The collected works of pierocks - Page 1

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Install the Debian on SGI Altix 350 at Aug. 15, 2008, 2:53 p.m...

Are you connected to the system via a serial console? If so, you may need to manually set the baud rate in the "CONSOLE=" parameter. For example, if you have your console set at 38400 baud you would pass "CONSOLE=/dev/ttySG0,38400".

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Champaign, IL
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Octane MXI 2x195 R10k at Nov. 13, 2008, 2:08 p.m...

I'm pretty sure that used to be one of my machines...never really did anything with it, though. If it is, it came in a lot with a 400 Mhz 02 from a boeing surplus auction. I abandoned it in WA when I moved back to IL at the end of the summer because I already have too much SGI stuff here :-)

Did you buy it from an unusually tall girl?

(less is more?)

pierocks
From Champaign, IL
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Octane MXI 2x195 R10k at Nov. 13, 2008, 6:04 p.m...

Well isn't it just a small world.

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pierocks
Addict
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.
and authored 345 notes

Wrote on the subject of Origin 3200 half rack icon at July 24, 2009, 12:39 p.m...

So I got a little bored and I chopped the Origin 3000 full rack icon down to half rack size for the few people that might actually have one...It's a little boring, but oh well :-)

I would give credit to the original artist, but I couldn't figure out who it was! :oops:

_________________
:O3200:

And gobs of other hardware...

pierocks
Addict
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.
and authored 345 notes

Wrote on the subject of Origin 3200 half rack icon at July 24, 2009, 1:37 p.m...

nekonoko wrote:

Okay, it's been added to the board. Thanks much!

And thank you! Now I can have a slightly more accurate signature :-)

_________________
:O3200:

And gobs of other hardware...

pierocks
From Champaign, IL
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of eBay: Onyx2 Racks in Skokie IL at Sept. 9, 2009, 11:41 p.m...

Oh damn...didn't realize those were so close. I don't need these, but if someone does I might be willing to help out :-)

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pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Cars (was SGI "Octane" III) at Oct. 4, 2009, 10:45 p.m...

iKitsune wrote: Ford Crown Victora Police Interceptor. Fun, fast, safe, and affordable by mortals. Besides, it's like driving a land-boat, the last of the great body-on-frame rear-wheel-drive American gashog monsters.

This is exactly what I drive :-)

Fantastic car...it's an absolute tank and it hauls ass!

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Octane Porn at Oct. 15, 2009, 6:11 p.m...

What on earth was this machine used for originally?

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Champaign, IL
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Interest in Octane V10 Graphics boards at Nov. 1, 2009, 3:19 p.m...

One of those would go nicely into my X-Brick :-)

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pierocks
Donor
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of SGI 750 Itanium workstation at Dec. 11, 2009, 2:02 p.m...

I had the IBM version of this machine. IIRC it was a dual 800 Mhz Itanium box and it was part of a cluster at NCSA :-)

I always got a chuckle out of the huge foam blocks inside with enormous warnings about it being "FUNCTIONALLY REQUIRED".

They are multiplying. If you can read this, send help.

pierocks
Donor
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of SGI 750 Itanium workstation at Dec. 11, 2009, 10:16 p.m...

Yeah, I don't know what it is but plastic air shrouds say "finished product" to me, while "functionally required foam" screams "half-assed engineering" :-)

In reality, they are probably equally as effective *shrug*

They are multiplying. If you can read this, send help.

pierocks
Donor
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of SGI 750 Itanium workstation at Dec. 13, 2009, 9:15 a.m...

hamei wrote:

pierocks wrote: Yeah, I don't know what it is but plastic air shrouds say "finished product" to me, while "functionally required foam" screams "half-assed engineering" In reality, they are probably equally as effective *shrug*

I bet the foam works better. It should deaden some noise, too.

Probably so, but at the same time it manages to look like packing material :-)

Appearances can be deceiving...

They are multiplying. If you can read this, send help.

pierocks
Addict
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.
and authored 346 notes

Wrote on the subject of calling all texas wackos ... at March 2, 2010, 10:57 a.m...

I offered some just like those on here for a friend several months ago and there were no takers...*shrug*

_________________
:O3200:

And gobs of other hardware...

pierocks
Addict
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.
and authored 345 notes

Wrote on the subject of I Think These Are Pretty Rare... at March 27, 2010, 2:30 p.m...

I wonder if they come in an Onyx 3200 size

_________________
:O3200:

And gobs of other hardware...

pierocks
Addict
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.
and authored 345 notes

Wrote on the subject of SGI Prism deskside: 2 CPU, 16GB RAM at April 6, 2010, 10:52 a.m...

D-EJ915 wrote:

Nvidia's last IA64 driver is ancient and requires a quite old kernel (I think 2.4) so you might be able to use it.

I'm pretty sure I remember being able to compile the nVidia IA64 driver for a 2.6 kernel on an IBM Intellistation...but I could be completely wrong...

_________________
:O3200:

And gobs of other hardware...

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of WTB: Origin 300 Parts at Dec. 31, 2010, 8:45 a.m...

Ask and you shall receive...I just checked out my O300 and it's got a completely standard ATX 3-pin fan pinout. The connector isn't the regular IDC, but the pins are in the same order (1->BLK/GND, 2->RED/12V, 3->YEL/TACH). I even verified this with my o-scope to make sure a tach signal was coming down the yellow wire. By the way, here's the digikey page for the fan in the O300, it should help you find a direct replacement.

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of WTB: Origin 300 Parts at Jan. 1, 2011, 4:07 p.m...

I did a little research and it looks like this would do the trick quite nicely. Even though the drawing shows four pins, it's actually a 3 pin part. I guess Molex couldn't be bothered to use the right drawing :-)

It's an IDT part (insulation displacement) so all you'd have to do is take an 80mm fan with a standard connector, lop it off and then insert the wires into the new connector in the correct order and crimp it. You don't have to fiddle around with crimping the wires individually and inserting them into the connector shell. I'm not sure if it requires special tools because I haven't been able to find the crimping procedure, but from the looks of the drawings I would imagine none are needed.

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Champaign, IL
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Motocycle owners at June 15, 2011, 12:44 p.m...

Hey recondas-
Did you take I-74 through Indiana and meet up with I-39 in Illinois? If so, you went right by Champaign. If you had stopped I would have bought you a beer :-)

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of Lets be fair, we know nekonoko´s face, keep them rolling :D at July 31, 2011, 8:03 a.m...

Getting ready to help my friend move a piano in the middle of February.

It did not go well.

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of Lets be fair, we know nekonoko´s face, keep them rolling :D at July 31, 2011, 1:48 p.m...

Continuing the mystery trend (maybe?)...

My best impression of Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys.

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Serial Mismatch Error Fix! at July 31, 2011, 3:21 p.m...

Time to resurrect this well aged thread...

I just confirmed that this procedure works for CX bricks with serial security enabled :-)

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Champaign, IL
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of IRIS Indigo Reborn - project at May 4, 2012, 12:08 p.m...

sgifanatic wrote: The software load balancer I outlined in my initial concept posts about this project has not been done yet. That will probably take a while to do and is a project in its own right. However, once that is done, I should have the ability to run any Linux app and have it automatically distributed to the least loaded node, with display redirection to the "master" Pandaboard connected to the console.

https://computing.llnl.gov/linux/slurm/

I used to manage some compute clusters and I still use this software for a few projects at my current job. It's quite handy and easy to manage. Perhaps it could do what you want without reinventing the wheel?

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pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Life beyond SGI... at Dec. 2, 2012, 2:51 p.m...

This is my new obsession (and the reason I haven't been doing anything with any of my computers as of late):

It's a 1965 Triumph Spitfire.

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 424 notes

Wrote on the subject of Twist-Lock plugs and outlets at Feb. 21, 2013, 6:22 a.m...

Oof. I'm running up against the same shenanigans trying to wire up outlets for a welder and air compressor in my garage. Regular old 50A plugs are expensive enough but the twistlock stuff was astronomical.

Did you try looking at a local electrical supply house rather than a big box store? You might get lucky.

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of call for network professionals ! dns :( at May 30, 2013, 6:50 a.m...

Does this happen with other hosts, or just pop.gmail.com?

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of call for network professionals ! dns :( at May 30, 2013, 7:10 a.m...

Well, my only thought was that you were hitting different DNS servers with subsequent queries and one happened to be broken.

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of Octane Personal Video Option Boards at July 8, 2013, 6:25 a.m...

I have two Octane PVOs that I no longer need/want. Anybody interested? They come complete with flex cables.

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of Octane Personal Video Option Boards at July 15, 2013, 6:38 a.m...

$25 a piece? Anybody? Bueller?

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of Octane Personal Video Option Boards at July 16, 2013, 7:06 a.m...

The PVOs have been spoken for, but no deals are final yet. I'll update if either of the deals don't work out.

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of G4 cube at July 18, 2013, 1:27 p.m...

Anybody looking for a G4 cube? I'm continuing with my quest to reduce my stockpile of obsolete hardware (which is also helping me to accomplish my secondary goal of saving up to buy a decent welder). I've got the matching speakers and power supply. I could even throw in a keyboard and mouse, too. I'm pretty sure I maxed out the RAM at one point, but I could be full of it. I've also got a spare VRM (the perennial achilles heel of the cube), a CPU I never swapped in to it. I think it's a 1.25 Ghz CPU, and I'm sure it's not officially supported, but with some mods I know it will go in...could be a fun project. Anyway, if you're hankerin' to have a piece of apple history, PM me and we can work something out.

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
Who joined May 20, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
and authored 430 notes

Wrote on the subject of Octane Personal Video Option Boards at July 19, 2013, 4:48 a.m...

PVOs bought and paid for. Sorry folks, wish I had more, but them's the breaks. I'll be listing more obsolete^w vintage hardware as I unearth it from my piles^w collection :-)

_________________
:Octane2:

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pierocks
From Champaign, IL
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Linux desktop recommendations? at Sept. 19, 2014, 6:08 a.m...

I have very (very) little CAD experience, but I like to tinker some, and maybe 6 months ago I tried out this software:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/free-cad/

It has some rough edges, and at first the workflow was a little strange, but after I got used to it, I was able to get some work done. My end goal was to create some .STL's for a friend to print out on his high end 3D printer at his work. Mostly just some mock ups of parts for some instruments in a car I'm restoring.

And yes, the lack of a decent word processor on linux is a damn shame. But it gave me an excuse to get my company to buy me a Macbook Air to supplement my linux workstation so I could run MS Office...

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pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Glowing SGI cube logo at May 30, 2015, 7:37 a.m...

I salvaged this little memento from an Altix rack destined for the great datacenter in the sky. I'm moving across country so it's time to part with all the non-essentials (and make a little ca$h to defray moving expenses). Anybody bite for $20?

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Glowing SGI cube logo at June 1, 2015, 12:03 p.m...

Well, it's mopar5150's at the moment, but should that fall through for whatever reason, I'll go down the list :-)

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Getting a Phobos P1000 Gbit NIC to work in O2... at Feb. 8, 2016, 9:10 a.m...

mapesdhs wrote: Quick update, got it working! Echoing diegel's comments, turned out the card was faulty. Tried another one this
morning and the connection worked first time, though atm the performance is very poor so I'm still looking into
possible kernel tuning issues. However, it's faster than the old 10/100 which is something, perhaps because
now the link is full duplex (10/100 card for O2 does not support full duplex mode).

If anyone has any ideas about how to tune the kernel for optimal performance of a Gbit card, please post, PM
or email. Perhaps sendspace/recvspace values?

Ian.

PS. To give you some idea how bad the performance is just now, a simple ftp only gave 15MB/sec, while a
ttcp test gave a mere 32MB/sec.

What was the CPU doing during these tests? I suspect the O2's cpu is woefully underpowered to handle processing gigabit traffic. Maybe try jumbo frames if the rest of your network supports it, though. It would cut down on some of the overhead processing that your CPU is doing. I'm just taking stabs in the dark based on general networking knowledge, though.

EDIT: Bahahahahaha Ian was working on this in 2012. I am good at paying attention. Ian, did you ever get reasonable performance out of that gigabit board?

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of SCSI disks (80 pin, 36GB, 10k RPM) at March 21, 2016, 3:43 p.m...

Does anybody even care about these anymore? Has everyone moved on to higher capacities? I got about a dozen of them out of some ancient Dell servers that I bought just to get a 24U rack. I'd rather not trash them if there are people out there that might want them. Any takers at $5 a piece?

(tumbleweeds)

pierocks
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 11:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Ebay yet again.. at Oct. 13, 2016, 2:53 p.m...

surrealdeal wrote: i'mma let you finish but the VW 750 is my favorite non-mips sgi system, even if it is a generic itanium design everyone hates, and only runs RHEL IA-64.

I had one of these for a while. Though now that I think of it, it might have been one of the other re-badged versions. Or it may have even been un-branded. It likely came from NCSA before it landed at the recycler, and they often got their hands on pre-production stuff. Regardless, they were all identical, save for the logo on the case. Christ almighty that thing was heavy. I got debian to run on it, IIRC. And then I realized that I didn't give two shits about itanium.

The best part of that machine was all the huge chunks of foam for airflow inside labeled as "FUNCTIONALLY REQUIRED".

pierocks
Donor
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of O2, r7k 350 Mhz, 1 GB, A/V Module at Nov. 30, 2016, 5:28 p.m...

After much cleaning and re-seating, two systems and a small handful of spare parts (care of hamei and scutboy) become one. Behold!

Code: Select all


dbassett@jolene:~$ hinv -vm


CPU: QED RM7000 Processor Chip Revision: 3.3


FPU: QED RM7000 Floating Point Coprocessor Revision: 2.0


1 350 MHZ IP32 Processor


Main memory size: 1024 Mbytes


Secondary unified instruction/data cache size: 256 Kbytes on Processor 0


Ternary unified instruction/data cache size: 1 Mbyte on Processor 0


Instruction cache size: 16 Kbytes


Data cache size: 16 Kbytes


FLASH PROM version 4.18


Integral SCSI controller 0: Version ADAPTEC 7880


Disk drive: unit 2 on SCSI controller 0 (unit 2)


CDROM: unit 4 on SCSI controller 0


Integral SCSI controller 1: Version ADAPTEC 7880


On-board serial ports: tty1


On-board serial ports: tty2


On-board EPP/ECP parallel port


CRM graphics installed


Integral Ethernet: ec0, version 1


Iris Audio Processor: version A3 revision 0


PCI Adapter ID (vendor 0x9004, device 0x8078) PCI slot 1


PCI Adapter ID (vendor 0x9004, device 0x8078) PCI slot 2


Video: MVP unit 0 version 1.4


AV: AV1 Card version 1, Camera not connected.


Vice: TRE

They are multiplying. If you can read this, send help.

pierocks
Donor
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of O2, r7k 350 Mhz, 1 GB, A/V Module at Dec. 2, 2016, 6:43 a.m...

I will get some snaps, just for you Classic. Also, I have some goodies to forward on to you from Hamei...

They are multiplying. If you can read this, send help.

pierocks
Donor
From Longbranch, WA
Who joined May 20, 2006, 4:52 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of PayPal Donation Link Added (plugin requires Prosilver theme) at Dec. 14, 2016, 10:34 a.m...

How long will the donation link be up? Payday is two days from now

They are multiplying. If you can read this, send help.