On Nov 20, 12:47, Mark Green wrote:
> The keyboard and mouse is much harder. There were several models
> of keyboards used on these machines. What type of keyboard
> connector to you have? The popular ones were DB9 and PS/2 (note
> I don't think a PS/2 keyboard will work, but I haven't tried).
> I can look up the part number tonight when I get home. The keyboards
> are not that common, but I have seen them on eBay. The mouse attaches
> to the keyboard.
I haven't checked thoroughly, but I'm fairly sure all the keyboards use the
same protocol (a serial protocol, 600 baud IIRC), just different plugs.
The 4DFAQ (aka "This Old SGI" -- try a web search) is helpful about this
sort of stuff.
> The easiest way to get these machines running is through the
> console. There is a way to set a terminal to be the console,
> but I'm not sure how its done on the PI. On some SGIs there is
> a hardware mechanism, but on others the console must be use (this
> won't help you much).
I thought all the PIs use the first serial line automatically if the
keyboard isn't connected?
> > 1 of them still has a working OS, and the other doesn't. I do not have
any
> > OS media for them at all, and the one that IS working has (Of Course) a
root
> > password which I do not have. What I really need here is a copy of the
> > installation media here. Pleeeaaaasssee Contact me if you can assist
in
> > getting these systems running. I believe the 1 with the OS problem has
the
> > OS, but has no scsi disk label. Perhaps if someone were to have a
root/boot
> > disk they could copy off for me, I could get them working. I believe
they
> > run Iris 4.0.somthingorother.
> >
>
> Its difficult to do much without a console, since all the installation
> and maintenance procedures assume that you are working through the
> console by default. What devices do you have? There are two forms
> of the OS media. The older systems were on tape, and the newer ones
> were on CD. A may have IRIX 4 tapes at home, which could get you
> started. The 4D/35 will run up to IRIX 5.3 (something I recommend),
> and the CDs can be found regularly on eBay. Note that these machines
> are a bit picky about the CDROM drives they use, older ones are
> better.
I agree; definitely get 5.3 if you can. It does take more disk space,
though.
> If you have a console the easiest way to change the root password
> is to boot a mini-root (this may be on partition 8 of your disk).
> >From there you can modify the /etc/passwd file.
If you can't get to that, because there's a password set in the NVRAM, so
you can't get to the PROM monitor, the FAQ describes one way to defeat the
NVRAM password.
> SGI tended to use there own file system structures, so you may
> not be able to read the disks on other UNIX systems.
Did 4.0.5 etc use EFS? 5.3 does, and Linux can mount/read that.
> PS: Are there other SGI collectors on the list?
Yes, but most of mine are later than these -- three Indigos, two Indys, and
an Indigo^2.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Received on Mon Nov 20 2000 - 18:40:41 GMT