SGI: Discussion

I'm doing a research project in school on computers in the 80s for extra credit and I figured that I would include all aspects

Basicly I was wondering what models were around then, their basic specs(processors) and some pics. I know the IRIS 1000 was around then I was just making sure there wasnt anything else.

Thanks Tyler

http://sgistuff.g-lenerz.de/hardware/timeline.php

This might help too.

Thanks thats exactly what I needed

I'd like to see that diagram extended into 2008.
Great diagram though , were did that come from?

sgiSteve

Found it on the net a long while ago.

Anyway here's a better version in PDF format, as well as the Adobe Illustrator file I used to create this...

Cool

Thanks for the higher rez file

sgiSteve

You also had other members of the Motorola-based IRIS x000 family. Main variants were IRIS 1400-1500 (workstation instead of a terminal, had 68010 processor so it could do virtual memory, 1984), IRIS 2000-series (improved 1400, 68010 processor), and the Turbo 2000 and 3000s (1986, 68020, 3ks had better graphics and improved disk I/O). None of these ran IRIX.

You probably should include Sun and Apollo (little-known now, but they were one of the first to work on network-transparent workstations). DEC goes without saying. Pick a few micro companies as well, but that could get messy very fast because they rose and fell rapidly (cf. Commodore, Apple, Tandy, ...)

They were pretty famous in the technical fields - CAD and engineering, anyhow. HP bought them. ComputerVision was also big, they had their own hardware ?

Can't leave out PDP-8's and PDP-11's ... 11's could do some graphics and 8's were sort-of workstation-sized. "Expensive Typewriter", best name ever for a computer program

For computer-aided manufacturing it was all APT or COMPAC II and ran on a bunch of weird stuff. Look up "bit-sliced processors." My W2560 had that, didn't have a processor actually, was a bunch of discrete components. That was the true difference between a minicomputer and a micro at one time. Both the PDP-8 and the Westinghouse had core memory, which was actually pretty good in some ways. Better than bubble, anyhow !

Lots of time sharing. Sundstrand, Cincinnati Milacron, GE, even Westinghouse offered accounts. ADM-3 semi-graphics terminals like neko is looking for If I were at home could give you some old brochures

What about Data General?

the entire PDP series was done before 1979. at DEC we were totally VAX in the 1980's (but we actually supported stuff for 10 years).

a hodge podge of stuff only they remember.

Ah, well, unfortunately they got immortalized ... The Soul Of A New Machine got the Pulitzer Prize, so a few more will remember..

Oh, so your sales guys continued peddling the outdated crap to the industrial controller market, eh ? Thanks from all us second-rate citizens !

I still like the PDP-8. It's an okay computer. Reasonably easy to service and you got all the schematics along with it. Nice

those machines were entirely appropriate for that market. at the time advances were being made in time sharing systems; the PDP-10, 36 bit architecture popularity was waning as the soon the become standard 32 bit VAX took over until DEC did itself in.

yeah too bad. from all the DG people we got, they're not so book-worthy.

This thread forced me to get around to updating the SGI hardware timeline on Wikipedia. Improvements welcomed!

I've been looking for this chart for so long... I stumbled across it a few years ago and have been unable to track it down since. It's pretty much "Google proof" if you're looking for SGI timelines or whatnot; I'd forgotten that "IRIS family tree" was the magic phrase.

FWIW a scan has been hidden behind my predator picture for the last 9 years:

http://www.reputable.com/~skywriter/snap.jpg

at this mornings meeting all the old dg'er's did was gush about the DG-1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General-One which was basically a marketing ploy to get DG on every exec's desk. so much for the soul of that machine.