Nekonomicon - Indigo, R4000/100MHz, 80MB, LG1

BetXen
From Vevey, Switzerland
Who joined Sept. 21, 2004, 12:05 p.m.

Wrote the following at Aug. 28, 2013, 1:58 a.m...

Here is my new Indigo machine.

It was still running since it was bought more than 20 years ago. During a long time, it was the web, database and service server as well as desktop computer of the IT manager of the Physics Departement of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Latest services were removed this summer so that I could take it home... tadaaa !
It was only moved 2-3 times, and not powered off a lot more often, so it is in particularly good shape. Plastics are almost like new. Door is fully functional, with all hinges intact.

The Indigo is the very first Silicon Graphics I ever saw, in the mid-90's, when I visited the ECAL, Lausanne's Art School, more specifically the Infography department. I remember people were running TDI Explore on them. Unfortunately, mine is only equipped with the Entry graphic board. Who knows, I may upgrade it later, just for fun !

It is not connected to the network for the moment, so here is the basic hardware information and some pictures. I'll update with hinv and gfxinfo outputs later on.

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   hinv (from the PROM)
   

   System: IP20
   

   Processor: R4000 50MHz, with FPU
   

   Primary I-cache size: 8KBytes
   

   Primary D-cache size: 8 KBytes
   

   Secondary cache size: 1024 KBytes
   

   Memory size: 80MBytes
   

   Graphics: LG1
   

   SCSI Disk: scsi(0)disk(1)
   

   SCSI Disk: scsi(0)disk(2)
   

   SCSI Disk: scsi(0)tape(3)

Did you also see that the processor speed is 50MHz ? In the OS, hinv correctly reports 100MHz. Why ?

: Indigo R4k/100, LG1

: Indigo R4k/100, LG1, door open

: Good old SGI logo

<--- EDIT 2013.09.03 --->
After putting in a "new" disk and installing Irix 6.5, here we are... Infos posted from the Indigo with Mozilla 1.0.2. So slow !

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   magnesium 1# hinv -mv
   

   CPU: MIPS R4000 Processor Chip Revision: 2.2
   

   FPU: MIPS R4000 Floating Point Coprocessor Revision: 0.0
   

   1 100 MHZ IP20 Processor
   

   Main memory size: 80 Mbytes
   

   Secondary unified instruction/data cache size: 1 Mbyte on Processor 0
   

   Instruction cache size: 8 Kbytes
   

   Data cache size: 8 Kbytes
   

   Integral SCSI controller 0: Version WD33C93B, revision C
   

   Disk drive: unit 1 on SCSI controller 0 (unit 1)
   

   Tape drive: unit 3 on SCSI controller 0: DAT
   

   CDROM: unit 5 on SCSI controller 0
   

   On-board serial ports: 2
   

   On-board bi-directional parallel port
   

   Graphics board: LG1
   

   Integral Ethernet: ec0, version 1
   

   Iris Audio Processor: revision 10

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   magnesium 2# /usr/gfx/gfxinfo
   

   Graphics board 0 is "LG1MC" graphics.
   

   Managed (":0.0") 1024x768
   

   LG2 revision 3, REX revision 1.5, VC1 revision B, MC rev B ffi
   

   14" monitor, video option not installed.

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   magnesium 3# uname -aR
   

   IRIX magnesium 6.5 6.5.22f 10070055 IP20

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   magnesium 4# scsicontrol -i /dev/scsi/*
   

   /dev/scsi/sc0d1l0:  Disk          IBM     DNES-309170     SAH0
   

   ANSI vers 3, ISO ver: 0, ECMA ver: 0; supports:  synch linkedcmds cmdqueing
   

   Device is  ready
   

   /dev/scsi/sc0d3l0:  Tape          ARCHIVE Python 25601-XXX2.54
   

   ANSI vers 2, ISO ver: 0, ECMA ver: 0; supports:  synch linkedcmds
   

   Device is  not ready
   

   

   /dev/scsi/sc0d5l0:  CD-ROM        PLEXTOR CD-ROM PX-32TS  1.03
   

   ANSI vers 2, ISO ver: 0, ECMA ver: 0; supports:  synch linkedcmds
   

   Device is  ready

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   magnesium 5# /sbin/diskpatch -v
   

   sc0d1l0:  Disk         IBM     DNES-309170     SAH0  Serial: AJ1R9863

: oxygen / :A3504L:

: neon (16xItanium2 1.6, L2 9MB) / :O200:

: beryllium
:Fuel:

: nitrogen / :Octane2:

: carbon / :Octane:

: fluorine
:O2:

: hydrogen (R10k 195, 512Mo) / :O2:

: sodium (R5k 180, 512Mo) / :O2:

: R5k 180->200 motherboard and PM only
:Indigo2IMP:

: helium (R10k 195, HighImpact, 160Mo) / :Indigo2IMP:

: boron /

: magnesium
:4D70G:

4D70GT : hydrogen, my very first one (now property of musée bolo and the foundation mémoires informatiques )
See the hinv/gfxinfo posts here .

jan-jaap
From Wijchen, The Netherlands
Who joined June 17, 2004, 11:35 a.m.

Wrote the following at Aug. 28, 2013, 2:12 a.m...

BetXen wrote: Did you also see that the processor speed is 50MHz ? In the OS, hinv correctly reports 100MHz. Why ?

Before the R4000, the internal and external clock of the CPU was the same, e.g. a 33MHz R3000 runs internally at 33MHz and so does the mainboard (or at least the bits interfacing the CPU).

R4000 (and contemporary Intel CPUs) introduced clock doubling : the internal frequency is a multiple of the external bus frequency.

In case of the first R4000 SGIs, the tech guys referred to the CPU by it's external frequency (50MHz), the marketing folks went with the highest number (100MHz). In the end, everybody went with the highest number, but the PROM still mentions the external frequency. Nothing to worry about.

These days with multi-GHz CPUs, the multiplier is of course much higher than 2 or 3x.

PS: nice looking Indigo!

Now this is a deep dark secret, so everybody keep it quiet

It turns out that when reset, the WD33C93 defaults to a SCSI ID of 0, and it was simpler to leave it that way... -- Dave Olson, in comp.sys.sgi
Currently in commercial service:

(2x)

In the museum : almost every MIPS/IRIX system.
Wanted : GM1 board for Professional Series GT graphics (030-0076-003, 030-0076-004)

BetXen
From Vevey, Switzerland
Who joined Sept. 21, 2004, 12:05 p.m.

Wrote the following at Aug. 28, 2013, 4:42 a.m...

Thanks for the info jan-jaap. Clear and precise, as usual

: oxygen / :A3504L:

: neon (16xItanium2 1.6, L2 9MB) / :O200:

: beryllium
:Fuel:

: nitrogen / :Octane2:

: carbon / :Octane:

: fluorine
:O2:

: hydrogen (R10k 195, 512Mo) / :O2:

: sodium (R5k 180, 512Mo) / :O2:

: R5k 180->200 motherboard and PM only
:Indigo2IMP:

: helium (R10k 195, HighImpact, 160Mo) / :Indigo2IMP:

: boron /

: magnesium
:4D70G:

4D70GT : hydrogen, my very first one (now property of musée bolo and the foundation mémoires informatiques )
See the hinv/gfxinfo posts here .

ClassicHasClass
From Sunny So Cal
Who joined July 25, 2012, 7:12 p.m.

Wrote the following at Aug. 28, 2013, 10:27 a.m...

That is a gorgeous Indigo.

smit happens.

:Fuel:

bigred , 900MHz R16K, 4GB RAM, V12 DCD, 6.5.30
:Indy:

indy , 150MHz R4400SC, 256MB RAM, XL24, 6.5.10
:Indigo2IMP:

purplehaze , R10000, Solid IMPACT
probably posted from

bruce , Quad 2.5GHz PowerPC 970MP, 16GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.4.11
plus IBM POWER6 p520 * Apple Network Server 500 * HP C8000 * BeBox * Solbourne S3000 * Commodore 128 * many more...

fu
From constant traveler [nyc/london/berlin]
Who joined Sept. 29, 2005, 9:39 a.m.

Wrote the following at Aug. 28, 2013, 11:56 a.m...

BetXen wrote: ...I visited the ECAL, Lausanne's Art School, more specifically the Infography department.

is this (still) an art major betx? with all these rivers of data these days it looks like its all statistics (for the shake of statistics)

BetXen
From Vevey, Switzerland
Who joined Sept. 21, 2004, 12:05 p.m.

Wrote the following at Aug. 28, 2013, 2:21 p.m...

I dont really know, but I think it is still well renowned. At least it is still very active and you can very often hear news about it in the local radios.
The people I knew actually left a long time ago. It was mainly students and the previous IT manager. This guy helped me find Irix 3.0.2 QIC tapes when I was searching for media to reinstall the OS on my very first Silicon Graphics, a 4D/70GT.

I've just disassembled the box to give it a shower (only the plastics parts, don't worry). One screw to tight them all and in the shower to bring them ... and it's done ! So well built... and the plastics is much more robust than later models. Everything is still in perfect shape and working order after 20 years. Times have changed ! Things were built to last...

[Title edited, since I realised that is was a R4000, not R4400]

: oxygen / :A3504L:

: neon (16xItanium2 1.6, L2 9MB) / :O200:

: beryllium
:Fuel:

: nitrogen / :Octane2:

: carbon / :Octane:

: fluorine
:O2:

: hydrogen (R10k 195, 512Mo) / :O2:

: sodium (R5k 180, 512Mo) / :O2:

: R5k 180->200 motherboard and PM only
:Indigo2IMP:

: helium (R10k 195, HighImpact, 160Mo) / :Indigo2IMP:

: boron /

: magnesium
:4D70G:

4D70GT : hydrogen, my very first one (now property of musée bolo and the foundation mémoires informatiques )
See the hinv/gfxinfo posts here .

BetXen
From Vevey, Switzerland
Who joined Sept. 21, 2004, 12:05 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 3, 2013, 1:42 p.m...

First post edited to add 'hinv', 'gfxinfo' and so on

: oxygen / :A3504L:

: neon (16xItanium2 1.6, L2 9MB) / :O200:

: beryllium
:Fuel:

: nitrogen / :Octane2:

: carbon / :Octane:

: fluorine
:O2:

: hydrogen (R10k 195, 512Mo) / :O2:

: sodium (R5k 180, 512Mo) / :O2:

: R5k 180->200 motherboard and PM only
:Indigo2IMP:

: helium (R10k 195, HighImpact, 160Mo) / :Indigo2IMP:

: boron /

: magnesium
:4D70G:

4D70GT : hydrogen, my very first one (now property of musée bolo and the foundation mémoires informatiques )
See the hinv/gfxinfo posts here .

fu
From constant traveler [nyc/london/berlin]
Who joined Sept. 29, 2005, 9:39 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 3, 2013, 5:15 p.m...

mea culpa, thought it was part of your degree/major

and that's mint indigo, i guess it's ready for the museum after its last bath :)

BetXen
From Vevey, Switzerland
Who joined Sept. 21, 2004, 12:05 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2013, 3:56 a.m...

Hi fu.

No problem. Actually I didn't study there, but some kilometers away; some more scientific studies...
Yes, the machine is very clean now, inside and outside. I'll try to take better pictures in the next days, but will not be very often at home. Nothing is broken and once I removed the dust from the power supply it became very quiet. Only my R5k O2 does better.

On the OS side, it is for the moment running 6.5.22, but is very slow. I'll try 6.2 and maybe even a fresh install of 5.3 (I also still have the original harddisk, which is running fine besides the noise: 1 inch Conner disk 540Mo).

Regards,

: oxygen / :A3504L:

: neon (16xItanium2 1.6, L2 9MB) / :O200:

: beryllium
:Fuel:

: nitrogen / :Octane2:

: carbon / :Octane:

: fluorine
:O2:

: hydrogen (R10k 195, 512Mo) / :O2:

: sodium (R5k 180, 512Mo) / :O2:

: R5k 180->200 motherboard and PM only
:Indigo2IMP:

: helium (R10k 195, HighImpact, 160Mo) / :Indigo2IMP:

: boron /

: magnesium
:4D70G:

4D70GT : hydrogen, my very first one (now property of musée bolo and the foundation mémoires informatiques )
See the hinv/gfxinfo posts here .

jpstewart
From Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Who joined Sept. 21, 2010, 3:31 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2013, 8 a.m...

BetXen wrote: On the OS side, it is for the moment running 6.5.22, but is very slow.

If you want to stick with 6.5.22, upgrade your RAM! The R4K Indigo can handle up to 384MB, and (in my experience) anything under 128MB is just too little for 6.5.x. 192MB and up is more realistic for actual use. I was quite pleased with the performance boost I got on my Indigo2 when going from 64MB to 320MB. (I realize it's not the same machine, but still....)

Of course, if you prefer the older IRIX versions anyway, then there's probably no need to upgrade RAM.

Sun SPARCstation 20, Blade 2500
HP C8000

hamei
From over the rainbow
Who joined Feb. 24, 2004, 4:10 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2013, 6:30 p.m...

jpstewart wrote:

BetXen wrote: On the OS side, it is for the moment running 6.5.22, but is very slow.

If you want to stick with 6.5.22, upgrade your RAM!

Have to agree with this ... when I had an Indigo (1) it was used next to an IBM Z-pro. The Z-Pro was dual Pentium Pro @ 240 mhz. The Indigo was a little slower at compute jobs but faster at graphics. Both were very usable. The Indigo was loaded on RAM, running 6.5 (but before 22 came out, probably about 14 ?)

Inidigo is a very nice computer. I really liked mine.

two girls for every boy ...

vishnu
From Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
Who joined March 18, 2007, 3:25 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2013, 11:40 p.m...

hamei wrote: Inidigo is a very nice computer. I really liked mine.

Well wha'd ya do wit it? :?:

You know what Mark Hughes said, an Indy is an Indigo without the "go"...

Project:
Temporarily lost at sea...
Plan:
World domination! Or something...

SGI: hinv

Indigo, R4000/100MHz, 80MB, LG1