SGI: Hardware

It may be that I am too X11 addicted , but I guess the best practice to silence your gear is to put it in the upstair room and sit to an Xterm console . An xterm has no noisy hardrive , no noisy PSU , while it supports PS/2 kb & mouse, headphone and microphone, XDM, and it can have a very fast lan. My best experience is with Tektronix Xterm , I am very happy with it, the only defects are the pseudo-color support and the 10Mbit/s lan, I have found the cheapest model, but a pro model exists and adds 100Mbit/s and true-color. I hope to find, sooner, or later

What's the point of that?? You wouldn't see the SGI... :}

Ian.

mapesdhs wrote: What's the point of that?? You wouldn't see the SGI... :}

Ian.

Got it in one!

Edit: That and I use it for multimedia bits and pieces such as ripping vinyls, listening to music, playing old games on etc. All of which you need a lot more than just an Xterm console for.

You need to stroke and caress your SGI every day otherwise they feel un-loved.

I don't think many Xterms do OpenGL, and certainly not IRIS GL.

mapesdhs wrote: What's the point of that?? You wouldn't see the SGI... :}

of course, there is always a price to pay, " The end justifies the means " (cit. Machiavelli ), and the point is: you still see (the console) while you will anymore hear

Instead of having troubles with fan/disassembly/reassembly in order to replace older fan with modern fan (which potentially means being looking for more troubles if the Indigo2 is equipped with the MaxImpact gfx, also known as lord "heat maker" ), you can ease your troubles and enjoy the double with " Tektronix/Xterms " which have written, in their manuals, " compatible with SunOS and Irix " (they do not tell lies, their XDM is really really excellent, except (1)), and it should mean that they ( Tektronix dudes) sold their xterm as "solution" for who needs to have a console for bigger systems (Onyx2 ?), so it's not a modern approach to a vintage system, the Xterm has the same ages of the Indigo2, and was sold in the same years.

oh, well it seems I am attempting to get my degree in law in order to find a job like devil's lawyer (emm, and about that … I guess I have put the wrong English CD on, it's not " learn/improve your English ", that CD is talking about Machiavelli and Perry Mason so I decline every responsibility for the above content, it's that CD fault ), while I have written the above for those guys who are afraid to replace their fan-coolers (especially if they need stronger air flow because their GIO64 slot has met lord "heat maker" ), or for those simply want a simple alternative solution.

my 50 cents


(1) you also have to consider the other side of the coin

• OpenGL is partially supported, cheaper Xterms may do not support it at all, e.g. my XP217 has no support for that
• IRIS GL is not supported
• Advanced Xterms have multimedia support (headphone, line-in, microphone, stereo)

I don't see the point of having any desktop SGI if it's merely going to be squirreled away somewhere out of view. One may aswell just put together a quick and silent Linux box, either something potent like a used 5GHz 2700K (I have several), or something low-power and efficient like a Haswell G3258 on a miniITX (my HTPC spec). Fit it with a used 750 Ti, or new 950 Ti, voila.

95% of having an SGI in view is for show, to make visitors ask what the heck is that, to provoke conversation, to demo what was possible before PCs had 3D, etc. I know a guy in South Africa who likes SGIs purely as ornaments; he has an O2 on a shelf, just as it is, next to ceramics, etc. To him, the look is art in its own right.

Ian.

well, linux has a few troubles with X11 in order to support an XDM session which has to be compliant with Irix (especially with modern version of Xorg/X11 ). Of Course You can, no doubt about that, but you have to work hard to achieve the purpose, and you might be required to hack some lines in X11, while a tekXterm is ready out of the box fully compliant with Irix. Personally I do not like to hack things like X11 .

Personally I like Irix as software , and I like it because it's not linux, and I like SGI/MIPS as hardware , and I like it because it's not a PC, I have interest to study and hack the hardware, but I do not want to have the physical computer near me because it makes to much noises, and because I do not like to provide too many explanations about " what the the frog " I am doing. Also I'd like to be able to switch-on and then to access the hardware, from my smartphone , when I am out.

So this hack makes sense: sit in front of your tekxterm (when you want to access the full desktop, I mean when an ssh console is not enough), access the PSU_controller (1), tell it to swith-on the Octane , wait until the machine has booted, and enjoy (without any noise).

does it make sense ? oh man, yes, here it does

edit:
(1) linux embedded board , e.g. YUN or Dragino , or Arietta , or a toy like this , connected to a rele array which accesses to the frontplane 's buttons.

You're not married are you? @Ian

I have resorted to running a 20ft HDMI cable through the wall in my office that feeds into the closet + synergy. This way I still get true hardware rendering and she doesn't have to listen to "that noisy red box." It does get to come out of the office closet on occasion, but most of the time it's locked away like a neglected step child.

s0ke wrote: You're not married are you? @Ian

I have resorted to running a 20ft HDMI cable through the wall in my office that feeds into the closet + synergy. This way I still get true hardware rendering and she doesn't have to listen to "that noisy red box." It does get to come out of the office closet on occasion, but most of the time it's locked away like a neglected step child.

This is why I did the silencing project in the first place.

My Indigo2 is now perfectly bearable on the same desk as I'm working. My Fuel has also been quietened and does not make anywhere near enough noise to become annoying. It's noisier than my PC, but not by too much. At base spec, both systems produced way too much noise to be usable for long periods of time at close proximity in my room without both myself and my wife becoming irritated. As it is, both are now plenty quiet enough to both sit proudly on display, and be usable at the same time.

I dread to think what she'd think if I powered up a rackmount Onyx mind you

s0ke wrote: You're not married are you? @Ian

My gf & I have been a couple for 16 years, but we don't live under the same roof. Probably why it works so well.

mapesdhs wrote:

s0ke wrote: You're not married are you? @Ian

My gf & I have been a couple for 16 years, but we don't live under the same roof. Probably why it works so well.

Smart man

Trippynet wrote: My Fuel has also been quietened and does not make anywhere near enough noise to become annoying. It's noisier than my PC, but not by too much.

What fans did you use to replace the old ones? My noisy option drive has been replaced with a SSD thanks to Ian, but my root 15k still makes quite a bit of noise.