SGI Discussions?

From: Brian Chase <vaxzilla_at_jarai.org>
Date: Sat Jan 18 14:29:00 2003

On 18 Jan 2003, David Holland wrote:

> Wot about SGI Crimson's? (Or in my case, a Power Series frame, w/
> Crimson boards in it) Or are they too new (and LARGE :-) ) for the
> list?

Pfft! You call that large!? There are plenty of folks on this list
who'd mock the relatively dainty size of the SGI Power Series frames.
There are people on the list with IBM mainframes, PDP-10s, big VAXen,
and a few Crays.

> (Now for the possibly Off List questions of my post)
>
> I'd like to get hold of a Reality Engine for it as mine (alas) only has
> a VGXT boardset. Anyone know where I could find one?
>
> I'd also be interested if anyone has interfaced a Sun Type 5 mouse to
> it, as they look like they use the same protocol, just one is +5v logic,
> the other is RS232? (Maxim's MAX232's sound vaguely useful, but they're
> hard to find around here in 1sie 2sie counts)
>
> (The optical mouse I have for it is in too bad a shape to be really
> usable anymore - the felts shot, and it sticks to the metal plate/mouse
> pad too much for my tastes.)

I'll see if we have any spare older mice. I know at least with the Indy
and Indigo2s onward they all used regular PS/2 mice. I'm not sure about
the Onyx systems, or the gear predating the mid-1990s time frame. My
introduction to SGI equipment came around 1994 or so.

About a year ago my employer returned several pallets worth of Indigo2s
and Indys (~80-100 systems) to SGI for trade ins on Octane2s. It took
about 6 months for SGI to even bother to come and pick them up. I've a
feeling they all ended up being dumpstered once they got back to SGI.
Saving them was out of the question as a list of serial numbers had been
given to SGI; because they were trade ins, they actually had to be
traded in. It's too bad.

On another note, perhaps more related to the list, the new building that
the Computer History Museum is moving into is actually the old SGI
headquarters on Shoreline Dr. in Mountain View. It's a lovely building;
I can't wait until they get things prettied up and moved into the new
location.

-brian.
Received on Sat Jan 18 2003 - 14:29:00 GMT