The collected works of Clico Fantastico

Hi !

A week ago my long awaited Octane finally arrived. And now, there is one more happy SGI user in the universe

Here is hinv:

1 250 MHZ IP30 Processor
CPU: MIPS R10000 Processor Chip Revision: 3.4
FPU: MIPS R10010 Floating Point Chip Revision: 0.0
Main memory size: 512 Mbytes
Xbow ASIC: Revision 1.3
Instruction cache size: 32 Kbytes
Data cache size: 32 Kbytes
Secondary unified instruction/data cache size: 1 Mbyte
Integral SCSI controller 0: Version QL1040B (rev. 2), single ended
Disk drive: unit 1 on SCSI controller 0
Integral SCSI controller 1: Version QL1040B (rev. 2), single ended
IOC3 serial port: tty1
IOC3 serial port: tty2
IOC3 parallel port: plp1
Graphics board: ESSI
Integral Fast Ethernet: ef0, version 1, pci 2
Iris Audio Processor: version RAD revision 12.0, number 1

It has 4 GB disk with IRIX 6.5.14m installed.

Not bad, isn't it .

I bought it on eBay for $100 + $100 shipping to NYC + free shipping to Poland = $200 total.
I think it's a very good price for such a system, but i'll have to spend 5 times more for upgrades (ah sweet TRAMS ), anyway .

It works perfectly with SUN GDM20E20 monitor. I mention it here, because some time ago I asked on irc #nekochan and some people told me that Sun monitors don't work with SGIs at all, or at least require some modifications to work. However, I found on google that GDM20E20 works ok.
Now I can confirm it. Yes Sun GDM20E20 works with SGIs just out of the box and it's great monitor in every aspect.

I already did a small upgrade - replaced burnt out light bulbs with LED and the lightbar is working great , but now there is a time for bigger upgrade - I definitely need more disk space and here comes my first question:

- IBM DRHS36D 36GB
- Seagate ST118202LC 18GB

Do these disks work ok with Octanes ? I know they ought to, but I want to make sure, to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

Next thing: powersupply handle was broken during shipping and I'm not sure if it is possible / safe to pull out the powersupply without that handle. I think it shouldn't be a problem but I want to make sure before I screw up my Octane
I think I'll have to dismantle the computer to clean it inside. For now, I only removed the dust from air vents and other outside parts. And there was lot of dust so I think the same is inside.

I'm new to IRIX, but not to the unix world. I've been using various unix flavors for 5+ years. Mainly linux, BSD ans Solaris. As soon as I get bigger disk and some stuff installed (gcc, maybe mipspro) I'm gonna help you with porting software to irix and building more tardists.

Zawsze milo spotkac bratnia dusze
A czy oprocz ciebie i mnie sa tu jeszcze jacys ?

Just two weeks ago V12 for Octane sold on ebay.de for 151 Euro. Auction started at 1 Euro, and there were 14 bids, so one can say, that the final price was set by the free market, so this is definitely fair price .

http://www.ebay.de/itm/SGI-Octane-2-Graphic-Card-030-1611-001-Rev-C-/300616049774?pt=DE_Technik_Computer_Peripherieger%C3%A4te_PC_Systeme&hash=item45fe1ce46e

I purchased HP c8000 with 1 GHz cpu, 4 GB RAM and 2 x 73 GB HDD for ridiculously low price, but after playing a bit with it, I realized it came with Nvidia GeForce 4 MX card, which of course isn't supported under HP-UX, so I was only able to run text console and the machine has been collecting dust since then. Proper FireGL cards are quite rare and relatively expensive, but it looks like regular Radeons (8xxx, 9xxx) might work too. That is what I deduct from pieces of information collected from the Internet. If I had such card at hand, I would just put it into the machine and see, but since I don't have any AGP Radeon, could anybody confirm if it works ? I don't care about 3D acceleration, just ability to run X will do. I would like to know, just before I spend that 10 Eur on it .

Yes. It's possible and simple . You only have to reinstall IRIX (or possibly only X server/gfx drivers ?). Have you tried modes with low refresh rates, like 50 or even 40 Hz ? I think most LCDs can go very low with refresh rates (I tried 50 Hz on mine, no problems). That way you can keep pixelclock below buggy range and enjoy great image quality (there is no flickering on LCDs, no matter how low refresh rate is).

I have 8 x 8MB SIMMs with gold edges. They are 100% working condition, tested in Indy. They will also work in Indigo and Indigo2. I want to trade them for R4400 200 MHz or R5000SC (can be 180 or 150) Indy CPU.
EU offers prefered.