The collected works of japes - Page 3

I threw together a quick little set of utilities and thought someone might want them, for what I dunno, but have fun with them. They turn the LED on the front of your workstation amber or back to green.



Source is included. Inspired by sgi-heartbeat.tar.gz

https://github.com/jpbot/sgi_led

binary and source attached.

Wow fancy package.

I didn't mention that I tested this really only on my Octane2, but it should work with most workstation systems. Big Iron might not have a LED, or it might be different than the usual power light style of the workstations.

I did just try it on my Challenge S here and it worked fine. Even logged in as guest. I wouldn't be surprised if you had to be root, but at least on that machine it wasn't necessary.

The man page for syssgi doesn't mention anything specific either.

While I find the PC servers run mostly fine. I even find linux usually runs fine. I just don't trust people to properly write software to run trains on the systems. I'm sure it would be fine, running some PLCs that even back end to some Windows thing that reboots every Wednesday and sometimes survives Patch Tuesday and sometimes is gone for a week and maybe the displays at the station don't know when a train will arrive for most of a morning while people try to fix it. I'm sure the PLCs will continue to do what they're told unless the contractor screwed up the code last night and left an entire decision tree out that was really important for the evening commute.

What I find frustrating now is companies, and governments too, don't employee people for long term. Or employees don't seek a career in companies for a long term? Which follows on with companies not wanting to learn how their damn stuff works. They just call the contractors to fix the control system that makes the lights work in the station because we don't have time to learn this expensive system we just bought. Or it's too expensive to train folks.

Sadly the contractors are in the same situation, the employees are only around for a year or two. It's too expensive to learn how this stuff works, so they figure it out as they go along. No one really ever learns the implemented system and when the next high level exec comes in and finds out the system is 5 years old she demands an upgrade because how can we support this legacy system.

And the cycle continues.

Or the system that was supposed to save money turns out to burn out the bulbs faster than they can replace them and doesn't turn the lights on when people are around and soon enough the expensive system is bypassed and the lights are on all the time. Who cares about saving energy and we'll let that expensive system rot.

Soon it'll be a miracle anything works at all. I just used lights as example, but imagine any modern system.

Lian Li, Antec, Fractal Design, SGI Indy

I built a system for a friend in a Cooler Master Elite 335 and the power button ended up fouling up like an Octane. Other designs might not have that problem, or maybe this one had a bad combination of tolerances. I picked up a Cooler Master Elite 130 mini-itx for myself and it has a wrap around cover which is hard to fasten because I think it's ever so slightly out of square and the screw holes were poorly tapped.

I like the Cooler Master cases, but I've been happier with Antec (but not PSUs) and Lian Li.

I got 4, beat that

Pontus wrote: something like this?
http://psychcentral.com/cgi-bin/narcissisticquiz.cgi

toxygen wrote: How much did it cost you?

I don't remember. I try not to remember what my old computers cost.

Recovering a closed session will load multiple pages at the same time.

A single page/tab can be accelerated by having multiple processors available to Safari today. Not sure if there are multiple threads for the layout engine and javascript interpreter, and you could possibly get something there - but now we're talking about ghz cpus and why bother - your biggest pain is slow js, badly written js, congested or slow networks and badly written or busy servers.

Back to multiple process/thread for that modern Safari, since flash runs in it's own process your flash ads and the js/layout engine are separate.

guardian452 wrote: But it didn't come with a bag! Worthless!

Anyone can have a Tezro if they want. Only a few can have an Indy bag.

Wikipedia wrote: A fully qualified domain name (FQDN), sometimes also referred to as an absolute domain name, is a domain name that specifies its exact location in the tree hierarchy of the Domain Name System (DNS).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_qual ... omain_name

Simply means mycomputer.mydomain.org instead of mycomputer.

There is much to setup with any OS's network connection. When DHCP is available from your router or systems in place by your network and system admins it's pretty easy on a modern OS - just plugin. Back when these systems were young you needed to provide the IP address for the system, the subnet mask (how much of the network is yours and not behind a router), the default route (router that gets you to the internet or other networks), and if you don't want to use IP addresses to reach everything - the IP address of the DNS server you use.

It sounds like you might need to get comfortable with google for an evening or two on your modern system. You can see your current settings on Mac OS X with the network control panel - be sure to click advanced. Or with the command IPCONFIG /ALL on Windows. Just remember the IP address for every computer in your network needs to be unique. Since you probably have DHCP running on your router you'll want to find a few addresses outside the range it hands out and keep a spreadsheet or notebook to keep static assignments.

I can't tell exactly how much experience you have with networking, I tried not to get too basic, but cover most the keywords if you need to search for more information.

Just looked at the link pentium provided and that should get you going if you know your network well enough to provide all the addresses specific to your network.

Sorry to hear that it was frustrating. Hope you find your next challenge more rewarding.

Honestly the Indy wouldn't be much use for checking email and online activities these days. The internet has grown and left behind all the old hardware and software. Sometimes for the better and sometimes just for different.

If you change your mind you have a great machine for learning how to interact with the unix shell (command line interface). But I'm sure you realize a linux vm on a modern computer is probably 10 times faster.

I found a recycler near me that had a few Octanes. The short of it is, in looking to make a dual-head octane I've bought half of their Octanes and thinking about going back for the rest. If anyone is in the Seattle area and wants an Octane let me know.

I'll probably be offering the parts up shortly if I go back for the rest. Of possible interest, so far I have two working lightbars if anyone feels the need for incandescent power lights.

chicaneuk wrote: Are you thinking of parting any out, or hoping to keep them complete?

Either way really. What are you looking for?

chicaneuk wrote: After a dual-400MHz or better CPU for my Octane 2..

These are single 250s as far as I can tell. I'd be pleased if one turned out to be a dual 250.

Sorry I sort of lost interest with everyone asking about Octane 2 parts. PC Recycle had them at their warehouse. I haven't checked in with them for a bit. I'm more than set for parts myself so now I'd probably only go after it if I get bored or think I can turn them.

I replaced the fan 92mm main fan in my Octane2 but it couldn't sense the speed using SGI black magic over the 2-wire power only connector and it's going full speed all the time. Now I get to completely take apart the Octane and splice the cable back together on the original fan after I finish cleaning it. Replace that fan with caution.

EDIT: Check below - I teamed this Origin 350 with one from mopar5150 so now it's two nodes and identifies as an Onyx InfinitePerformance.

Picked up TeamBlackFox's Origin 350 on the 'bay.

It needed a little love. I only added enough memory to power on, I'll have 4 GB once I have a chance to work inside it again. I need to replace the "Timekeeping RAM" still. At some point the left rack mount bracket got bent, hopefully I can straighten it out. The plastics were clean and it was remarkably clean inside. I didn't realize single PSU was an option - the connector cables are even missing. Since it was so clean inside I think it might not have run a lot, and maybe that's why the battery on the DS1742W was already dead.

I connected it to a L2 controller dropped in some memory and it fired up once I set the serial number. Might have to think about taking one of my Origin 3000 R-Bricks and see if it'll work to build a 12 cpu Origin 350 with the 8-cpu Origin 350 I picked up back in August.

I picked up one of these on ebay a long while back. It only holds two drives though, but you might be able to do something creative.

http://w.glyphtech.com/products/2u/features.php

Mine only had a single drive and not in a dock. They have a pair of scsi connectors for each device, again mine only had one drive, one pair of connectors.

GIJoe wrote: as for the SSD upgrade i have to say i'm a bit surprised about those numbers. it's not even maxing out the internal bus from the looks of it? is that the adaptor? would be interesting to see how it performs when hooked up to one of those U160 adaptors or whatever fastest you can install in an octane.

the speed seems reasonable for a 40 MB/sec SCSI bus...octanes have slow scsi. If you need faster storage add a FC card and hide a shelf in the garage.

Is this all true? I have an Origin 3k rack and it has a lot of bolt heads, but I never really looked at taking it apart seriously.

I'm really interested in a short rack and there's an Altix one across the state from me, was thinking if I could knock it down flat I can put it in my station wagon and then reassemble in my upstairs living room.

It absolutely is not as deep - well it's plenty deep, just not from the front to back rails. I found this out trying to mount a 2U Supermicro server in my O3k rack. However I have a stack of Origin 350s that would look great in a short rack with a router I'm considering buying.

I have a bunch of IBM 1U xSeries servers that actually fit quite nicely, although the rails are running into the power distro I added in my 39U rack. IBM having lots of round hole racks in their history has rails that fit quite nicely in the round holes. For everything else I have plenty of slip on cage nuts.

But this rack, I might pass on, surplus place want's $425, don't know how much they'd budge and it's ~$150 to drive out and back or ~$250 for freight. Not sure I'm quite that attached to it. And it's Altix, I think I'd be up for an Origin short rack more readily.

Also you need a decent serial port. A friend brought by a Challenge L to our local retro-computing group and we tore apart his serial cable before trying another serial port. Turns out my USB serial port made enough power but his laptop wasn't able to deliver enough volts for the Challenge to register input. We kept seeing the menu but it wouldn't take input from the terminal.

I once came across a postscript file that claimed to be a SGI C Style Guide. It was a single page showing IIRC K&R style C, number of spaces for indent, brace location etc. I can't seem to find it, maybe someone here has seen it?

Thanks!

I have zero HIPPI experience but I'll toss out a couple ideas.

FIRST, production system, maybe with all the FC ports a file server. 3 point to point links to other systems, 1-2 cards for expansion when a few more point to point links are needed for the next couple machines, 1-2 cards for hot spares.

SECOND, SGI sales guy filled the XIO slots to get a bigger commission, customer needed 2 ports, should probably have some spare, maybe expansion, but I need to remodel my kitchen so fill 'er up.

Though I do like the idea of it being filled up with spares or parts from other systems as the herd thinned and this is the last one to finally leave and it has all the parts that were in the deployment.

Here's the older stuff...
Apple:
-IIc
-IIgs
-IIe or II+ or something like that, CPM card, but unknown condition

Macintosh:
-Centris 610, full 68040, just recapped - but bad video memory, recapped slot load cd, centris 660av cover (donor had bad caps or something in the audio, and possibly other issues, but cover wasn't broken like the 610 cover). So it might be on it's way to the recyclers.
-Quadra 700
-Workgroup Server 6150, 66 MHz 601 (6100/66 basically), decapped, waiting for me to finish recapping.
-G3 blue and white, forgot the specs
-G4 took it for free, forgot the specs

pentium wrote: It has an IO6G installed but nobody has added in a modified video card. What was the point in that?

Serial Ports!

One of my O2 PSUs had the connector anchor points break off. I ordered a replacement connector and the pin extraction tool. Best of luck on your repair.

Once again I'm working with SQL Server and it works plenty well. The licensing costs are pretty high if you want all the features and need to run on a wide machine. This colored my initial take on the news: What's the point? What does the OS matter for a SQL Server? Here's an example - let's say you pay $70k for a machine and SQL Server license - who is going to argue over a $1k Windows license? It just doesn't make sense.

A friend however did bring up a valid point. Small systems - PostgreSQL or MySQL run on anything - want to run a DB on a raspberry pi or a LinkSys router? no problem. Have an embedded linux appliance? no problem.

So this could be a play for embedded and small systems.

Just in case it's outputting to the graphic terminal, disconnect your keyboard and mouse while attempting to get started with the serial console.

I'm not sure you can quite call arduino.org a counterfeit. Also not sure I'd call an Arduino board an ISP but...technicalities.

There is much drama in the Arduino vs Arduino. My understanding is the .org guys are the original manufactures. The .cc guys (Genuino outside the US) are the developers. The .org guys more or less stole the Ardunio brand through some sleaziness. There's some parallel development that took place and a bunch of bent feelings. The .cc guys found new manufactures (Adafruit makes a number of boards for the US market). Now both companies are producing some boards while each also has some new and slightly different boards.

I'd like the .cc guys to come out with a new Arduino Ethernet myself, the .org guys in theory are still producing the original but my go to places to order from either aren't stocking it or have distanced themselves from the .org products.

This is pretty old news and if you're embedding the Arduino board in a product you should research this a bit and choose a path. I'd either build my own boards or probably go with the .cc boards to support the original folks and original community.

I think moving away from Mouser over this is a bit dramatic and overreacting.

Let me try to find time this weekend or so. I have a bunch of files. I'm not sure if I can tell the ones I created from the ones that I found. The ones I created were created on an Indigo2 and recorded digitally from another Indigo2.

Even me failing to find time to sift through the files I have, that's how I'd get a quality set, digital recording from one machine to another.

Huh, I don't think I've seen the ISP, but here it is I guess: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoISP

Likely not being produced with the manufacturing politics they're recovering from.

I have the AVRISP mkII and the Adafruit clone, I wish I had an excuse to try the Evil Mad Science ISP Shield: http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/produc ... itlist/253

guardian452 wrote: The way it was explained to me is, the .org guys were producing boards under license, and basically stopped paying for their license and started making their own products, but with identical artwork and hardware designs.

That's what I heard - I thought I heard one of the original developers was running the manufacturing company or was involved in the company and the arduino.org - thus thus the bent feelings.

nice, I have too much IP35, but I think I might chase this one anyway. As long as it stays reasonable.

Silicon Salvage on ebay might have some if you contact them directly. I fear they took them all apart though. They keep offering 1GB DIMMs. They had some rails too. I've only seen a couple machines listed by them though...O350/O300s seem reasonable to move around so I'm not sure what happened - I've dealt with them over email in the past, but never in person.

Or provide a slider - about halfway between the sample and 0% transparent might be my setting.

maxxi.desktop wrote:

commodorejohn wrote: Much better, although I'd also ditch the transparency. Doesn't fit with the rest of the aesthetic.

I will... Have to showcase my new ARGB Visual support for my SGI Motif 2.3.4 and 5Dwm v2

Hrm, $540 for a Tezro that's approaching Fuel spec? If it's someone here please update us when you get it. I'm curious if the pci backplane is different from a 2/4 proc model or if this is even the single proc it claims.

Edit: I have memory available for this, and maybe a spare hard drive.

Interesting that they placed the XIO slot connectors.

What's the problem with using the converters with a KVM...I have one I built, but don't think I've had it on a KVM. Perhaps it could be corrected in the software. I don't remember if the software was provided in any form besides the .HEX files and I'm not much of an asm guy - especially PIC.

I picked up a second Origin 350 from mopar5150 to go with this so it's now an Onyx InfinitePerformance --- woohoo, V10.

The hinv is forthcoming, and may be dynamic for a bit. I picked up another O350 and might double up the powersupplies. Probably changing the CPU boards around a little, adding network cards, etc. I don't have it setup right now to get the current hinv, but I'll start with a photo from earlier today "out in the field". Not quite as compact as Helen Hunt's "laptop" in Twister , but...what 30x+ performance and memory?

While in these beasts I found out the board with additional serial ports and the mouse/keyboard ports looks to require the entire system be disassembled. I have mouse/keyboard + 3 serial ports on the second node instead of the primary since I didn't want to tear apart two entire systems I am a little sad about that, perhaps when I'm feeling more adventurist perhaps I'll move mopar's custom vPro over.