Need SGI Classic Cmp Help

From: LFessen106_at_aol.com <(LFessen106_at_aol.com)>
Date: Mon Nov 20 19:35:32 2000

In a message dated Mon, 20 Nov 2000 2:52:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, Mark
Green <mark_at_cs.ualberta.ca> writes:

<<I would strongly advice getting the console working. The monitor
part is easy, most VGA monitors will work. Depending on the graphics
option that's installed in your machine you should have either a
VGA or BNC connectors (some of the later graphics options used
13W3 connectors). I've had success with a wide range of monitors.
The standard resolution is 1280x1024 I believe (they came standard
with 19 and 21 inch monitors), but I've used 1025x768 monitors, a
bit fuzzy, but it works.>>


Yes, I got a monitor hooked up to it without prblms. I have both SVGA's that
will handle it and also a few RGB's that'll take care of it as well.


<<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).>>


They both have the PS2 KB port.. I tried an actual PS2 KB, it lit up as
expected, but I got a no console error.. Do you think it will actually use a
PS2 KB and just needs to detect a mouse as well (with a PS2 splitter) or the
SGI PS2 KB/Mouse is proprietary? I did read somewhere that some SGI's use a
standard PS2 KB...



<<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 would really appreciate that.




<<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 can get the console through a dumb terminal easily by using a regular modem
cable (NOT null) on serial port 1. Works like a charm, but no lovely grfx..


<<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 would be eternally gratefull for somekind of media. There are no tape
drives on these things at all - they both have 2 scsi drives and a scsi
floppy installed. The only OS info I can find is that the one runs Irix 4.0.
(5 or 2 can't remember). I do (of course) have an external scsi cdrom (works
on a sun) and a couple external DAT drives that I bet would work on teh SGI's.


<<It sounds like the previous owner on your second machine wiped
the disk. The lack of a disk label is a good indication that there
is nothing on the disk.>>


Unfortunately I think you're right.



<<Do you have access to any of the accounts on the first machine?
Quite often the guest account had no password, so you could
try that. If you are successful, run hinv to get your machine's
configuration.>>


Tried 'em all - Nope..



<<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.>>


How would I go about doing this?


<<SGI tended to use there own file system structures, so you may
not be able to read the disks on other UNIX systems.
Let me know if this helps you. My machines are at home, so I
can provide any detail until tonight. One word of warning the
4D/30 series machines had a habit of catching fire. The CPU
used in the 4D/30 machines generated much more heat than the
4D/20 machines, and the cabinet really wasn't designed for them
The upgrade included an extra fan. If any of the fans fail the
system overheats. Also run with all the skins on for better
heat flow. One of the 4D/35s I had a work caught fire one
day, filled the room with smoke.
>>

Thanks for all your help Mark, I appreciate it!

-Linc Fessenden
Received on Mon Nov 20 2000 - 19:35:32 GMT