SGI: Hardware

I got one of these workstations and thought I'd post a couple pictures of it. I got it off eBay (shipped from Ohio) and apparently it came from a supercomputer cluster in Ohio ( http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejourna ... 98873.html ). It has the myricom card, 4GB of memory and the single 18.2GB drive. Shipping weight was 85+ lbs. The drive was wiped and I installed a Windows trial off MSDN just to verify all the hardware works as it should. I'll be loading Linux on this box tonight (hopefully an IA64 version of RHEL off RHN).

Apparently this was sold my multiple vendors as a rebranded reference system... HP supports HP-UX on the i2000 and this looks almost identical to the i2000. Are there any chances HPUX for IA64 will run on this?

PiZzA EnGiNeEr wrote: Apparently this was sold my multiple vendors as a rebranded reference system... HP supports HP-UX on the i2000 and this looks almost identical to the i2000. Are there any chances HPUX for IA64 will run on this?

i think the vw320 and vw540 were the only x86 machines (other than altix) sold with any sgi customization that would preclude doing whatever you want with it. if what you say is true, then the only problem would be hp customization required to run hp-ux. as long as it's not linux, how can you go wrong?

I had the IBM version of this machine. IIRC it was a dual 800 Mhz Itanium box and it was part of a cluster at NCSA

I always got a chuckle out of the huge foam blocks inside with enormous warnings about it being "FUNCTIONALLY REQUIRED".

pierocks wrote: I always got a chuckle out of the huge foam blocks inside with enormous warnings about it being "FUNCTIONALLY REQUIRED".

Popular for air flow management. HP did it on a number of x86 servers too. Now they got smart and made clear plastic duct work, that probably still gets left out by some techs.

japes wrote: Popular for air flow management. HP did it on a number of x86 servers too. Now they got smart and made clear plastic duct work, that probably still gets left out by some techs.

Yep. SGI used foam in the O300s too, eventually replaced with plastic in the O350s.

I think I saw that ebay post. Your pictures definitely make it look like a cooler machine. Neat purchase for sure.

Yeah, I don't know what it is but plastic air shrouds say "finished product" to me, while "functionally required foam" screams "half-assed engineering" In reality, they are probably equally as effective *shrug*

japes wrote:

pierocks wrote: I always got a chuckle out of the huge foam blocks inside with enormous warnings about it being "FUNCTIONALLY REQUIRED".

Popular for air flow management. HP did it on a number of x86 servers too. Now they got smart and made clear plastic duct work, that probably still gets left out by some techs.

I think it was introduced originally on the HP 712 workstation, and they got a patent for it. One of the papers on the HP 712 includes a bit on why they use foam (or "HP-PAC").
http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/95apr/toc-04-95.htm

pierocks wrote: Yeah, I don't know what it is but plastic air shrouds say "finished product" to me, while "functionally required foam" screams "half-assed engineering" In reality, they are probably equally as effective *shrug*

I bet the foam works better. It should deaden some noise, too.

i originally saw the foam air channels in intel reference designs for their servers. usually this is where all the cheapness starts.

anyway it's just a pc.

hamei wrote:

pierocks wrote: Yeah, I don't know what it is but plastic air shrouds say "finished product" to me, while "functionally required foam" screams "half-assed engineering" In reality, they are probably equally as effective *shrug*

I bet the foam works better. It should deaden some noise, too.

Probably so, but at the same time it manages to look like packing material Appearances can be deceiving...

pierocks wrote: Probably so, but at the same time it manages to look like packing material

It's funny how different people get different impressions. When I opened an O300 and saw that stuff I immediately thought, "Damn, what a good idea ! Cheap to make, light weight, easy to put in and take out, insulating, sound deadening, does a better job at lower cost, somebody had their head on straight for this one !"

And you guys all think it's cheap crap

I'd definitly can't call the O300 "cheap" (when we're talking about PeeCees) and AFAIK I've seen such things in other ("expensive") manufacturers too. When I opened up the O300 I got the same impression as hamei and I agree with you.