SGI: hinv

I picked this beast up for cheap... no real use for it, but I'll eventually get it going as an end table in my basement!

BTW, does anyone know, of a media converter for the front that will actually let the door be closed?




100 MB ethernet seems crazy expensive for this box??

seanwg wrote: BTW, does anyone know, of a media converter for the front that will actually let the door be closed?

I've used a Farallon Etherwave - it has a cable with the transceiver part at the end so it's possible to close the door.

seanwg wrote: BTW, does anyone know, of a media converter for the front that will actually let the door be closed?

I'm using the short version of the CentreCom transceiver, on the left in the picture. This leaves enough space to close the front door without damaging the ethernet cable. Transceivers with an angled RJ45 connector exist(ed) but I don't know the brand. Alternatively you can also use a short AUI extension cable and put the transceiver in a more convenient place.

seanwg wrote: 100 MB ethernet seems crazy expensive for this box??

Yes, and the performance is rubbish.

You get better performance with FDDI. There's also a Prisa FibreChannel card which can do IP over FC -- this would give you Gbit. This is an extremely rare piece, though. Both FDDI and FCIP are not ethernet, so you can't hook them up with a simple media converter. But FDDI is very well supported on IRIX, and is your only option for fast(er) networking on older SGI's, all the way back to the first 4D/xx systems. I have about a dozen or so SGIs with FDDI networking, a Cisco WS-C1400 concentrator (think: switch), and a dedicated mini-ITX PC to route between FDDI and ethernet. Works like a peach

If you want to improve performance you should look for an IP25 (R10K) CPU board, but beware that the IP25 requires later revisions of various other boards (MC3, IO4) also. Oh, and all but the last revision of the OLS (the big PSU module in the back) can overheat and burst into flames! They (SGI) had a free exchange program for them, but a lot of the systems out there don't seem to have the 'safe' OLS.

PS: you are aware that the internal hard disks in these systems are high voltage differential SCSI? If you put a regular ultra wide disk or LVD scsi disk in, magic smoke will surely escape somewhere.

Oh, one more thing: the Challenge DM is restricted to a single CPU board. You can 'unlock' it (effectively turning it into a Challenge L) by removing a screw form the backplane: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=16722728

Don't let my remarks turn you down. Challenges are fun boxes, but the learning curve can be steep.

jan-jaap wrote: PS: you are aware that the internal hard disks in these systems are high voltage differential SCSI? If you put a regular ultra wide disk or LVD scsi disk in, magic smoke will surely escape somewhere.

I remember that the default SCSI bus was HVD, but for any additional buses, it depends on the types of mezzanine cards you have in the system...or is that only for the Challenge L and XL?

My old 4x200 R10k Power Challenge L was the best all around production server I've ever had, adjusting for performance expectations in 1996 versus 2015, of course.

josehill wrote: I remember that the default SCSI bus was HVD, but for any additional buses, it depends on the types of mezzanine cards you have in the system...or is that only for the Challenge L and XL?

For a deskside, you've got two SCSI channels wired to the disk bays. Normally, one is HVD (for disks) and one is SE (for CDROMs, tape, ...).

If a channel is wired to a red mezzanine card on the IO4 it is HVD, if it wired to a green mezzanine card on the IO4, it's SE. The terminators and jumpers on the disk bay backplane and the configuration jumpers on all disk sleds must match the configuration of the mezz cards.

It is possible to reconfigure the whole system to SE, but you have to replace the red mezz card, the HVD terminator and reconfigure all jumpers. I did this with my Onyx1 and Challenge -- I don't like HVD SCSI. You can also install SE disks on the chain with the CDROM etc.

The dangerous bit is when you think 'lets pull this noisy, small disk and replace it with that shiny LVD disk I still have'.

jan-jaap wrote: It is possible to reconfigure the whole system to SE, but you have to replace the red mezz card, the HVD terminator and reconfigure all jumpers. I did this with my Onyx1 and Challenge -- I don't like HVD SCSI. You can also install SE disks on the chain with the CDROM etc.

Ah, thanks. Now the old memories are coming back to me! I had both HVD and SE drives in my old beastie, and that's exactly how it was accomplished. You're right, though. Best to get rid of HVD entirely to avoid accidental burning smells.

jan-jaap wrote: Oh, one more thing: the Challenge DM is restricted to a single CPU board. You can 'unlock' it (effectively turning it into a Challenge L) by removing a screw form the backplane: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=16722728

Don't let my remarks turn you down. Challenges are fun boxes, but the learning curve can be steep.

Ha, I'm not turned down. The machine is hilarious when its running. Irix just feels different than Linux/AIX etc...

Is there any way to determine how all the SCSI is wired in it?

Ie how to find out, if its HVD?

seanwg wrote: Is there any way to determine how all the SCSI is wired in it?

Ie how to find out, if its HVD?

Easy, it's all in your hinv:

SCSI channel 0 and 1 are provided by the IO4
SCSI channel 0 is regular (SE) SCSI and there's nothing attached. This channel is normally wired to the disk bays and where CDROMs, tapes etc attach to.
SCSI channel 1 is HVD SCSI and you've got 5 HVD disks in the disk bay. If you run 'diskpatch -v' the system will return the disk model(s). Genuine SGI disk trays have an ID selector on the front. disk(1,1) is the system disk.

SCSI channel 2 ... 4 are provided by an addon board installed on the IO4. These are normally used to attach disk arrays and other external SCSI devices. You will find the 68pin connectors on the bulkhead of the card cage.
SCSI channel 2 is SE mode and you could attach an external CDROM for example
SCSI channel 3 and 4 are HVD again. I've used it in the past to attach a SUN D1000 disk array.

PS:you can (could) find a ton of information about the Onyx/Challenge on Simon Pigot's former site. It doesn't exist anymore, but mirrors exist: http://www.sgistuff.net/mirrors/sgi/index.html

Hi

2 questions --

1 - Is it possible to load some graphics onto the DM? I was looking inside today to sort out the types of SCSI, and it seems like there is lots of space to put graphics ?

2 - Does anyone have some part #s for FDDI boards??