Miscellaneous Operating Systems/Hardware

ItsMeOnly wrote:

kubatyszko wrote: Any way we could make it work for all the platforms so that it doesn't have to be Linux-specific ?

As far as I remember the problem was only the licensing agreement with SGI - x86 linux only.

I just wonder whether MaXX still needs to worry about this... but I will leave that to him.

kubatyszko wrote:

ItsMeOnly wrote:

kubatyszko wrote: Any way we could make it work for all the platforms so that it doesn't have to be Linux-specific ?

As far as I remember the problem was only the licensing agreement with SGI - x86 linux only.

I just wonder whether MaXX still needs to worry about this... but I will leave that to him.

I wouldn't ignore it - legal blackmail can still be highly profitable, even with "dead" products.

SAQ wrote: I wouldn't ignore it - legal blackmail can still be highly profitable, even with "dead" products.

When the rule of law becomes a means of repression, it's time to start packing six-shooters again.

SAQ wrote: I wouldn't ignore it - legal blackmail can still be highly profitable, even with "dead" products.

In theory, IRIX already qualifies as abandonware, with all the support being discontinued.
But you're right, lawyers are lawyers, you never know, if the "current" SGI decided to go on the windows path again, they might someday end up under sudden need for more lawsuits should they fail

on a sidenote, SGI Japan HQ is in my office building (unrelated to my firm), and I've been seeing real people with SGI badges, this means they are still alive...

If you'd only publish the full source code of the product. Sigh...

can someone share the last available fileset for MAXX I lost my archive that was on a USB disk that did not survive its 10th aniversary.
I would really appreciate that. I am using an old chassis of a indigo2 teal, to host a linux based machine and make it look like irix. as my old "working" indigo2's are not up to speed anymore.

thnx

bittenbyte wrote: can someone share the last available fileset for MAXX

I don't have a copy atm, but these entries in /etc/hosts should allow you to access the site and get all the files you need

174.142.187.179 maxxdesktop.com
174.142.187.179 www.maxxdesktop.com
174.142.187.179 dev.maxxdesktop.com

P.S.: Its probably a right time to ping MAXX author and make him aware of a dead domain. Also remind him of DR4

I tried to mail him on his gmail and yahoo account
no luck yet. as SGI these days is not the same company anymore silicon graphics ceased to exist in the last turmoiled SGI (aka rackable) financial switch. leaving behind the IP from IRIX, XFS, and as a result there is no legal entity that can claim property of the source code.

in this light it should be possible to release the linux source code to 5Dwm and all its surrounding code without any legal implications.

even the original Irix sources which are silicon graphics proprietary ( changed from the Unix SVR4 base code).
irix ended in 2006, support ended in 2013, only under retired mode, fixes only on demand, if possible.
this classifies IRIX as abandonware since 2013. 2 years ago.

interesting I tried the IP adress : http://174.142.187.179/trac/maxxdesktop

and got content, the site is still there, just broken

Well, the hosts entries I've provided should give you a proper walking around the site. Otherwise you could add a forward definitions for ns1.twinlinks.com & ns2.twinlinks.com for maxxdesktop.com domain, if you're running an own local dns resolver.

[...]

As for open sourcing IMD or full IRIX, I'm with you in that. We had a discussion about it and also IRIX emulation on this board recently: viewtopic.php?t=16729396 Feel free to join Don't be confused by non-relevant topic name.

Goodbye, MaXX Desktop, and good riddance.

bittenbyte wrote: I tried to mail him on his gmail and yahoo account
no luck yet. as SGI these days is not the same company anymore silicon graphics ceased to exist in the last turmoiled SGI (aka rackable) financial switch. leaving behind the IP from IRIX, XFS, and as a result there is no legal entity that can claim property of the source code.

in this light it should be possible to release the linux source code to 5Dwm and all its surrounding code without any legal implications.

even the original Irix sources which are silicon graphics proprietary ( changed from the Unix SVR4 base code).
irix ended in 2006, support ended in 2013, only under retired mode, fixes only on demand, if possible.
this classifies IRIX as abandonware since 2013. 2 years ago.

A lot of the proprietary stuff was reportedly spun off to an external entity called Graphics Properties Holdings Inc (GPHO) or such. Uncertain of what it is they actually own nor what legal or business links they have to the Rackable-owned elements of SGI. I believe some stuff was also retained by MIPS Technologies, itself now a subsidiary of Imagination Technologies (Imgtec).

bittenbyte wrote: ... silicon graphics ceased to exist in the last turmoiled SGI (aka rackable) financial switch. leaving behind the IP from IRIX, XFS, and as a result there is no legal entity that can claim property of the source code.

Wrong ... ...

Kumba wrote: A lot of the proprietary stuff was reportedly spun off to an external entity called Graphics Properties Holdings Inc (GPHO) or such.

Patent fafnirs :

prnewswire - June 2010 wrote: Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc., an asset management company owning over 300 patents used for graphics, computer and display segments, is in the business of managing its patent portfolio and realizing value for its owners through licensing and other means. GPHI is owned by private investment funds and other institutional investors following the bankruptcy of its predecessor, Silicon Graphics.

Contacts:

Bradley Scher, President

Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc., (914) 235-1075

James M. Bollinger, Esq.

Troutman Sanders LLP (212) 704-6113

SOURCE Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 03109.html

I would say you guys can put that "open source Irix" idea to bed now, for as long as there is breath left in the last lawyer on earth.

oh well, what is their interest in this, there is 0 value to be gotten here.
I would just let it be, the most important parts of irix are already in Linux, pcp, numa, xfs, ... etc
the desktop was not the most valuable part, it did make the experience unique, and usable from a graphics app.

used to work on poweranimator / newtek lightwave on Onyx and onyx2...

hamei wrote:

bittenbyte wrote: ... silicon graphics ceased to exist in the last turmoiled SGI (aka rackable) financial switch. leaving behind the IP from IRIX, XFS, and as a result there is no legal entity that can claim property of the source code.

Wrong ... ...

Kumba wrote: A lot of the proprietary stuff was reportedly spun off to an external entity called Graphics Properties Holdings Inc (GPHO) or such.

Patent fafnirs :

prnewswire - June 2010 wrote: Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc., an asset management company owning over 300 patents used for graphics, computer and display segments, is in the business of managing its patent portfolio and realizing value for its owners through licensing and other means. GPHI is owned by private investment funds and other institutional investors following the bankruptcy of its predecessor, Silicon Graphics.

Contacts:

Bradley Scher, President

Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc., (914) 235-1075

James M. Bollinger, Esq.

Troutman Sanders LLP (212) 704-6113

SOURCE Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 03109.html

I would say you guys can put that "open source Irix" idea to bed now, for as long as there is breath left in the last lawyer on earth.

bittenbyte wrote: oh well, what is their interest in this, there is 0 value to be gotten here.
I would just let it be, the most important parts of irix are already in Linux, pcp, numa, xfs, ... etc
the desktop was not the most valuable part, it did make the experience unique, and usable from a graphics app.

used to work on poweranimator / newtek lightwave on Onyx and onyx2...

There would still be some interest, at least for me, in seeing the IRIX source. Namely in helping to improve Linux's support of the old MIPS hardware. Hardware documentation would be better, since I doubt the IRIX code would be released under a GPLv2-compatible license, but there could possibly be code comments about oddities or errata of the hardware that may not have made it into documentation that may be of value.

bittenbyte wrote: the desktop was not the most valuable part, it did make the experience unique, and usable from a graphics app.

Come again ? The desktop is the user interface. That's the only thing that is significantly different about Irix. Sure, the software was optimized for the hardware but that only counts when you are running a ground-pounding mighty 600 mhz cpu. Other than that, there's .000001 iota difference between Irix AIX HP-UX Solaris NetBSD FreeBSD Plan 9 and DOS.

the interface is what the user uses, thus the interface is what makes the experience different.

hamei wrote:

bittenbyte wrote: the desktop was not the most valuable part, it did make the experience unique, and usable from a graphics app.

Come again ? The desktop is the user interface. That's the only thing that is significantly different about Irix. Sure, the software was optimized for the hardware but that only counts when you are running a ground-pounding mighty 600 mhz cpu. Other than that, there's .000001 iota difference between Irix AIX HP-UX Solaris NetBSD FreeBSD Plan 9 and DOS.

the interface is what the user uses, thus the interface is what makes the experience different.

Agreed. Having used SGIs back in the day (Digital Domain, Disney) it was always a comfort knowing you could leave those machines up for days upon days (can't say that for any modern PCs I've seen) without incident. I know that's mostly due to the IRIX OS but that value was only with IRIX + MIPS chips. The thing I liked the most was the user interface and that was the desktop (4Dwm or whatever the final iteration was). I want that back! I'm no fan of Gnome or even KDE on my Linux machines, I would so much prefer a fully functioning Linux version of the Magic Desktop. If the Maxx version is what that is then I'd love to have a version of it. I only wish that SGI hadn't been so short-sighted and had licensed or developed that desktop for other systems, specifically Linux. Porting IRIX to the Intel chips, if possible, would have been even better. I would have paid a reasonable price for that.

ledzep wrote: Agreed. Having used SGIs back in the day (Digital Domain, Disney) it was always a comfort knowing you could leave those machines up for days upon days (can't say that for any modern PCs I've seen) without incident.

I have easily kept Windows desktops running for 4+ months w/o a reboot. Probably longer. Sadly, we live in a world of constant cyber threats now, and Windows has a *lot* of code that needs patching, so there's going to be the need for the periodic reboot. I honestly cringe to know what odd security bugs still exist in the final release of IRIX that no one knows about.