, and if I am not mistaken has also the turbo air sticker.

Will have to check, since it has been a while since I have opened or even used my Fuel.

hamei wrote: Scan it, jan-jaap, and we can all upgrade our Fools !

Here's a better photo. I don't have a flat bed scanner handy, and I doubt that the scanner will play nice with this semi-transparent plastic.

jan-jaap wrote:

hamei wrote: Scan it, jan-jaap, and we can all upgrade our Fools !

Here's a better photo. I don't have a flat bed scanner handy, and I doubt that the scanner will play nice with this semi-transparent plastic.

hehehe.. That's just great jan-jaap, now we can easily get some extra power out of our Fools with that turbo thingy text.

/Jonas