13W3 question / SGI Indy lost root passwd question

From: James Dickens <jdickens_at_ameritech.net>
Date: Tue Nov 4 15:34:29 2003

On Sunday 02 November 2003 14:04, owen_at_bardstown.com wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I have recently bought a SGI Indy from Ebay. It uses 13w3. Can I get any
> ol' 13w3, or are there special needs for my indy? I also have an IBM
> POWERstation 220 that uses 13w3, so a generic adapter would be nice ;)
>
if your monitor supports the resolution 1024x768 76 hz.. and it supports sync
on green then yes an adapter will work... search on google for a list of
supported monitors. Basicly you need a nice 17" or better monitor bargain
basement won't cut it.


> Now, the next question -- my Indy is in transit, but I know that noone has
> root, including the seller. Also, no IRIX media is included -- no
> maintenance mode. I do _not_ have a SCSI interface on my computer here. So,
> I _can't_ pull the drive, mount it on Linux, and ta-da!

if your indy has XL video there is linux support. but if you have any other
framebuffers then your best chance is finding a copy of IRIX.

>
> So, can I do one of these:
>
> * Linux lets you boot directly into single-user mode with a kernel option.
> Is that possible with this system?
>
> * If the system has a CDROM, can I use some type of Linux bootable CD with
> SGI's FS support (EFS, if I recall.) to mount the disk and VI it?

the biggest problem is if the drive is 4gig or smaller it uses 1k clusters
when formated (unless IRIX was told to do otherwise) and linux XFS only
supports 4k clusters. so the linux support is not availible.

if it has IRIX 6.3 or earlier there is an explointable security whole that you
can use to gain root access.. google on telnet exploit IRIX and you should
find a link to a program that can exploit the hole.
>
> Or, if anyone else has ideas... I contemplated a SCSI add-in card for my
> real box, any other thoughts?
>
> Also, the last question -- since I have no IRIX media, how can I do a
> _complete_ backup -- should I buy a big SCSI HD and do that? Or are there
> better means? (Anyone want to sell me a cheap copy of IRIX ;-))

if you can gain access to the root account there are tools to make copies of
the disk. or else you can do a copy of the disk by installing a second disk.
ebay should have plenty of small 50 pin scsi disks that can be used for this
for a few dollars. the disk can be copied in the bios.. just look up disk
replication and there are documents on how to do this.
>
> TIA,
> Owen Marshall
> Linux Geekboy, SGI
> Fanboy
Received on Tue Nov 04 2003 - 15:34:29 GMT