The collected works of Krokodil - Page 2

Ships.

The Alphaserver with it's VMS needed a name that was 6 characters long only. So it got the name of a ship named Vandoc.

The Dell laptop got named Algorail, due it's role as a daily driver and because of it's pretty awful outward condition, but soldiers on because of it's important role of running Windows and games.

The Asus laptop got the name Mapleglen, since it is the newest and most sophisticated of the computers I own,I use it everyday and named after the majestic steamer that used to ply the lakes. It is a FreeBSD system and has been since it was bought.

The O2 was named Mantadoc, because it is smaller than the average, just like the ship it is named after.

The Octane got the name Montrealais, because it's the most powerful of the 4 classic systems(at 720MHZ) I own and particularly in honor of the vessel that left us for ship heaven earlier this year.

The Ultra 5 has the name Quedoc, since it resides on the same table as the Alphaserver. The Quedoc and Vandoc resided in a backwater for years before finally being recycled at a steel mill less than a half mile from each other. Hence the two computers also go hand in hand.


I did once have an Iphone 3GS named I-Brick, but it's since been decommissioned and I no longer deal with smartphones.

Welcome to the SGI owners club.

My O2 and Octane both survived shipping cross country, practically unscathed. O2 has minor crack on the backside near the power supply vent, the Octane has a minor dent in the metal on the top corner above the video board, the plastic rib closest to it has a bit of surface damage on the top but the rest of the plastics are fine aside from the standard issue scuffs, scratches and sticker residue.

Gotta get around to posting the hinv for the Octane as well.

uunix wrote: I wouldn't mind trying that..

Me neither.

I found some interesting demos around like Macau(a demo of a drive through a city), and this space combat game and a tank simulator that looks like it takes place on some other planet. Also there's a labyrinth game(the board game with the steel ball and holes) on the old Octane hard drive.

pip wrote: I remember playing some of these demos on an Onyx1, I believe an RE2. This company did work with Paradigm so it may have been an internal demo CD, I remember it was burned and had a buttonfly interface allowing you to play from the CD or install.
It had Certain Impact, Egghead Shred, the Apex F14 sim (where you take off from NAS North Island in San Diego), and I think there was another sim that put you on a ship in San Francisco.

Does this ring a bell for anyone else?

Egghead and Shred are on the O2 demo disk, I know that.

Thou shalt not send your Indigo2 R10000 to the recyclers!

Here is Krokodil's Octane. Found on fleabay for $350 CDN. a few months back. Had to fight off some marauders to get it, but I won.

Initially it came with a dual 250MHZ CPU, which I couldn't help but take the opportunity to replace with a dual 360MHZ. For graphics it was a dual head system and came with EMXI and SI boards. The EMXI had atleast one bad TRAM so I replaced the entire board and didn't bother putting the SI back in, since I have no use for dual head and I'm sure it helps the Octane run a bit cooler.

I also ditched the single ancient 4GB HDD for 2 new 137GB Fujitsu SCSI's. The machine came with 1GB of RAM and the second generation of Lucent power supplies needed for dual head configurations.

Machine arrived in good cosmetic condition, no cracks, only scuffs, sticker residue and some scratches on the top. slight dent in the corner above the video board, and missing power supply handle. The door is present and it's mechanisms are intact.

Will post pics and glxinfo later.



UPDATED:
Here is gfxinfo


Here is glxinfo

nongrato wrote: Very cool. it's nice to have a MGRAS Octane since many cool demos, apps and expansion options are incompatible with later graphics.

Well I would've just replaced the board with vPro right away but the pixel clock bug in the v6/v8 is a deal breaker and finding the V10/V12 on it's own is almost impossible, or goes for astronomically high prices and would require upgrading everything to Octane2 standards, an expensive endeavor.

The EMXI is old, but it still does most everything fairly well and mplayer as long as the video has the right bitrate, resolution and codec.

Here is a pic, probably not the only pic I'll post, but right now It's running and I don't want to shut it off.

That is a very nice find, looks like it's in great shape too. Hopefully it won't cause you grief like the previous one.

duck wrote:

Krokodil wrote: Well I would've just replaced the board with vPro right away but the pixel clock bug in the v6/v8 is a deal breaker and finding the V10/V12 on it's own is almost impossible, or goes for astronomically high prices and would require upgrading everything to Octane2 standards, an expensive endeavor.

Nah, MGRAS is fine... also, the only thing you have to upgrade for the highend VPro is the XBow (yours is 1.3, you need 1.4), jan-jaap had one for sale yesterday (but it went right quick

Edit: Congrats on finding a working lightbar btw

I was skeptical of the MGRAS capability initially, but videos play very well when they're tailored to the hardware. I watched Rambo 1, Flight of the Phoenix(original) and The Count of Monte Cristo on there without any issues.

I would also need a Cherokee power supply to upgrade to V10/V12 no?

Yes the working lightbar was the one of the things that I considered when I bid on the Octane, along with the cosmetic condition, hardware configuration, cost of it getting it into a usable state, door intact, etc. When it burns out I'm replacing it with LED's, the way it really should of been done originally.

uunix wrote: That's a very nice clean Octane. Good show.

But what's this about a v6 clocking bug?

Thanks, though it does have some scuffs, a sticker residue and some light scratches on the top and a slight mangleage at the very edge of the skin above the rear corner, where there is a mysterious corner dent. But entirely intact otherwise.

Unfortunately for the V6/V8, I'm in the process of getting rid of the last of my boat anchors(CRT's) so only a V10/V12 would be suitable for my LCD's. That is one advantage of MGRAS hardware, is that it supports a fairly good set of resolutions on either CRT or LCD's at standard refresh rates.

duck wrote:

Krokodil wrote: I would also need a Cherokee power supply to upgrade to V10/V12 no?

No, that's what SGI recommended, but it seems it works just fine with the old lucent (my octane doesn't have thew newer PSU for instance, and it's got V12 graphics and dual R12k CPUs. I've had it running with three disks as well, but now it only has one). Perhaps if it's really stacked, it might cause a problem?

Maybe they were thinking of a full XIO carrier when they wrote that directive?

hamei wrote:

duck wrote: Perhaps if it's really stacked, it might cause a problem?

Hard to know without testing ... maybe give it a try and let us know ?

really_stacked.jpg

*sticks his face in there*

Call me crazy but my Octane runs almost 24/7, it's also near a high velocity fan that blows the hot air out the window and prevents that hot air from being recycled as well as keeping the room temperature livable.

Unfortunately Firefox has become so bloated now, that a new version wouldn't run well on any of the more popular machines here like Indigo2, O2, Octane, Tezro and Fuel. Better to have an entirely new browser created/or find one that is lightweight.

Is this crackling, the same as the clicking that proceeds Fuel power supply death?

mapesdhs wrote: Who tests with just texcube? I use more than a dozen different tests, not just some of the demos.

Heh, you wanna job fixing TRAMs? I have about 20 that need repair.

Ian.

Is it actually possible to fix the things? You could make some good money if you did.

Could also mention the plugs frequently get loose on the O2 and the Octane.

Welcome to the community.

Dare I say that IRIX and the hardware go hand in hand.

foetz wrote:

Krokodil wrote: Dare I say that IRIX and the hardware go hand in hand.

absolutely. i'd hate to see it running on some kid's supermarket laptop

I mean what is IRIX without it's unique hardware? Any UNIX or *nix could take it's place otherwise. Especially since 4dwm is no longer exclusively for IRIX.

I'll believe in IRIX emulation when I see an emulator for an SGI machine, like an Octane.

As long as none of the surface mount components or traces are damaged it should work fine. Your Octane will thank you for giving it more CPU power. I know mine does.

Axatax_ wrote:

I would also like to see that modern Mplayer port finished. I wonder how well an Octane would handle MP4 video?. I would also be willing to donate some money to see updated software. Imagine the possibilities.

The MPlayer is comming, but I won't give any time lines anymore as I've done this twice and other life issues get in the way. Suffice it to say, I'm still alive and working on this and there will be improvements with MP4, and MPlayer across-the-board.

The Mplayer 1.1.1 in my FTP has good _compatibility_ with MP4 but the performance isn't quite there yet. The performance is coming -- just don't expect 1080p x264 on even the best Octane.

Now that I have my Octane up and running the way I like it, I can say that MP4 video works as long as it is configured a certain way. I don't watch my videos full screen either, always in a window, but performance improvements for MGRAS are certainly welcome, even if they're only small.

dukzcry wrote: Octane??? Oh, man...
Wasn't Indy the only machine for which SGI released a minimum portion of needed documentation? Also the simpler architecture, the more chances to get a good emulator, we're hunting for more cycles anyway. And recent machines are not supported by old IRIX releases. Emulation of a mature graphics subsystem is another question though

Octane is just an example.It could be any SGI system that could showcase the best of SGI. Unfortunately, if I'm not mistaken alot of the documentation was either lost or destroyed, like the information on the O2's ICE chipset.

foetz wrote: sure, will give it a try ...

EDIT: okay this was a bust. configure options ignored, obviously never tested it on a real 64bit system and likely not on anything else but glibc/gcc. when i hit an unresolved symbol while linking nothing but sudo's own objects i trashed it
if i may ask, you're looking for bash, gcc, sudo, gnutar ... why do you wanna run tru64? i mean you obviously wanna simulate linux so why not going for that in the first place?

Alpha support is almost non existent on Linux nowadays. OpenBSD and NetBSD support it, FreeBSD dropped support a long time ago in 7.0. Tru64 is the only official UNIX the platform ever had.

Is that to suggest that the site isn't getting enough money to stay afloat?

commodorejohn wrote: Everything's Itanium's fault, really.

They didn't just kill MIPS, they killed Alpha too. We've pretty much been stuck with x86 ever since and the person involved in making the deal with the devil now wants to be president.

miod wrote:

Krokodil wrote: Tru64 is the only official UNIX the platform ever had.

Allow me to disagree. Linux was kind of supported at some point, since user guides for the late models (DS20, DS25) explicitely mention Linux and how to set up the SRM parameters for it to boot, with example boot logs.

Linux was supported in the past, but support has almost entirely dried up since then. Only Gentoo still supports it as far as I know. But as for official certified UNIX, Tru64 was the only one.

I use mp4, xvid, bitrate 3612kbs, resolution 672x368, q-scale 0.1.

This is on EMXI (2 TRAMS). I do wonder how much further it can be pushed though.

pentium wrote: Sad to see it come to this point Neko.

Me too, the wealth of information that would be destroyed would give a historian a heart attack.

commodorejohn wrote: Yep. HUZZAH FOR HOMOGENEITY AND MONOCULTURE.

(Then again, avoiding monoculture in processor architecture is only so much good when everybody insists on using Lunix as the base for everything so they can all run the exact same software with the exact same vulnerabilities...Heartbleed, anyone?)

Lunix Lol. It is annoying how it has come to dominate, that's for sure.

I hope this site doesn't go, the software and wealth of information on these machines is priceless. Otherwise SGI stuff would be more like most other old systems, not much working software, not much guidance.

blakespot wrote: There's this one I have on my O2:

http://www.bytecellar.com/2005/02/25/my_o2_loses_its/
Certain Impact from Paradigm.



bp

Well my problem is solved, just scored a new Octane demos 1.3, which purportedly has Certain Impact.

nekonoko wrote: I'll open it up again in a few months - a grand total of $900.00 came in over two days, and I was worried PayPal would freeze the account due to the rapid payments. I'd like to see if I could put up some kind of meter in the future that would cut it off once a certain goal/threshold has been reached.

It's good to know there's still people willing to keep it all going. I can't contribute myself at this point, but I just might in the future.

nongrato wrote: DCD sold, hinv updated.

Good to hear your new Octane2 is working out.

mpickering wrote: I just joined the "Gas Guzzler" club with a new Fuel of my own. This one was DOA due to the main power connector coming loose in shipping. Plugged in and machine powered up. Just took a while to finally bring the display up and boot.

Definitely going to be the nicest of the SGIs I own. Fuels and Tezros have been on my lust list for a long time.

Matt

Welcome to the gas guzzler club, or what we could call the champagne burner club.

Alver wrote: Oh, christ. That thread again.

The machines are 10 years old. Compare them to other machines of the same age, and there's a chance you're not talking bullshit. Claiming that a Fuel - any Fuel - can outperform even the shittiest low-budget Intel cpu for sale at the moment at whatever task, is reaaaaaaally stretching it a few lightyears beyond breaking point.

I love my SGIs. They are slow. I don't care.

Lose the psychedelic drugs, move on.

"...only to have Captain John himself, come down the gang plank, a scowl on his face as he tersely replied, "She'll make point five past lightspeed.
She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've
added some special modifications myself. But we're a little rushed, so
if you'll just get onboard, we'll get outta here."

Going presently I have 1 Octane, 1 Alphaserver DS10, 1 Dell 4400, 1 Dell 3100, 1 Dell L502X Laptop, 1 ASUS K55VD laptop going presently and 1 high velocity fan keeping the room cool and air circulating.

O2 and Ultra 5 are layed up at the moment.

There are a couple more on fleabay from Silicon Burn now. Octane 1.3 demos/Octane2 1.0 demos and Octane 1.3 demos standalone.

nongrato wrote: I still hope to bring back to life my old EMXI Octane. I miss that Personal video board thing, webcam and other fun stuff.

by the way I replied in your old thread:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16729561

What was it that happened to your Octane again?

nongrato wrote:

Krokodil wrote: What was it that happened to your Octane again?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16729638

Ah yes, I did have a scare like that myself early on, video board trouble, but was probably caused by an improperly reinstalled TRAM (hard to see under it with the gigantic heat sink).

ivelegacy wrote: I have bought a MaxImpact for a friend who is not familiar with ebay/dealears/forums but good at OpenGL programming, so I contacted a dealer in USA and I had a discount: 90 days of warranty included, we payed 300 USD shipped plus the 22% of fee to import, which is, from my point of view, too much money! I mean I think Octane is a better and cheaper system, especially considering I have for sale an Odyssey V6 GFX , asked 50 euro, and V6 against MaxImpact , comparing gfx about the perfromance/cost ratio, the Odysseay wins, it's staggeringly { faster, most featured, cheaper } by several orders of magnitude different.

in my head, the idea I have, is something like the following

• 100000000000000 points / 250 euro asked for a V12
• 1000000 points / 50 euro asked for a Odyssey V6 <--------- it looks the best Trade-off
• 1000 points / 250 euro asked for a MaxImpact
• 250 points / 20 euro asked for a SolidImpact

Problem with Odyssey is that, the common V6/V8 have the stupid hardware flaw, many applications don't work with them - since it arrived just about the time that PC hardware started outclassing SGI stuff and they can be quite expensive.

I got my replacement Octane MaxImpact with 2 working TRAMS from a guy in Los Angeles for about $150CDN. I also have yet to see a V10/V12 on fleabay. Seems people come mainly into possession of them by rescuing old machines or through here.