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SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

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Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#31

Post by jaysonelliot »

The VRML demo at 18 minutes in really took me back: https://youtu.be/Bo3lUw9GUJA?t=18m

I remember how convinced some people were that VRML was going to be the future of the Web. 3D graphics in your browser, all coded with a simple markup language! How could it fail?

Ultimately it was just too complicated for the average web surfer to navigate, especially in the '90s. For a while, though, it really looked like the visions of virtual worlds that cyberpunk fiction loved might show up in your Netscape browser.

Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#32

Post by harel »

Flashback scene begins.

When I was much younger my dad (who has a print business) was tasked with printing panels for F16 jet fighter pilot cockpit to be used in a simulator of the aircraft. The simulator was developed by a private company. One Saturday he took me to their office. They had one of these and gave me a demo of it. Until then all I knew was of standard consumer computers (commodore, pc, macs etc) . In another pretty big room they had a lot of amiga computers used to make the 3d models. I then had a go at the simulator. 180 degree screen, a real cockpit, and pretty amazing 3d graphics.for the time. Flew my jet through a mountain tunnel. I think the only thing that impressed me as much as the simulator itself was the sgi. I've never experienced that kind of futuristic computing power.

Flashback scene ends...

Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#33

Post by Fnoord »

slobotron wrote: post #24

Always loved the IRIX Motif and 4dwm aesthetics, and was lucky to have had access to some Indigo machine in school. Was really impressed by how responsive the file manager was wrt. the immediate appearance of icons for files created from terminal. It also kept track of which folders were open in other windows, giving them different appearance - felt like one was interacting with actual objects. Tried numerous times t…

I don't know about the SGI Indigo, but the SGI Indy had relatively low latency [1]

[1] https://danluu.com/input-lag/

Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#34

Post by duncanawoods »

Great video!

Not one for nostalgia but I have found myself cooing over old computers the way most react to babies. A BBC B can bring a tear to the eye. If you are in the UK then http://www.tnmoc.org/ is well worth a visit. Its like a themepark for nerds.

Working at one of those noisy brutes must have been harsh. It brings back flashbacks of years spent in server rooms. Kids with their cloud computing don't know what they missed!

Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#35

Post by ipsum2 »

jaysonelliot wrote: post #31

The VRML demo at 18 minutes in really took me back: https://youtu.be/Bo3lUw9GUJA?t=18m I remember how convinced some people were that VRML was going to be the future of the Web. 3D graphics in your browser, all coded with a simple markup language! How could it fail? Ultimately it was just too complicated for the average web surfer to navigate, especially in the '90s. For a while, though, it really looked like the vis…

I remember reading an old copy of a VRML book from the library, marveling at the syntax (computer couldn't run it).

There's some modern VRML-esque things now, A-Frame and ReactVR come to mind.

Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#36

Post by mattlondon »

ipsum2 wrote: post #35
jaysonelliot wrote: post #31

The VRML demo at 18 minutes in really took me back: https://youtu.be/Bo3lUw9GUJA?t=18m I remember how convinced some people were that VRML was going to be the future of the Web. 3D graphics in your browser, all coded with a simple markup language! How could it fail? Ultimately it was just too complicated for the average web surfer to navigate, especially in the '90s. For a while, though, it really looked like the vis…

I remember reading an old copy of a VRML book from the library, marveling at the syntax (computer couldn't run it). There's some modern VRML-esque things now, A-Frame and ReactVR come to mind.

I also have fond memories of marveling at VRML scenes on TV when my computer and dialup internet connection weren't really ready to experience it.

Thanks for the link to A-Frame though! This looks great - I am loving the declarative nature of it, and the scene-inspector seems like a really useful tool.

Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#38

Post by gcb0 »

PeterStuer wrote: post #26

At one point our lab bought an O2 and an Indigo. Mostly these were fashion statements as we didn't do much graphics work. I can't remember them being remarkable performance wise for normal workloads compared to the Sun machines that where our staple. The machines most certainly stood out in a time where the only options you got for an exterior finish were beige and beige.

sgi was the preferred way for departments to blow their year/quarter budget so it wouldn't be cut off next year.

Re: SGI's $250,000 Graphics Supercomputer from 1993 – Onyx RealityEngine² [video]

#40

Post by russellbeattie »

Years ago, Weird Stuff Warehouse (R.I.P.) had a shell of the larger closet-sized Onyx system sitting in the back, and I always thought it would be fun to do something with it, but couldn't think of anything. With a shell of a Cray, you could at least make a couch out of it...
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