The collected works of [[C|-|E]] - Page 1

Being a biologist, I would love to see this guy in my O2:

http://serialbasics.free.fr/Serial_Cloner.html

Sadly, I am not a programmer .

Hello!

I introduced myself some days ago, but I was asking for help at the same time. I guess it is not the best way of doing things, so, here I am to introduce myself in a proper way . My name is Alberto and I was born in Spain but, nowadays, I am living in London. Although I have been always messing with 3D applications and computers, I am biologist. When I was in Germany I worked for the European Molecular Biology Institute and, thanks to this, I received an O2 for free. They were ready to trash it, but I could save the girl in the last moment. The O2 was used for protein visualization in the past, but it had been stored in a dusty wardrobe for years because the lab decided to replace it with a PC. There were other SGIs but, unfortunately, I think they were thrown away to the garbage container. With the SGI I also received a CrystalEyes system in mint condition, a Dial Box, all the cables, a mouse and an original keyboard. Having the computer made me extremely happy because I had been dreaming with the O2 since 1998, when I first saw it in a magazine. At that moment, I had a crappy PC to run 3D Studio 4.

Since I received it, I have upgraded the computer with the following things:

400 Mhz CPU (it was 270)
1 Gb RAM (it had 640 mb)
72 Gb 15000 rpm Seagate HDD (it was 4 Gb)
Audio/Video module + webcam (it only had an audio module)
Internal Toshiba SD-M1401 DVD-ROM (it had a CD-ROM x4)
External Toshiba SD-M1711 DVD-ROM
Octane speakers (it came with no speakers)
Original SGI microphone
Lock bar
SCSI PCI card
PSU Noctua fan

And here is the inventory at present:



I have the O2 connected to my PC via FTP, so, I can easily exchange files between computers.

I would really like to thank you all for this great community. Without Nekochan, it would have been impossible to fix and configure my O2.

Oh! count on me for that!

Thank you very much Indy. I think I will upgrade the computer soon, because I have found an O2 AV1 Analog Video I/O plus a "ZEYE" webcam that were not trashed .

Hello!

It turns out that I am usually playing MP3 anf FLAC files in my 02. I Have a semi-pro sound system connected to the PC but, since this machine is usually rendering things, in some cases I prefer to use the SGI for these kind of light tasks.

The only problem I find it is that the little girl is quite noisy. There are two sources of noise, one of them, the hard disc drive, it is almost unavoidable (I would have to substitute the HDD for and SDD to solve this problem and it would be quite difficult and expensive). However, I think I should be able to do something with the fans and keep or improve the cooling of the computer. In my PC, I am using low noise Papst fans and they work really great (the machine has around 8 fans and it is really silent). I wonder if some of you have tried to install those, or similar ones, into an 02 and have improved the noise levels of the computer. Any particular recommendation ?

Thank you!!

Thank you for the info!. It also seems very easy to replace the CPU fan.



For replacing the HDD I should make an adaptor. It is not impossible, but quite hard, hehe.

Did you notice any positive change in the noise levels? .

Oh! do not worry about the skins, I am not in a hurry, hehe . By the way, do you know the size of the CPU fan?, I guess it is a 50 mm one but I am not completely sure and I would not like to open the computer just to check it .

I could take it in person but I guess that the price of this guy would be too much for me, hehe . I will also keep dreaming...

Yes, it is a 80 mm fan, I checked it this evening .

I have a 36 Gb HDD installed in my 02 but I have not checked how old it is. I bought it very cheap on e-bay (the seller claimed that was a refurbished item, but this is strange for a HDD) and, honestly, it works great but it is also a bit noisy. The question is that I would not really like to spend a lot of money in a new good SCSI HDD. They are very expensive and my O2 is a hobbyst project .

What a nice machine it is...

For sure, it would be really nice to have a silent hard disk drive . But first, I am going to replace the PSU fan with this guy:



I think it is going to improve the system a lot, my O2 is like a hairdryer. Of course, I can notice the hard disk drive, but the sound of the fan is really everywhere in the room .

I have already ordered it and I am waiting for the arrival, hehe.

I am biologist. I read my thesis in 2007 and now I am working at the EMBL in Germany. I will be here until September (end of my contract) and then I will probably go straight to hell, because I do not know exactly what to do with my life . But, hey, they gave me my O2 for free!

Well, I have finally installed the fan and the improvement was huge, hehe. Now I can only hear the HDD spinning but it is not annoying at all. The computer became really silent . I will post some pics of the replacement process as soon as I have some time. Maybe they will be useful for somebody...

At the end, I did a tutorial showing how to replace the CD-ROM unit and the PSU fan . I plan to create a PDF and upload it but, first, I have to check the text I wrote very carefully. I am sure it has tons of mistakes, hehe. I have never been good at English .

Just a small update!.

I have performed those mods to the computer .

- Installation of an internal DVD-ROM unit (Toshiba SD-M1401).
- Substitution of the standard PSU fan for an 80 mm Noctua.
- Substitution of the standard audio module for an AV1 interface plus a “ZEYE” cam.

Here is the new hinv:



And some pics .

sgifanatic wrote: Wonderful pictures! I've got a couple of O2s which I haven't really done much work on yet. A 200Mhz R5K and a 195Mhz R10K.

You've configured your desktop to look real spiffy... if you don't mind, I have a few questions:

1) Where did you find that nice sgi background? It's really cool. I've had a lot of trouble getting image backgrounds to show up in IRIX without dithering or other weirdness with colours. How did you get it to show up? Did you edit the bg config or did you use a tool?

2) Can't quite tell, but it seems you have updated, nicer looking app icons than what I got with a stock 6.5.30 install. Did you install new icons? If yes, would love to know where you got the set from.

3) What is your FF browsing experience like? Do you have JS turned off?

4) I see a repaint issue on my Octane and Indigo shown in this video: http://tinypic.com/r/6501sx/7 . Whenever I move my windows on top of icons and then move them away to expose the icons again, there's this desktop repaint which happens that bugs the heck out of me. Also, every time I move windows the background area that was previously covered flashes for a fraction of a second with a weird colour and then goes back to being normal. Does this happen with you on your O2?

Hello!

1) I made the background with Photoshop in my PC . I used a free blue abstract background as a template and I added some lights and shadows to it. Then, I took a black and white SGI logo and I put it into the image adding the glow effect. If you like it, I can upload the background, as well as some other backgrounds I made that are similar to this one. To display the background I just followed this Nekochan tuto: http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/index.php/Use_Custom_Background_on_Irix

2) Nope, I did not install new icons. They are the default ones.

3) FF in my O2 is sloooow. I mean, you can use it for normal web browsing, but you have to be a bit patient. I still have to configure it properly, but it seems that it will not improve a lot. It is the same for all the 02 and low-end MIPS machines.

4) No... I do not have the repaint problem on my O2. In fact, I am a bit surprised because it really moves all the application windows really really fast .

Well, I have created a PDF file describing the process of upgrading the computer . I still have to correct the text a little bit (is is too bad?). When ready, I will upload the draft to the thread and attach all the pictures. Then, it should be easy to make the wiki article, hehe.

It would be very nice to show some pics of that great machine .

For the disassembly process you can have a look at this PDF I wrote. It is not specifically about the frontplate, but a lot of steps are the same. Once you remove the skin, you gain access both to the bottoms and the plate itself. Be very very careful with the plastics of the O2, they tend to be quite delicate.

download/file.php?id=2822689

Good luck!

Great system! .

Yup, it is really worth upgrading the PSU fan with a Noctua or something similar .

The second source of noise, in my case, was the hard disc drive. However, since I replaced it with the Seagate I am using know the computer became really quiet, hehe

Linux, Linux... the big Unix clone . For sure most of you remember the Unix Hater´s Handbook ( http://simson.net/ref/ugh.pdf ). I think that, somehow, Linux still has some big drawbacks, no matter the distribution. Sometimes I just feel like the authors of the book when I find stupid bugs everywhere. The only distribution I really trust is Debian stable (plus some other exceptions), but you know that you are always using old versions of the applications :/.

OMG, it is really a huuuuuuuuuuge system :O.

They are really nice, both of them . The Fuel is the MIPs SGI I like the less (do not ask me why, maybe because of the PC-like case they have) but those guys of yours look great!

recondas wrote: ...the option to use USB keyboards/mice, firewire access to compact flash cards, SATA hard drives, GigE networking, and a native DVI graphics port (so you can stop running that LCD panel in analog mode).

That is something really nice. I mean, I am very happy with my O2 but connecting the computer with the rest of the world is always a bit tricky. Basically, I have to use the LAN all the time because it lacks USB, firewire, etc, at it is only 100 megabit/second. Also, DVI support is highly desirable. At the moment I am thinking what to do about this, maybe I should install a firewire card and connect a firewire hard disc drive to the girl. Doing this I could exchange very large files more easily. A gigabit card is also an option... .

Hehe, I was already reading the posts concerning firewire and gigabit cards in the O2, but thank you! .

I wear this guy day and night:



http://www.casio.com/products/Watches/g ... GW810D-1A/

I am a big fan of Casio G-Shocks. They are really sturdy and I can use the same clock to go to the gym, climb a mountain, swim, or walk in the city, hehe .

Wow, this is a really nice project. I am living in a two room flat with my gf and I would love to have a dedicated computer room. I have one in the flat of Spain, but here in London it would be crazy .