SGI: Hardware

Hi all..

I won this weekend an Origin 200 for the princely sum of £10.50 on eBay. Apparently it's in working order, but just missing a power supply. I think I assumed they'd be more powerful than they actually are when I looked into what possible configurations they come in (as there was no hinv available) so I'm wondering if it's worth resurrecting it as power supplies for these don't seem to go cheap.

Thanks.

All SGIs are worth resurrecting.

TeamBlackFox wrote: All SGIs are worth resurrecting.

signed

I'll put a £1 on there being some interesting software on that box also and don't forget the wall plaque.

I didn't read that bit! That would be very cool though I think he was expecting to get more than £10 for it

It looks hopefully that it's got dual CPU's and is well loaded with RAM so might be a decent specification. Will have to keep my eyes peeled for a PSU. And front plastics / bezel.

Keep your eyes open on ebay as often these are listed as "drive arrays" when in fact they are O200s.

Ah - top tip. Thanks. Will keep a look out.

mopar5150 wrote: Keep your eyes open on ebay as often these are listed as "drive arrays" when in fact they are O200s.

such as
this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-SILICON-GRA ... 1349823528
or this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILICON-GRAPH ... 1273675837
or (not an 0200 - but PCI/XIO brick rather than drive array?) this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silicon-Graph ... 1091628002

That last one is a GIGAchannel Expansion Chassis, but it's missing the interface board. Also, judging from the photos, it uses a different form factor power supply.

FWIW, the Origin 200 is purely a server: it is headless and can hold a decent number of disks. It also some 15 years old and it's pretty loud. I have one and use it as my install server. This it does just fine but it's not a system I want to run for prolonged periods of time due to the noise and the power consumption.

Sigh. I remember when we gave a close look at strapping together a couple of O200s as a less expensive alternative to a deskside O2000. We still were talking about serious cash, though.

Strange to see devices which were so highly sought after back then now in such rough shape and priced so cheaply. Then again, the Mrs says the same thing about me.

Hoping to pick my Origin 200 up tomorrow night. From what I can see it looks to be in superb condition skins wise, and not stuffed full of dust. However as seems to be very common with these, the front door is missing. Think I'm going to have a hard time finding one - even mapesdhs doesn't list one as a spare on his website

3D print it!

Edit: had a look at that auction, and it looks like someone pulled the mainboard out (to get to the PSU probably) and didn't reconnect anything when (s)he put it back in. System controller and SCSI appear to be unconnected. And the 3rd chassis fan is missing so the MSC will probably raise a fault condition and run the other two at max speed. Well, after you find a PSU, of course.

Ah.. good information. So that's another part I need to find when I come to bring it back to life! I think it will probably sit collecting dust for a little while but at £10 it seemed a shame not to save it.

I've compared the power supplies in our O200s and GIGAChannels and I can't spot any difference apart from the sticker that's used to indicate the part number and the rotation within the case.

nobitoh wrote: I've compared the power supplies in our O200s and GIGAChannels and I can't spot any difference apart from the sticker that's used to indicate the part number and the rotation within the case.

nobitoh, you're still using O200's at your place of employ? We're still using a crapton of Sun hardware but we decommisioned our Altixes and Onyx2s years ago...