Hardware Wanted

WANTED: SGI Hardware & Tons Of Information - Page 1

Hey everyone! It will be pretty obvious after reading this post that I am new to SGI & Irix.
I am an artist currently looking to purchase SGI Hardware from someone respected and known to have made sales through this forum before. I have been creeping this forum for over two months as well as constantly monitoring eBay trying to find a decent SGI machine.

First of all I am looking for some information. Id someone to give me ideal specs for an Indy/Indigo/Impact that can do the following:
- 3D Modeling/Rendering/Animation/Ect (I've read about Power Animator and how well its been received by individuals who use Irix, although I am more comfortable with Maya, Blender & Autocad)
- Run some kind of video editing software (I've heard that early versions of Premiere run on Irix)
- Run some kind of raster image editor.

I'm also looking for as much information about the following:
- If anyone has had any experience using an Indy/Indigo/Impact to create computer generated imagery around the time that the machines were top of the line hardware.
- What the most optimal specs on an Indy/Indigo/Impact would be for creating short CG animations on said hardware.
- What versions of software should I be looking for in regards to Maya, Lightwave, Autocad, Houdini, Blender, Premiere, Photoshop ect and how likely will it be to have a usable copy of these programs installed on a machine. (If anyone here has these programs and could help out, PM me!)

What I'm looking to purchase.
I live in the US and would prefer to purchase from a verified US seller.
You can PM me with what you have and how much you are looking to sell it for!
- Any running SGI hardware from 92' forward.
- A running SGI Indy/Indigo/Impact or any other comparable SGI product.
- An SGI three-button mouse, keyboard and any other peripherals.
- Software, manuals and guides to using said software that runs on Irix.

Why I'm doing this.
I'm doing this because as of the past 6 months I have been obsessed with SGI hardware and their legacy. I also want to produce a VHS tape and sell it via my website for my fans. A personal goal I wanted to achieve was using an SGI machine to produce some of the animations, and eventually use it as one of my main tools for creativity. I think of old computer hardware in the same way many musicians think of vintage synths or guitars.

Thanks so much in advance! And if you are curious, feel free to check out my works at: http://www.internetfate.net/
8-) You have fans...?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Ho! Pip & Dandy!
:O2: :1600SW: :O2: :1600SW: :Octane2: :1600SW: :1600SW: :Octane2: :Octane: :Indy: :540:
you have ++fans :lol:
uunix wrote: 8-) You have fans...?


Lol Yes! :lol: In the age of the internet there is an audience for just about anything I suppose!

https://www.facebook.com/internetfate
https://instagram.com/internet_fate/
btw, have you evaluated the last advanced machines ? Octane/fuel ?
maya is heavy for Impact. Be careful about that.
ivelegacy wrote: btw, have you evaluated the last advanced machines ? Octane/fuel ?
maya is heavy for Impact. Be careful about that.


No I haven't assessed the practicality of running maya on any of the machines. Once again this is all new to me so I'm trying to feel it out. If maya would be hard to run on an Impact then are there any alternatives with better performance?
Internet Fate wrote: First of all I am looking for some information. Id someone to give me ideal specs for an Indy/Indigo/Impact that can do the following:
- 3D Modeling/Rendering/Animation/Ect (I've read about Power Animator and how well its been received by individuals who use Irix, although I am more comfortable with Maya, Blender & Autocad)
- Run some kind of video editing software (I've heard that early versions of Premiere run on Irix)
- Run some kind of raster image editor.

all of that works just fine except for premiere, that was not nice at all but that's quite low end anyway and not meant to run on something like an sgi

- What the most optimal specs on an Indy/Indigo/Impact would be for creating short CG animations on said hardware.

that totally depends on your expectations. looking at the gallery on your website tho most 3d programs that run on irix can do stuff like that which makes it much easier for you to find something nice

- What versions of software should I be looking for in regards to Maya, Lightwave, Autocad, Houdini, Blender, Premiere, Photoshop ect and how likely will it be to have a usable copy of these programs installed on a machine. (If anyone here has these programs and could help out, PM me!)

that's the difficult part. you can't buy any of these programs anymore and in the us license transfers are not allowed.

I think of old computer hardware in the same way many musicians think of vintage synths or guitars.

that's a nice way of looking at it :P

and btw, welcome here :-)
r-a-c.de
Welcome! I will send you a PM with some systems to consider.
If the thing isn't on fire it's a software problem.

:Tezro: :Octane2: :O2+: :Fuel: :O3x0: :A350: :Indigo2IMP: :Indigo:
@mopar5150
it could be of interest for me, too

@Internet Fate
just my 50 cents, you want maya, right ? Maya eats ram and needs the support or a strong gfx
considering simply this
  • Impact can have a max of 1Gbyte of ram (1), which is very expensive and hard to find, also you may need the Extreme Impact gfx, that is, again, expensive and hard to find
  • Octane can have up to 4Gbyte of ram, and Octane2 can have up to 8Gbyte of ram, the gfx goes from Impact/SR to Odissey, it may be easier to find and you can get the whole with a good price with optimal performances

so, about that, the ratio performances/costs tells me: if you want Maya, then get an Octane2





(1) i have this kit in my friend's Impact, which is for sale. The consists of 8 SIM72 FP of 128Mbyte each, so 8x128=1Gbyte
@ivelegacy

Sent you a PM as well.
If the thing isn't on fire it's a software problem.

:Tezro: :Octane2: :O2+: :Fuel: :O3x0: :A350: :Indigo2IMP: :Indigo:
@mopar5150
you have extremely beautiful systems, let me say :mrgreen:
ivelegacy wrote: [*]Impact can have a max of 1Gbyte of ram (1), which is very expensive and hard to find, also you may need the Extreme Impact gfx, that is, again, expensive and hard to find

"Internet Fate" is new to sgi so a few corrections here. don't wanna get him confused :P

impact is a gfx card series. it's available for the indigo2 (what ivelegacy is selling at the moment) as well as the octane. the octane had 2 editions of the impact branch:
- the first generation was called si, ssi and mxi.
- the second generation with upgraded performance was called se, sse and mxe.

the first generation is equal to what was sold for the indigo2s but did a little better due to the higher bandwidth the octane had.
"Extreme Impact" does not exist for the indigo2 nor am i sure that the letter E of the octane's SE cards stands for "extreme". for the indigo2 and some others there is however a gfx card that's called extreme. that was the top shot before the impact series has been released.
r-a-c.de
After looking at your website i thought: Arent drugs and their users heavily hunted/pursued in japan? ^^ (Anyway, there is always a way :D )

I like the spirtitual touch in the pics.
foetz wrote: a gfx card that's called extreme. that was the top shot before the impact series has been released


sure, it exists, my friend had it installed in his Indigo2 workstation , that's insane so he decided to sell mainly because the gfx eats too many slots in the backplane and also eats too much energy, and it was also a problem for me because we want to support linux, so my friend sold it out, and he bought a "SolidImpact gfx" (the cheapest one) which fits in 1 slot, eats less energy, and it's a bit easier to be driven.

After having experimented Octane2 we both think that "Octane2/Odissey-gfx" is the better choice about the ratio performances/costs

btw, i have a combo and very uncommon choice in my Octane2: i have mixed the Odissey v6 with the MSI, i have to gfx-boards mounted in the same slice (Octane chassis allows it without any hack, just mount the MSI into a XIO free slot), so from the linux kernel point of view they are just two XIO24 device that CANNOT be used tougher, o i used to drive the desk using a "dynamic modules" approach

the kernel is static-compiled in order to have everything it needs to boot up with the console routed to the serial line, then i load the module i want to use

  • i want the V6 ? i type "modprobe gfx-odissey" (which is usable ONLY for text console purposes, no X11 support)
  • i want the Impact/PRO (MSI) ? i type "mod probe gfx-impact-sr.mod" (which can be used for X11 purposes)

Irix simply ignores the Odissey-V6 and boots from MSI, that is NOT a good choice if you want to use Irix. I have to think about a workaround, or buy a second Octane machine to be equipped with the Odissey gfx and to be dedicated to Irix only.


what i remember about "extreme" comes from here

Extreme Graphics is a computer graphics architecture for Silicon Graphics computer workstations. Extreme Graphics was developed in 1993 and was available as a high-end graphics option on workstations such as the Indigo2, released during the mid-1990s. Extreme Graphics gives the workstation real-time 2D and 3D graphics rendering capability similar to that of even high-end PCs made many years after Extreme's introduction, with the exception of texture rendering which is performed in |software. Extreme Graphics systems consist of eight Geometry Engines and two Raster Engines, twice as many units as the Elan/XZ graphics used in the Indy, Indigo, and Indigo2. The eight geometry engines are rated at 256 MFLOPS maximum, far faster than the MIPS R4400 CPU used in the workstation.

Extreme Graphics consists of five graphics subsystems: the Command Engine, Geometry Subsystem, Raster Engine, framebuffer and Display Subsystem. [1] Extreme Graphics can produce resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 pixels with 24-bit color and can also process unencoded NTSC and PAL analog television signals. It is reported by the PROM as GU1-Extreme.

The Extreme Graphics architecture was superseded by SGI's IMPACT graphics architecture in 1995.


Graphics
The graphics boards available for the Indigo2 were the pre-IMPACT Newport and Express boards (which included the SGI XL24, SGI XZ, SGI Elan and SGI Extreme) and the MGRAS IMPACT boards (the SGI Solid IMPACT, the SGI High IMPACT, the SGI High IMPACT AA, and the SGI Maximum IMPACT). IMPACT graphics is not supported by the Power Indigo² (R8000 CPU). The Indigo2's replacement, the SGI Octane, offered an upgraded bus but featured the same graphics options, albeit in repackaged form.



Image
more info from this page

so i was wrong, the Extreme seems to be related to Indigo2/R4400, the Indigo2/R10k should have the Maximum IMPACT gfx ( i have confused these two, sorry), or whatever SGI wants to call its gfx-new line. My friend had the Extreme Graphics installed into a Indigo2/R10K, don't ask my why, btw see how Silicon Graphics SGI Indigo2 Maximum IMPACT GFX Card performs, a few demo from the SGI demos

About costs … don't think my friend want to sell his Impact machine at a price you can't buy an Octane: from my point of view, it's insane, but … and i can't drop the price as his Impact is not mine.


Just my suggestion: buy an Octane, you will save money and you will have better performance, i mean a best ratio performances/costs
ivelegacy wrote: sure, it exists

i know, i have 2 of them :P

eats too much energy

that's a joke unless you compare it to a tablet or so

he bought a "SolidImpact gfx" (the cheapest one) which fits in 1 slot, eats less energy

jeez drop the energy issue :P the differences are ridiculous. also going from extreme to impact requires a new backplane and a new psu so the switch is not cheap at all.

and it's a bit easier to be driven.

how so?

what i remember about "extreme" comes from here ...

yeah that's all correct, the only thing you missed was:
The Extreme Graphics architecture was superseded by SGI's IMPACT graphics architecture in 1995.

so obviously there's no "extreme impact".

the Extreme seems to be related to Indigo2/R4400

no, it's from the same time but can be used in later indigo2s as well.

the Indigo2/R10k should have the Maximum IMPACT gfx

no, an r10k indigo2 can have all gfx cards that were available for the indigo2.
r-a-c.de
foetz wrote: also going from extreme to impact requires a new backplane and a new psu so the switch is not cheap at all.


why ?

History
  • 1993, January, Indigo 2 systems introduced with R4400 CPU and Extreme graphics
  • 1993, 1st half (approx.)Challenge M, L and XL systems with R4400 processor introduced
  • 1993, July, XZ and XL graphics announced
  • 1995, Indigo 2 systems with Impact graphic s introduced
  • 1995, July, R4400 with 250 MHz announced
  • 1995, August, Webforce systems announced for September
  • 1996, January, R10000 processors for Indigo 2 Impact systems announced
  • 1997, September, End of Production (non-Impact)
  • 1998, June, End of Production (Impact)
  • 2006, December, EOS, End of Service

from this page

Extreme graphics : 1993
Impact graphics : 1995
R10000 processors for Indigo 2 Impact systems : 1996

I was a bit confused about Indigo2, it's a very triller story :lol:
ivelegacy wrote:
foetz wrote: also going from extreme to impact requires a new backplane and a new psu so the switch is not cheap at all.


why ?

well because that's how it is :P

EDIT: with the one exception of the so called "impact ready" models.
r-a-c.de
Internet Fate wrote: Hey everyone! It will be pretty obvious after reading this post that I am new to SGI & Irix.
I am an artist currently looking to purchase SGI Hardware from someone respected and known to have made sales through this forum before. I have been creeping this forum for over two months as well as constantly monitoring eBay trying to find a decent SGI machine.

First of all I am looking for some information. Id someone to give me ideal specs for an Indy/Indigo/Impact that can do the following:
- 3D Modeling/Rendering/Animation/Ect (I've read about Power Animator and how well its been received by individuals who use Irix, although I am more comfortable with Maya, Blender & Autocad)
- Run some kind of video editing software (I've heard that early versions of Premiere run on Irix)
- Run some kind of raster image editor.

I'm also looking for as much information about the following:
- If anyone has had any experience using an Indy/Indigo/Impact to create computer generated imagery around the time that the machines were top of the line hardware.
- What the most optimal specs on an Indy/Indigo/Impact would be for creating short CG animations on said hardware.
- What versions of software should I be looking for in regards to Maya, Lightwave, Autocad, Houdini, Blender, Premiere, Photoshop ect and how likely will it be to have a usable copy of these programs installed on a machine. (If anyone here has these programs and could help out, PM me!)

What I'm looking to purchase.
I live in the US and would prefer to purchase from a verified US seller.
You can PM me with what you have and how much you are looking to sell it for!
- Any running SGI hardware from 92' forward.
- A running SGI Indy/Indigo/Impact or any other comparable SGI product.
- An SGI three-button mouse, keyboard and any other peripherals.
- Software, manuals and guides to using said software that runs on Irix.

Why I'm doing this.
I'm doing this because as of the past 6 months I have been obsessed with SGI hardware and their legacy. I also want to produce a VHS tape and sell it via my website for my fans. A personal goal I wanted to achieve was using an SGI machine to produce some of the animations, and eventually use it as one of my main tools for creativity. I think of old computer hardware in the same way many musicians think of vintage synths or guitars.

Thanks so much in advance! And if you are curious, feel free to check out my works at: http://www.internetfate.net/


As far as animation goes have a look at the irisGL/OpenGL developer environment which Sgi is so famous. Means C coding, but will run well (model complexity withstanding) on any sgi model through to modern hardware. Could work well for those fly-over-endless-mountain-range-to-techno animations. I have thought of doing a living art installation of sgis. A homage to 90s tech.
:O2: r12 400 mapleleaf
New Zealand
ivelegacy wrote:
foetz wrote: also going from extreme to impact requires a new backplane and a new psu so the switch is not cheap at all.


why ?

Because the Impact series graphics cards have extra power connectors that must fit into corresponding sockets of the backplane. The older systems don't have those on their backplanes. Of course, the PSU needs to be upgraded to handle the extra current that can flow through those connectors. There's also a direct cable from the PSU to the backplane in the Impact systems.

There are a couple of Indigo2 backplanes on ebay right now. There's a non-Impact one here and an Impact style one here . In the photos notice how the Impact backplane has a row of white connectors running vertically down the middle of the board. Those are why you need a different backplane for Impact graphics.

And just to be really confusing, the R10K Impact systems need an even more powerful PSU than R4K Impact systems. There were different PSUs for dual-head systems, too. See the "Powersupply" chart at http://hardware.majix.org/computers/sgi.indigo2/ for more info if you're curious.
:Indigo2IMP: :Octane: :Indigo: :O3x0:
Sun SPARCstation 20, Blade 2500
HP C8000
Graphics
The graphics options available for the SGI Indigo² can be divided in two groups: the "pre-IMPACT" and the "MGRAS IMPACT" boards.

"Pre-IMPACT" options consisted of the following options: SGI XL24, SGI XZ, SGI Elan and SGI Extreme). These options are based on the same "Express Graphics" architecture from the original SGI Indigo, but feature improved performance.

The "MGRAS IMPACT" boards include: Solid IMPACT, High IMPACT, High IMPACT AA, and the Maximum IMPACT, and are also known as the IMPACT graphics family. These newer boards have a different architecture than the earlier designs. Physically, they appear to be similar to the older graphics options - the low-end Solid IMPACT board takes up a single GIO-64 slot, the mid-range High IMPACT takes up two GIO-64 slots, and the high end Maximum IMPACT takes occupies three. The High IMPACT and Solid IMPACT boards provides the same performance for non-textured tasks, while the Maximum IMPACT provides double the performance. The High IMPACT AA option has the geometry performance of a Maximum IMPACT, but is otherwise the same as the High IMPACT including the pixel fill performance.

The IMPACT graphics was the first desktop graphics system from SGI to offer texture mapping acceleration, though only the High IMPACT and Maximum IMPACT had this capability, and came with 1 MB of texture memory as standard. The Solid IMPACT card is named "Solid" due to its applications for solid (non-textured) modeling. When expanded by adding a TRAM (Texture RAM) module to the board, the amount of texture memory can be increased to 4 MB. Maximum IMPACT graphics require two of these modules due its two pixel units, although this does not upgrade them to 8 MB, with the two modules merely working in parallel to render twice as fast. At the time of its release, Maximum IMPACT graphics was the world's fastest available top-end desktop visualization solution. A Maximum IMPACT with 4 MB of texture memory and the correct graphics settings can play id Software's Quake 1, 2 or 3 with acceptable frame rates.


according to this wiki grab, it seems to me that an other limitation of the Impact is related to the texture memory. The Maximum IMPACT is claimed to offer double the performances of the Solid IMPACT about that, but it is limited about the mount of TRAM, and, even if it can be expanded by adding a TRAM, the upper limit is 4Mbyte of texture memory.

A Maximum IMPACT with 4 MB of texture memory and the correct graphics settings can play id Software's Quake 1, 2 or 3 with acceptable frame rates.


that's funny :lol: