The collected works of assyrix

I got my mitts on Abuse for Irix (a nice side-scrolling platform game). The game is now public domain and open-source since the company behind it has dissolved.

However, I cannot manage to get sgi-Abuse to recognize the files from the registered version. The execution stops with an undefined error which I have traced back to the file "english.lsp" in the "register" folder. Removing or renaming that file only results in a different error message. If you rename or remove the "register" folder altogether the game runs (with only four levels) without any problems. Any help would be much appreciated. Get the whole package from here:

http://assyrix.homestead.com/files/Abuse_1.10.tar.gz

As for the music - the sgi version doesn't support music :(

Would somebody please compile it since I only got the old 7.2 compilers and rather have a speedy version of Abuse (i.e. not use gcc)? I could host the finished binary if required.

m: buxfix only release
f: new features and programs on top of the bugfixes

However, lots of f-features spilled over into the m-stream, hence SGI gave up on having two separate streams.

Solid Modelling: BRL-CAD
Design: ACAD 3.0

sorry don't remember the links.

ACAD 3.0 has nothing to do with AutoCAD whatsoever. It's a fully fledged 2D CAD (afaik) and was once sold commercially. The company then abandoned the Irix port and gave away the last version for free. I downloaded it ages ago from their website and tested it briefly - looks pretty nifty.

Unfortunately, as I said, I neither recall the website nor the company name. I'll check the tar-file again and see if there's some info inside it.

There you go:

http://www.ac3d.org/pages/downloads

IIRC you modded the new chips onto the old CPU-boards. I would imagine that the changed clock frequency could do some serious damage to any electrolytic capacitors (elca) on those boards and probably on the motherboards as well. Usually the manufacturer uses elcas suited to the environment. If you use a faster processor which also generates more heat (and most elcas sit very close to the CPU for efficiency reasons, causing them to receive a lot of heat) you will probably shorten the lifespan of those elcas considerately.

More info (including a cop-and-robbers-story on faked elcas):
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/re ... /ncap.html
http://www.ttiinc.com/MarketEye/Aluminum_Cap_Issue.asp

I am just concerned about the elcas since I had several of them exploding on me in an VW320 power supply and motherboard after upgrading the box to a single 1GHz CPU (mobo rev. 007B), destroying all PCI-cards. Most elcas shouldn't work in an environment where the temperature ecxceeds 50 degrees celsius continuously, otherwise their lifespan will be drastically reduced. I don't know about the Sierra processors but would imagine that (especially) the 900MHz version dissipates far more heat than the CPU it replaces. Furthermore, I don't know how the power supply deals with the altered electricity demand of the new CPU, putting more strain on the elcas to smoothen out the peaks.

Decent cooling and moderate capacity demands prolong the life of an elca whereas overclocking, use of non-certified CPUs expansion cards and overheating (because of insufficient airflow and/or noise damping foam/mats inside the box) will reduce the lifespan of those components, resulting in malfunctioning, damaged elcas or even a fire inside the box in the worst case scenario (like it happened in my case).

On the other hand, with the price of used sgi machines nowadays (all the way up to the Octane) and the possibility of replacing old elcas one might as well go ahead with the mod to extract one or two more useful years of those machines. I would put another fan into the machine, though, or cut the skins open (with the resulting deterioration in looks and electromagentic shielding) to provide adequate cooling.

If you are interested in working out the potential lifespan of specific elcas you might want to have a look at this:

http://www.bccomponents.com/Uploads/Dat ... c01int.pdf

How much are you charging for your products? $/£/€ amounts please.

<rant>
I have made a policy for my firm not to buy from vendors who cannot be bothered to give essential basic information such a s a price to potential customers. Why is it always a major mission to get such a simple thing as a price for sgi hard- and software from official vendors? If Sun gives you the option of buying an Enterprise server for $$$ over the Net it cannot be that difficult.
</rant>

I own SGI stock and am still holding it as I bought it around $15 and now it's worth $0.79. This is the last time I buy a stock because I have some irrational exuberance for the corporation behind it.

At one stage Bishop admitted he had no idea how to stem the losses (about one and a half years ago). At the moment they are selling off all their assets (the real esate was sold to and then leased back from Goldman Sachs, Alias was divested as well as MIPS and Cray) and firing people.

IIRC the company has made a loss every year since 1998 , and in every report from 1998 they have sprouted a different blurb on how to resurrect their sales - with no discernible effect.

Hello,

Can you please port Real3D to the Itanium as SGI doesn't give a shit about MIPS no more? Cheers.

I disagree. I've written a 30min sitcom script on the Irix version and am using the current stable version (1.1.5) on XP for all my office tasks. No need for any MS products so I have replaced all of them. Have yet to find a standard office task that OO cannot do compared to MSO.

And why should they. The world has moved on.

As late as two years ago I was putting my first film together exclusively on the Octane but now I use a laptop for 95% of the post and the Octane only for some retouching and compositing stuff. It's just too cumbersome to get footage in and out of it and in the end the result looks the same most of the time.

VW 320 MoBos do come up on eBay from time to time so you may be able to pick up a cheap one.

Also, with the prices of VW320 these days you may as well get a whole box with a good mobo if it's cheaper than the mobo on its own.

Even NASA does not see the need for Itanic any more as their latest 20,480-core SGI system will have Xeons in it:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/06/sgi_moon_nasa/

Amiga is still around - maybe they can pick up Sgrackable in a year for £2.50 and then the two companies pioneering computer graphics have finally merged. Not that anybody would care by then any more...

Just placed an order for an i7 27" iMac - my first ever Mac .

Unfortunately they have problems with the delivery dates - if they are unable to ship it this week I will have to cancel it and reorder as I am going away for two weeks...

There seem to be some problems with the screen on the big Macs according to the Apple boards, and people also recommended to reinstall OSX from scratch when getting delivery of the machine for better performance.

These two are currently up and have been listed repeatedly:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trks ... Categories

The cosmetic condition of these is terrible, however, and I doubt that you would get much more than the box itself.

Please note that I am not affiliated with the seller.

While browsing through Gumtree I came across this ad for a "SGI Prism Server" even though it looks like the deskside to me:

http://www.gumtree.com/london/53/69885753.html

Seems to have the lowest processors but the highest gfx spec. Would not pay £500 as no accessories apart from a power cable and no hard disk but may be worth a viewing for some locals.

Note: I am not affiliated with the seller or profit from the sale of this item in any way.

Given the fact that no additional components and no hard disks are included as well as no guarantee is given that the machine actually works beyond powering up makes me reluctant to pay more than £100 for it - you may just buy an expensive doorstop. I am not sure you can even get all the software needed for the machine to run any more. ATi still has the graphics drivers on the site, though.

eMGee wrote: They do? (Last time I checked, I couldn't find them...)

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/f ... ng=English

[quote="zmttoxics"]x86_64 != IA64[/quote]

Oops, my bad...maybe the drivers on HP's support site for the zx2000/zx6000 may work (since it is a similar machine)?

Other than that there is always Supportfolio but I deactivated my account after having divested all my SGI gear.

recondas wrote: You might want to read through this thread before deciding - all three of your questions are discussed: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16724118&

That just cured me of any temptation. The only interesting thing would have been to run graphical Irix-software in QuickTransit but with no drivers, license issues or OS it's rather useless.