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The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

hardware.majix.org

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Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#11

Post by kev009 »

st_goliath wrote: post #10
kev009 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once upon a time this stuff was so cheap, a little later than the (2003), because IRIX was discontinued and nobody knew what to do with all of the surplus. Something like a Tezro was always a little pricey and filled a permanent niche, but I got tons of Origin 300s and stuff like that without thinking much about it at the time. I've got the Router rack and several IR3/IR4 bricks. LLMs actually makes retrocomputing a…

> LLMs actually makes retrocomputing a lot more "fun" because you can slop out things that would take way too long to do by hand for pure art and exploration. Doesn't that kind of completely miss the entire point of the hobby? Like attending an online language class in your spare time and then just using deepl in a separate tab?

Depends what you are trying to do and what is fun to you. Artisanal assembly on an 8-bitter can be therapeutic. I'm quite happy to let Claude rip through radare2 and ghidra de-compilations without understanding the intermediate steps.

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#12

Post by aa-jv »

ofrzeta wrote: post #6

Although it is stupid I can't stop searching Ebay for SGI machines. I have fond memories of running an Indy on my desktop and operating some Onyx machines. Now they are overpriced and it really doesn't make much sense to own one, apart from maybe the latest Origin 2 with R12000 but even this in the end would only catch dust. Even the best Buttonfly demos on the latest and greatest machines get a bit tired after a whi…

There are plenty of great things to run on old SGI hardware that are still quite fun - Tranquility, Mekton, all the 3D apps you can find, flightsim, etc.

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#13

Post by Daub »

infl8ed wrote: post #9

Hadn't really heard of SGI too much, going down the rabbit hole I thought this snippet from the Wikipedia page was especially interesting " For eight consecutive years (1995–2002), all films nominated for an Academy Award for Distinguished Achievement in Visual Effects were created on Silicon Graphics computer systems " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Graphics#Entertainment...

it is a little known fact that there was a version of Photoshop made for SGI's Irix.

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#15

Post by wazoox »

I've got a beefy Octane (4GB of RAM! dual R12000! MXE graphics!) but I honestly don't do much... At a time I used it as an X11 terminal but it's a bit too hot and loud even for that :)

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#16

Post by arexxbifs »

ofrzeta wrote: post #6

Although it is stupid I can't stop searching Ebay for SGI machines. I have fond memories of running an Indy on my desktop and operating some Onyx machines. Now they are overpriced and it really doesn't make much sense to own one, apart from maybe the latest Origin 2 with R12000 but even this in the end would only catch dust. Even the best Buttonfly demos on the latest and greatest machines get a bit tired after a whi…

Old home computers are still fun because there are hundreds or thousands of games and scene demos, and active enthusiast audiences for creative output.

SGI machines are extremely cool, but I don't quite grasp if collectors of old UNIX workstation use their machines regularly, and if so, what for.

Still, if I had the cash and desk space, I wouldn't mind a souped-up Indy that I could play around with for half an our once a year.

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#17

Post by angry_octet »

mrcwinn wrote: post #5

When I was a teenager my dad brought me to the 7th floor of the Daily News building in Philly. This floor was a kind of skunk labs - tasked with digitizing the paper for their new “website.” This experience brought a couple of firsts: My first time using the internet on a screaming fast, dedicated T1 line. Unbelievable to see Netscape load a site so quickly. And: my first time seeing an SGI Indy. A row of them, in fa…

I remember watching a space shuttle launch live on the MBONE (multicast backbone) on one of the Indigo2 machines in the mech eng CAD lab. At the time the Australian internet uplink to the US terminated in the basement of that building. It took so long for home internet to catch up with that experience.

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#18

Post by aa-jv »

wazoox wrote: post #15

I've got a beefy Octane (4GB of RAM! dual R12000! MXE graphics!) but I honestly don't do much... At a time I used it as an X11 terminal but it's a bit too hot and loud even for that :)

Tranquility, Mekton, ElectroGig:3DGO, Maya, Lightwave .. so many fun toys to play with on Octane if you've got the gumption ..

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#19

Post by aa-jv »

Daub wrote: post #13
infl8ed wrote: post #9

Hadn't really heard of SGI too much, going down the rabbit hole I thought this snippet from the Wikipedia page was especially interesting " For eight consecutive years (1995–2002), all films nominated for an Academy Award for Distinguished Achievement in Visual Effects were created on Silicon Graphics computer systems " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Graphics#Entertainment...

it is a little known fact that there was a version of Photoshop made for SGI's Irix.

The Windows emulator is pretty fun too ..

Re: The SGI Buyer's Guide (2003)

#20

Post by angry_octet »

angry_octet wrote: post #17
mrcwinn wrote: post #5

When I was a teenager my dad brought me to the 7th floor of the Daily News building in Philly. This floor was a kind of skunk labs - tasked with digitizing the paper for their new “website.” This experience brought a couple of firsts: My first time using the internet on a screaming fast, dedicated T1 line. Unbelievable to see Netscape load a site so quickly. And: my first time seeing an SGI Indy. A row of them, in fa…

I remember watching a space shuttle launch live on the MBONE (multicast backbone) on one of the Indigo2 machines in the mech eng CAD lab. At the time the Australian internet uplink to the US terminated in the basement of that building. It took so long for home internet to catch up with that experience.

And yeah, burnt a bunch of time on MkLinux and NetBSD on 64030 trying to achieve home Unix.
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