SGI: Discussion

Bluefan wrote: So, i'm early in contact with sgi (I'm now 17) and I'm already loving the systems
My origin 200 brought me to the forum, all the problems I had needed a solution. And I found one here, so I'm not leaving

I think I can beat you with the age thing My first contact with a real SGI was at my Northwestern internship when I was in 7th grade. It was an Octane with a crapped-out motherboard. (Heart asic issues, press down on the heat sink, anyone remember that glitch?) They gave me the machine, as they were beign phased-out anyways, and I wired my own 13w3 to BNC adapter so I could use it on the monitor I have for my HP-UX boxes.

I loved it to death, more than my suns and HPs-- almost as much as my beloved NeXTcube, and eventually, I got sick of only being able to use it for 13 minutes at a time before it crashed. So... new frontplane (it originally had an XBOW 1.2!), light bar, 1gb of extra ram, new motherboard, upgraded to dual 250s from dual 175 (yes, 175s. this was a VERY early octane), and a complete 6.5 media set to replace 6.4-- now it's my main SGI, but it also started my addiction, and since then, I've acquired an O2, and 2 Onyx RE2s (A deskside and a rack-- BTW, the deskside sorely needs parts, see my plea in the hardware wanted forum. I'm also looking to by an MXE for my Octane)

And that was my first interaction with the big purple, green, blue, and black monsters.

Well, in the early '90s I did work only on my IBM PS/2 but I had already read a lot about this company Silicon Graphics. And then one day in 1992 I attended an exhibition where they demonstrated Mandelbrots via - if I remember correctly - a Crimson (I requested a printout which I still have fixed to a wall at home). From that moment on, I was just hooked. Of course, I couldn't afford a Crimson, but at the next exhibition in 1993 they demonstrated Indigos - and they also had promotions for them (and they were also selling "Espressigos" - I didn't get me one, but these were cool gimmicks). So, I decided to buy an Indigo, because of the graphics (?), etc. (they had this nice Explorer software, and Inventor). Still, I must confess that /for me/ the Indigo always was /not/ primarily the hottest graphics toy around at the time - no, /for me/ it was always a Unix box first, albeit an expensive one and with terrific graphics as bonus [but then again, you can buy a VW or a BMW, a Swatch or an Audemars Piquet Royal Oak, an one-way pocket camera or a Nikon F5 - or a PC or a SGI box - but then people might think you are crazy, maybe they are right after all ]

For the next seven years or so I just used this very trusty machine, although I upgraded the R3k to a R4400, the Entry graphics to an Elan, instead of the original 32MB I got myself 192MB and a second harddisk. I was in the fortunate position that I didn't need to get any money out of it, so I could do with it what I wanted [although on the graphics side I really liked to do Inventor Toolkit programming]...

After the seven years, I got as replacement an Indigo2 which I still have and in 2004 I bought me a Fuel...

I for one will stick to my boxes until the bitter end

I first heard of Silicon Graphics when Jurassic park premiered, reading an article in my local computer magazine. I was using an Amiga at that time, that I loved to program by reading code snippets in my mags... And also that UNIX-system in the movie seemed so much cooler than my Amiga.

Silicon Graphics was something far faaar away, something I thought I'd never get the chance to have in my private collection. It was magical, mystical and something I often thought about, and read about whenever I had the chance.

A couple of years later, when I had left the Amiga for the PC (probably around '97) me and a friend was talking about SGI, and shared the same passion for those computers and started looking into if it would be possible to get one. We called SGI up too see if they had any obsolete (maybe even broken) machines they would be willing to donate/sell to us. Didn't work out, but atleast we each got an SGI-mousepad, which I still use

For many years I lost all hope in getting one, but then in 2004 I finally found an O2 in my local area which I bought. It wont boot Irix though, and I lack installation media. Also there might be some kind of hardware error, but I've made myself a promise that someday it will work - even though there's quite a possibility I will buy another SGI soon...

(Even though my personal O2 doesnt want to play Irix, I have spent lots of hours in the prom and sash trying to get it up and running - and its all been pure fun)

Getting a sgi to work is indeed pure fun
And once they run, it's fun using them

Bluefan wrote: Getting a sgi to work is indeed pure fun
And once they run, it's fun using them

Surely that was part of the magic for me. Despite everyone saying you could buy a complete working system for less money, I purchased a lot of as-is Octanes on ebay for about 20-40 USD each. For me it was like working with some ancient alien technology, so vastly different from all of my other hardware experiences in every single way.

The sound, the lights, the boot chime... I almost half expected it to release steam from its vents and begin to hover slightly off my work bench.

VenomousPinecone wrote:

Bluefan wrote: Getting a sgi to work is indeed pure fun
And once they run, it's fun using them

Surely that was part of the magic for me. Despite everyone saying you could buy a complete working system for less money, I purchased a lot of as-is Octanes on ebay for about 20-40 USD each. For me it was like working with some ancient alien technology, so vastly different from all of my other hardware experiences in every single way.

The sound, the lights, the boot chime... I almost half expected it to release steam from its vents and begin to hover slightly off my work bench.

You mean that yours doesn't do that ?

The octane has the vents, but it won't hover, its rocksolid

Don't wanna be around when that one starts hovering...Who knows what's going to happen

Bluefan wrote: The octane has the vents, but it won't hover, its rocksolid

Don't wanna be around when that one starts hovering...Who knows what's going to happen

Kinda like when the Daleks started floating ?

Alteredninth wrote:

Bluefan wrote: The octane has the vents, but it won't hover, its rocksolid

Don't wanna be around when that one starts hovering...Who knows what's going to happen

Kinda like when the Daleks started floating ?

Judging on the pictures of google: yes like that
BTW how did you kept your octane from hovering away? The steam is managable

Bluefan wrote: BTW how did you kept your octane from hovering away? The steam is managable

Ever try a dogleash attached to the lockbar?

See, I knew this thing could float... I must be missing something in a config somewhere.