SGI: Hardware

Hello, first time poster here. I just got a Flint 6 running on a 300 mhz octane with MXI graphics I believe. And I have a couple of questions I hope the experts here can be able to help me.

The system had been in storage for at least 5 or 6 years, in somewhat humid and dusty conditions... I have since moved it to a dryer place and sprayed it a bit with compressed air. System powers on and boots flint (up to detecting stone and fais to mount it seems, but I´ll be experimenting with another stone array shortly).
What I think might be the power supply ( low back side fan) smells like burnt plastic after a few minutes of being powered on... anyone have any advice?


I've been doing some reading and seems like the v12 card and 4 processors is the natural upgrade path... so my question is, if I manage to get my hands on a V12 card and the 747w PSU it needs, how easy is it to upgrade/install?
Will multiple processor be easy to install?

The stone array looks in reasonably good condition, but seems 2 drives are dead, I pulled them out and could not find any info on the size of the drives just that they are seagate cheetahs mounted on some kind of circuit board that slides into the array... are they hard to find, can just the drive be changed or is it the whole board-drive combo that needs to be changed?

Since the system was pretty much abandoned after the company closing up years ago I pretty much got it as a gift from the previous owner, and from what I've heard it will run SD video real time.. good enough to do small broadcast work (99% commercials here in mexico are still SD) so I'd be willing to throw a little cash into it. But are licence transfers still in the tens of thousands of dollars as they were years ago?
Here's a pic of the system powered down:


One last question.. I installed the wacom/dongle on one of the serial ports and flint didnt like it, a flame artist friend edited some sort of config file to get Flint to look for it on the other port... after that it started fine... I'm guessing I'll need to change the file again so Flint knows where to look for the VTR remote? If so anyone knows what file and what strings to change?

Thanks a lot for your time, its hard to find info on flint systems online, I'll be trying to contact autodesk to see how much it costs to have it serviced, but I'm guessing it'll be way cheaper to do it myself.

jorgevaldes wrote: I've been doing some reading and seems like the v12 card and 4 processors is the natural upgrade path...

The maximum is 2 Processors at 600 MHz in the Octane

Thanks

I realize this isn't directly related to application licensing, but... When I recently registered for a free Supportfolio account with SGI there was an option to get a quote for a support agreement for my Octane. Autodesk may or may not care if the system you run their software on is under a support contract. SGI responded with the following:

US$500 for a mandatory pre-contract inspection of my system
US$450 if I needed an upgrade to IRIX 6.5.30
US$2,340 for the support contract itself, covering the Octane system, monitor, and "keyboard kit"

US$3,290 in total to get started

Second year cost would "only" be $2,340 of course.

jorgevaldes wrote: ... if I manage to get my hands on a V12 card and the 747w PSU it needs, how easy is it to upgrade/install?

The power supply is totally simple - slide out old, slide in new. On the graphics, if you go from Mardi Gras graphics to V-Pro it's a little bit more complicated but not so much. There's full instructions at Techpubs. Techpubs is great, by the way. Wander over there and get all the manuals.

Will multiple processor be easy to install?

Unscrew old, screw in new

But are licence transfers still in the tens of thousands of dollars as they were years ago?

Licenses ? We don' gotta show you no steenkin' licenses !

Okay, sorry ... it's my environment. We don't do that license junk but I've been told that Autodesk is actually a lot better to deal with on license transfers than Discreet was.

One last question.. I installed the wacom/dongle on one of the serial ports and flint didnt like it, a flame artist friend edited some sort of config file to get Flint to look for it on the other port... after that it started fine... I'm guessing I'll need to change the file again so Flint knows where to look for the VTR remote? If so anyone knows what file and what strings to change?

SGI was a bit of a cheapskate on the serial ports ... the system wants to keep the # 1 port for a terminal, which leaves you with just a single useful serial port. There's a card for the Octane called an MENET which will give you several more serial ports. There's also an SGI pci card which would fit into a shoehorn or shoebox and give you two more serial ports. I'd go with one of those - you never can tell when you may need a console on Port A.

Hope you enjoy your Octane - they're pretty fun

No doubt faster processors and a V12 would be nice, but I'd suggest getting the system up and running in it's original configuration first - it would probably simplify the troubleshooting process.


Maxed out Octane processors and graphics still command respectable prices. An Octane V12 just closed on eBay for $456:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 518133298&

recondas wrote: No doubt faster processors and a V12 would be nice, but I'd suggest getting the system up and running in it's original configuration first - it would probably simplify the troubleshooting process.

Yeah, but dreamin' is free

Maxed out Octane processors and graphics still command respectable prices.

I'd go for a dual 400 cpu first. That's a noticeable difference in speed, the dual processors makes the system more responsive and the 400 is the best price-performance spot at the moment.

For a Flint machine, maybe don't want to go to V12 anyhow ? The VPro graphics don't couple up to all the video options you can run in an Octane. MXE is probably best for a video station.

Thanks for all the replies I'll look up SGI offices here in mexico to get the support contract quote. And keep an eye out on dual 400 cpus for when It's up and running properly.

I'd been thinking about the V12 card since I'd heard that to run Flame 9.5 you need the card, and I was thinking that if I managed to get flint running succesfully I could eventually see how much Autodesk would charge to upgrade to Flame in case I get an HD project, since it's not too difficult to get a film project if you know what you're doing and the right people here in Mexico.

This might all seem illogical as there are new Linux based Flame systems available that are way faster and have loads more storage, but I'm hoping this way will be considerably cheaper.

You should be able to do a HD project already. There will be options in your project settings as to your project/frame size. This in turn will mean that you will have to create or split a partition on your stone array for that project. Flint can do HD but only in 8bit not 10 or floating point.

Timberoz>Craig

Good info, thanks!