SGI: Discussion

i could never relate to all the fuzz about noise. these things are real machines and those you usually hear; some might even say it's expected. same as if you would complain about a lamborghini being too loud

I have pretty bad tinnitus in both ears which I don't hear when my computers are on because they drown it out, so really the white noise from the fans is a relief for me. You kids out there; be careful with the volume levels on your headphones, you don't want to end up like this old fart!

I would like to chime in - you can't go wrong with a maxed octane2, fuel or Tezro - maxed octane2 might be the easiest and cheapest to get (as opposed to maxed tezro or fuel). I would recommend a Tezro (V12, quad cpu), followed by maxed octane2(2x600mhz, V12) and last a fuel. I wouldn't consider anything less (indy, indigo2, o2). I suppose if you stumble across an Onyx system (it happens) that might be something else, but I don't have any insight into the big iron setups and how they rank compared to the workstations.

I wont repeat what others have said, but one point to keep in mind is that entire movies have been made on SGI's with the software mentioned so really great work is possible with some patience. I completely suck at 3d and video editing/compositing, but I putz around on SGI's just for fun, I Can't speak for using these things for a living.

IAMNOTDEFECTIVE wrote: my Dad actually has a RiscPC SA as his main workstation to get things done... I guess that my family just like working on "legacy" hardware... XD

Is your Dad helped by the fact that the OS for RiscPC is still being developed, albeit largely as a by-product of work for newer machines, and so long as someone compiles an ARMv4 version new software is generally compatible? (subject to other hardware dependent aspects, of course) Or does he use legacy software to get things done? (nothing wrong with that!)

There are a few RISCOS users among Nekochaners - and ivelegacy, who puts up with RISCOS because a RiscPC with a 486 inside gives him a useful DOS platform ....