SGI: hinv

Monitor is a Dell 2001FP 20" 4:3 LCD panel - not sure why it's reporting this way




Since this is an IP35-based system I thought I'd be able to collect the L1 information, but when I tried to run "l1cmd serial all" it locked up the machine. Not sure what's up with that...

EDIT : Here's what I got from the motherboard serial connector:



EDIT : This might explain the problems with the L1 commands from IRIX -- I'll add "flash status" to the hinv guidelines page in the wiki... There are reports of issues with at least Fuels and the later L1 firmware releases, as described here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16721896

Congratulations - that's a very nice Fuel.


Interesting about the serial all induced lockup - anything interesting appear in the system or L1 logs?

Earlier this month I came across an auction for a Fuel with the following description:

USED SGI SILICON GRAPHICS FUEL

Working
700 MHz
2 GB RAM Memory
73 GB Hard Drive
Irix 6.5 Operating System Installed (May Need Reintall)
Irix 6.5 OS Disks included

* ITEM WILL BE SOLD AS IS

Not exactly a verbose description, but if accurate at US$300 this was already a good deal. The fact that the IRIX CDs looked like a later release didn't hurt any, and if the hinv picture was accurate there was a GigE card installed.

Well, the CDs turned out to be for 6.5.30. The gfx turned out to be V12, and there's a dual-channel LSI 22320-R UltraSCSI 320 controller as well as the SGI-tagged 3COM 3C996B-T. And totally unexpectedly <drumroll please> there was a DMediaPro DM6 PCI card (013-3745-002) digital video card installed as well. (For more on the card, I started this thread in SGI:Hardware .)

After I can image the disk this will probably become my primary IRIX desktop. I'll be looking around for one of the supported PCI audio cards. I've already maxed out the RAM and added the DVD-ROM drive.

Pictures to follow shortly.

$300 would easily classify as an early Christmas gift.

smj wrote: After I can image the disk this will probably become my primary IRIX desktop. I'll be looking around for one of the supported PCI audio cards. I've already maxed out the RAM and added the DVD-ROM drive.

Be interesting to see if any of the apps you mentioned in your DM6 thread include video control or capture tools. The DM6 <and the DM3, for that matter>, used OpenML rather than the traditional IRIX Video Control Panel <VCP> and IRIX video daemon <videod>.

recondas wrote: Congratulations - that's a very nice Fuel. Interesting about the serial all lockup - anything interesting appear in the system or L1 logs?

Thanks - and I'm not sure about the L1 logs, because when I tried running "l1cmd log" it locked up again. Not sure it's useful, but here's what I've got from the serial port during a startup after I'd added the RAM and DVD drive (and restarted, otherwise you'd see the PROM message about previously unknown RAM).


Interesting bit there with the console login - the graphics console automatically logs in as the "opal" user and tries to start up some apps, which appear to fail-restart-fail in an endless loop. Other messages indicate the failure is related to the other network nodes which are no longer reachable.

I haven't tried talking to the L1 via the dedicated USB port yet. Due to disk space limitations, the laptop that's hosting the DINA VM can't also have the L3 VM at the same time.

smj wrote: I haven't tried talking to the L1 via the dedicated USB port yet. Due to disk space limitations, the laptop that's hosting the DINA VM can't also have the L3 VM at the same time.

There should be a DB9 serial port on the motherboard <right next to the planar SCSI connector> that provides a slightly more convenient connection to the L1 controller. You might try those commands with only the L1 running.

Nothing shocking about the pictures, but just for the sake of completeness...

recondas wrote: There should be a DB9 serial port on the motherboard <right next to the planar SCSI connector> that provides a slightly more convenient connection to the L1 controller. You might try running the commands with only the L1 running.

I took the cable I'd been using to speak to the external serial port and plugged it into the motherboard DB9, but it came all the way up to the menu on the V12 w/o any activity on the L1 connector. No "linenoise" indicating a speed mismatch, just an absence of any output. Whacking the enter key makes no difference.

If it's a crossover/null modem issue, I'm lacking anything to suit for DB9... Guess I'd better check the docs.

smj wrote: I took the cable I'd been using to speak to the external serial port and plugged it into the motherboard DB9, Guess I'd better check the docs.

That same cable ought to work - what serial port settings did you use - 38400 / 8 / N / 1 / ?

You should be able to find the DB9 cross-cables super cheap at your local satellite shop, they were often used for upgrading firmware on FTA units.

recondas wrote: That same cable ought to work - what serial port settings did you use - 38400 / 8 / N / 1 / ?

I hate it when I out-clever myself. The console serial port is set to run at 9600, but I ass-umed that I'd see garbage even if the L1 port was running at another speed... So here's the L1 log:


Note: I'll go paste the usual L1 output into the top post.

smj wrote: Note: I'll go paste the usual L1 output into the top post.

OK - I'm curious to see the various hardware revisions in serial all.

The Sound Blaster Audigy (with the firewire port) works fine, though the firewire port is purely cosmetic. The Audigy2 cards have sample-rate issues that render them problematic on a Fuel. Some of the later 'cheaper' Audigy cards don't use the EMU chip though, so best to stick with the original Audigy (or the Audigy ES, same minus the firewire).

An M-Audio Revolution 7.1 is the best one obviously but practically unobtanium, and the RAD boards require an external DAC.

Dr. Dave wrote: The Sound Blaster Audigy (with the firewire port) works fine, though the firewire port is purely cosmetic. The Audigy2 cards have sample-rate issues that render them problematic on a Fuel. Some of the later 'cheaper' Audigy cards don't use the EMU chip though, so best to stick with the original Audigy (or the Audigy ES, same minus the firewire).

That's interesting, because the recommendations I'd read specified the Audigy2 ZS. Does the "ZS" avoid the sample-rate issues you mention?

recondas wrote: OK - I'm curious to see the various hardware revisions in serial all.

Bear in mind there's one potentially relevant piece of information I left out of the top post - the existing installation is IRIX 6.5.18. Could be missing one or more patches, etc.

smj wrote:

Dr. Dave wrote: The Sound Blaster Audigy (with the firewire port) works fine, though the firewire port is purely cosmetic. The Audigy2 cards have sample-rate issues that render them problematic on a Fuel. Some of the later 'cheaper' Audigy cards don't use the EMU chip though, so best to stick with the original Audigy (or the Audigy ES, same minus the firewire).

That's interesting, because the recommendations I'd read specified the Audigy2 ZS. Does the "ZS" avoid the sample-rate issues you mention?

Nope. I got one to try a while back. Almost impossible to watch a movie without getting sound sync problems. Only the original versions work with no major issues. I think the Audigy2's use an updated EMU processor that is not 100% back compatible at the register level.

smj wrote: That's interesting, because the recommendations I'd read specified the Audigy2 ZS. Does the "ZS" avoid the sample-rate issues you mention?

I'm fortunate enough to have an Audigy, DM8/mAudio7.1, and a PCI RADical Audio, and for general everyday use the DM8 would be my first choice - excellent sound quality and it provides analog and digital sound options.

Since you have a DM6, it's probably worth mentioning that while SGI's PCI RADical Audio isn't as practical for general audio I/O <unless you have speakers with digital capabilities>, but its the only one that can be used to sync an audio track to any video captured with the <OpenML based> DM6.

It should be noted that the RAD will drive the coax digital input on a consumer home-theatre receiver, but only for stereo as far as I can tell. These are easy to come by, and should be cheap to do.

recondas wrote: Since you have a DM6, it's probably worth mentioning that while SGI's PCI RADical Audio isn't as practical for general audio I/O <unless you have speakers with digital capabilities>, but its the only one that can be used to sync an audio track to any video captured with the <OpenML based> DM6.

Thanks for that information - I've got to put all this in the wiki... I've got an Audigy (SB090) and an Adaptec DuoConnect (USB+FW) on order for now. Before they get here I'll see if I can narrow down what's causing that lockup when l1cmd is run, and undo all the captive login crud that takes over the gfx console.

Longer term I'm not sure what I'll do with the DM6. It might be fun to play with, and the repackaged DVS Gmbh installation guide does identify the appropriate IRIX packages. A search on Supportfolio turns up the DMediaPro™ DM6 (SD-DIGVID) Video Subsystem v1.1.2 , which says it requires IRIX 6.5.21+ and OpenML 1.1 or later...

Not clear what software might be available to use it, but with docs like OpenML Media Library Software Development Kit Beginner's Guide available from Supportfolio I hope it'd be possible to build something, at least for kicks.

Dr. Dave wrote: It should be noted that the RAD will drive the coax digital input on a consumer home-theatre receiver, but only for stereo as far as I can tell. These are easy to come by, and should be cheap to do.

Do you mean RAD audio cards are easy to find, or home theater receivers?