Nekonomicon - OpenBSD works on SGI now

khalidschofield
Who joined May 6, 2004, 6:18 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 1:11 a.m...

The long awaited OpenBSD works on the SGI platform now making up to date services possible on the beautiful SGI platform

http://www.openbsd.org/46.html

A quote

"sgi

* Added support for the SGI Octane, SGI Origin 200 and SGI Fuel families of systems.
* Several bugs in interrupt handling have been fixed, resulting in much snappier system response. "

Happy Geeking

############################
Re-install with OpenBSD

josehill
Moderator
From New England, USA
Who joined June 6, 2005, 9:53 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 8:24 a.m...

Nice! I've always been a fan of OpenBSD.

While I don't plan to put anything besides IRIX on my SGI MIPS machines, I like to see the hardware getting attention from other projects. If I had an Origin 200 (and a little more time), maybe I'd try it, just for fun.

By the way, I have a 200 MHz Pentium Pro box that's been serving as an OpenBSD-based router between my two home office internet connections for about a decade.

un_
From San Diego, CA, USA
Who joined May 28, 2008, 6 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 10:20 a.m...

I do have an Origin 200 and I might just try this out

NeXTStation x 2, A4, A7000, RISC PC

foetz
Moderator
Who joined April 14, 2003, 4:34 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 11:26 a.m...

josehill wrote: Nice! I've always been a fan of OpenBSD.

While I don't plan to put anything besides IRIX on my SGI MIPS machines

likewise. both

r-a-c.de

bplaa.yai
From Paris
Who joined March 26, 2008, 12:04 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 11:26 a.m...

At least the install procedure looks quite easy (compared to the usual netbooting stuff)

openbsd.org wrote: Burn cd46.iso on a CD-R, put it in the CD drive of your machine and select Install System Software from the System Maintenance menu.

indyman007
From North of England
Who joined Aug. 20, 2008, 5:38 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 12:43 p.m...

I may consider putting it on the ol octane.

R4600PC 133 MHz

Mac Mini 2.5GHz 8GB RAM
Raspberry Pi

bri3d
From Boulder, CO
Who joined June 28, 2008, 11:08 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 12:46 p.m...

Fuel support - nice! I wonder if it actually supports VPro, even as a framebuffer - probably not.

<>

GeneratriX
From Rosario / Santa Fe / República Argentina
Who joined Oct. 21, 2003, 2:07 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 1:40 p.m...

foetz wrote:

josehill wrote: Nice! I've always been a fan of OpenBSD.

While I don't plan to put anything besides IRIX on my SGI MIPS machines

likewise. both

Same here, but I'm happy too. I wonder how much of the hardware it will support... I mean, graphics, sound, video, etc.

Oh!, let me write that!

https://www.facebook.com/GeekTronix
https://www.rebelmouse.com/GeekTronixShop/
http://twitter.com/GeekTronixShop
http://www.youtube.com/GeekTronixStream

recondas
Moderator
From NC - USA
Who joined June 6, 2004, 5:55 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 1:51 p.m...

bri3d wrote: I wonder if it actually supports VPro, even as a framebuffer - probably not.

I didn't see any details for supported graphics options either, but to be fair it is a pre-release announcement.

While looking I did find something else that will hopefully see improvement before long. The OpenBSD 4.6 changes page includes the following change note:

The OpenBSD 4.6 changes page wrote: Disable memory above 2G on sgi machines.

The OpenBSD/sgi page does give a few additional details:

The OpenBSD/sgi page wrote: The following families are supported:
* IP27 (Origin) family:*
* Origin 200. Dual-Origin 200 systems using the CRAYlink connection should work, but currently limited to the first node.
* Origin 2000 and Onyx 2 have not been tested, but should work, currently limited to the first node.
* IP30 (Octane a.k.a Speedracer) family:*
* Octane
* Octane 2
* IP32 (O2 a.k.a Moosehead) family:
* O2
* O2+
R5000, RM5200, RM7000 as well as R10000 and R12000 processors are supported. RM7000 level 3 cache is supported.
* IP35 (Tezro) family:*
* Fuel
* Origin 300, Onyx 300 and Origin 3000 have not been tested, but should work, currently limited to the first node.
* Origin 350, Onyx 350, Onyx 4 and Tezro have not been tested, and are not supported yet due to lack of support for their PCI-X controller.
* support for these families has been added after the 4.5 release.

Projects (in no particular order)
* Larger user VM space (currently limited to 2GB)
* Onboard Ethernet support on Octane and Origin families
* Framebuffer support on Octane and Fuel systems
* SMP support
* Multiple node support on Origin systems (in progress)
* Origin 350 and Tezro ``PIC'' PCI-X controller support and IOC4 built-in I/O devices support

The mention of "Framebuffer support on Octane and Fuel systems" in the Projects list does make it sound like VPro support isn't quite ready yet - even in framebuffer mode.

***********************************************************************
Welcome to ARMLand - 0/0x0d00
running...(sherwood-root 0607201829)
* InfiniteReality/Reality Software, IRIX 6.5 Release *
***********************************************************************

dc_v01
From Boston, MA
Who joined July 29, 2005, 3:38 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 15, 2009, 2:29 p.m...

Unfortunately the "on board Ethernet" support project for Octanes and Origins makes it sound substantially less useful than it could be.....

bri3d
From Boulder, CO
Who joined June 28, 2008, 11:08 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 16, 2009, 9:55 p.m...

* Origin 350, Onyx 350, Onyx 4 and Tezro have not been tested, and are not supported yet due to lack of support for their PCI-X controller.

Sadly this is apparently pretty difficult - that's where the Linux port trailed off too.

<>

strandedinnz
From Auckland, New Zealand
Who joined Feb. 8, 2008, 1:11 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 17, 2009, 12:10 a.m...

Hmmm ... would dropping in a PCI graphics board work ? Or do those cards need special bios to make them go ?

Mark

iKitsune
From Huntsville, Alabama, USA
Who joined May 14, 2009, 10:31 a.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 17, 2009, 6:58 a.m...

strandedinnz wrote: Hmmm ... would dropping in a PCI graphics board work ? Or do those cards need special bios to make them go ?

Mark

I just had a horrible thought of putting a PCI Radeon in an Origin 3000. Call it the "half-assed visualisation solution".

"Remember, if they can't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

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

Wrote the following at Sept. 17, 2009, 8:17 a.m...

iKitsune wrote: I just had a horrible thought of putting a PCI Radeon in an Origin 3000. Call it the "half-assed visualisation solution".

When SGI did that I think they called it "Ultimate Nonperformance" or something ...

D-EJ915
From Virginia Beach, USA
Who joined July 30, 2007, 10:07 p.m.

Wrote the following at Sept. 17, 2009, 8:29 a.m...

I'm sure Quake3 would run faster on it than on any of SGI's graphics cards lol, granted you can't run 16 thousand heads off it though haha.

hamei
Old Salt
Who joined Feb. 24, 2004, 5:10 p.m.
and authored 6608 notes

Wrote the following at Sept. 17, 2009, 9:45 a.m...

D-EJ915 wrote:

I'm sure Quake3 would run faster on it than on any of SGI's graphics cards lol, ...

You can be sure if it's Westinghouse. Beyond that you're headed into uncharted territory ...

There's one person here who actually owned an Onyx4 with the famed Infinite Failure graphics. They sent it back. Not only did it not run Quake 3 at phenomenal speeds, it didn't run OpenGL at all. Towards the end the once-mighty Silicon Graphics couldn't even write a functional device driver for a commodity ATi graphics card.

Which brings us to a brutal fact : I don't think any of the commonly-proposed causes of SGI's death are correct. Sure, all the factors people bring up were important. But when you talk to people who owned late-model SGI computers it's something of a revelation. Half the "supported" features don't work.

The LSI scsi card is slower than a five-year-older Qlogic.
The LSI SATA card does work with hard disks, thank Providence. But it doesn't work with CD-ROMS.
The "supported" IIDC cameras don't work.
The firewire support is ghastly (running xfs crashes the disk, for one thing)
The DM6 doesn't work
USB support is total crap. Sure, it's a workstation - so we need USB spaceballs and tablets, at least.
Haven't tried the Canopus yet but the other "supported" firewire video input card does not work
(Ten bucks says the Canopus won't either when I finally get one cheap enough to try.)

Wealthy people know what doesn't work as you go up the food chain ... but I am willing to bet it's a lot of stuff. The compositor feature apparently never worked, for one.

etc etc etc

Sadly and bluntly, I'd bet that the real reason SGI died was that as a company toward the end they couldn't compute their way out of a wet paper bag. The talent had left the building. It wasn't really about commodity versus niche, high-profit versus mass market, any of that textbook lecturing. It was about SGI was run by a bunch of losers with products that were not very good.

SAQ
Old Salt
Who joined July 19, 2006, 8:37 a.m.
and authored 3874 notes

Wrote the following at Sept. 17, 2009, 1:08 p.m...

strandedinnz wrote:

Hmmm ... would dropping in a PCI graphics board work ? Or do those cards need special bios to make them go ?

Mark

I think many graphics cards have special setup routines in ROM that need to be run. Alpha emulates PC BIOS enough to run many of them, so that's why many cards work under Alpha (Linux|xBSD).

There's one or two Matroxes that don't require initialization, and they're well beloved by people trying to do things like run Linux on RS/6000s if they don't have a supported IBM graphics adaptor. Doesn't generally work as a console, but once X starts it's OK.

_________________
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

:Indigo:

edefault
Addict
Who joined Nov. 28, 2003, 6:02 a.m.
and authored 584 notes

Wrote the following at Sept. 18, 2009, 1:57 a.m...

...any screen shots of it? A GUI/WM in existence eventually? Which one?
And if so, what are the advantages over IRIX/4dwm then?

Cheers

_________________
Valueing life is not weakness; disregarding it is not strength. -Mirage-

nekonoko
Site Admin
Who joined Jan. 23, 2003, 2:31 a.m.
and authored 7590 notes

Wrote the following at Sept. 18, 2009, 2:02 a.m...

edefault wrote:

...any screen shots of it? A GUI/WM in existence eventually? Which one?
And if so, what are the advantages over IRIX/4dwm then?

It lacks framebuffer support, so this would be a server application rather than a desktop.

jade_angel
Enthusiast
Who joined May 27, 2007, 3:26 p.m.
and authored 204 notes

Wrote the following at Sept. 18, 2009, 4 a.m...

nekonoko wrote:

edefault wrote:

...any screen shots of it? A GUI/WM in existence eventually? Which one?
And if so, what are the advantages over IRIX/4dwm then?

It lacks framebuffer support, so this would be a server application rather than a desktop.

Which is probably just as well - OpenBSD can make a serviceable desktop, but it's really much nicer as a server.

_________________
SGI: :Indigo2IMP:

R10k/195, 768MB, MXI | :Octane:

dual R12K/400, 768MB, 2x SE | :Octane:

dual R12k/400, 1.5GB, MXE | :Octane2:

R12k/400, 1.5GB, V8+DCD | :Fuel:

R14k/500, 1GB, V10
Sun: Ultra 60 dual US2/450, 2GB, Creator3D | Blade 2k dual US3/900, 4GB, XVR-1000 | Blade 2k dual US3/1200, 6GB, XVR-1200
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SGI: Development

OpenBSD works on SGI now - Page 1