Old SGI's?!

From: Sean Caron <sean_at_techcare.com>
Date: Thu Dec 21 13:50:07 2000

----- Original Message -----
From: <LFessen106_at_aol.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2000 12:27 PM
Subject: Old SGI's?!


> Can anyone on the list help me out with my SGI's?
> I made a trade a trade for 2 Personal Iris 4D/35's. Cool lookin'
computers,
> however, I have a few problems.....
> Neither one has a KB, Mouse or Monitor, and although a decent SVGA works
> fine, I can't for the life of me find the KB/Mouse for these anywhere
(they
> have the ps2 style connector, but are *not* ps2 compatable).
> After hooking them up to a Dumb Terminal I find that they both work (at
least
> up to the prom) and 1 actually will boot into Irix 4.0.2... The other has
no
> detectable OS.
> The one that *does* boot to Irix has a root password that I don't have (of
> course).
>
> Is there any way to gain root access on that machine other than removing
the
> drive and mounting it on another box to change the passwd / crack it?
> After I do actually get the one box running can I somehow transfer the OS
> from one to the other? I read somewhere there was a prom command to
> duplicate hard drives???
> Is there someone on the list willing to part with an old copy of Irix?
These
> machines will only run up to 5.0.3 I think.. Anyone have a spare KB/Mouse
> for these machines? I can run them (when I get them working) from a Dumb
> Terminal, but would rather experience the famous SGI GUI.
> Any other hints / tips / suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
>
> -Linc F.
>

Nice find! They're a little slow for running IRIX 5.3 (it will run, though,
with
performance variable depending on how much RAM you have), but they
will run IRIX 4.X really nicely.

If you're looking for parts for them (such as keyboards and mice), you can
purchase them from Reputable Systems (http://www.reputable.com) at an
extremely reasonable price. I've purchased parts from them before (for my
Indigo) and they're great to work with!

Probably the best resource for information regarding older SGIs, especially
Personal IRIS and Professional Series systems is probably This Old SGI,
which is at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/2258/4dfaq.html

Both your questions (gaining root access via single user mode, and
duplicating
a hard disk drive from the PROM) will be answered there.

--Sean Caron (root_at_diablonet.net) | http://www.diablonet.net
Received on Thu Dec 21 2000 - 13:50:07 GMT

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