SGI Indigo2 IMPACT questions...

[Gerhard Lenerz]

Saturday, May 21, 2005, 11:20:07 PM, you wrote:

[hacking a sled]
> Don't waste your time with this. Get a drive sled from epay or a an
> other list menber or ... It costs much less then your time is worth that
> you will need for this hack. And it will work much better.

ACK, or just use an external harddrive until you find a real sled
somewhere.

> I used external CDROMs on Indigo2s for instalation. Maybe it needs to be
> on a special SCSI ID. (Start with 3, that is the standard ID of the
> internal CDROM, don't use 0, that is the bus adapter itself.)

Nope, I've never come across another rule as "leave the ID of the
controller alone". The only difference here is that the controller is
on #0.

> There are 12 sockets / 3 banks. Get at least 16 MB SIMMs. You will be
> able to use as less as 64 MB, but that is not much fun. 128 MB is barely
> enough, 192 is OK if you don't use memory eaters. I have 758 MB in my
> Indigo2 IMPACT. :-)

128MB is ok for starters in my book, reasonable amounts start around
256MB if you want to use more complex applications.

> 5.3 may work. It is OK, but try to get 6.5.20 if you really wane use the
> machine.

The basic 5.3 isn't intended for Impact machines, neither does it work
with R10000 machines. At least for Impact Indigo 2 there is "IRIX 5.3
for Indigo 2 Impact" (part# 812-0119-009).

>> Heh... nice machines by the sounds of it. Certainly the good ol'
>> Indy's still pretty capable, so an Indigo2 can't really be any worse
>> :)
> Well Octanes are getting cheap as dirt.

I personally have 1 Indigo 2 R10000/195 with High Impact graphics and
one Dual R10000/195 Octane and I usually use the Indigo because it is
much more friendly to my ears.

Ok, now after I've moved the Octane is resting on the other end of the
room and the noise has reached "not *that* bad" level, but whenever I
think along that line I think of how the I2 noise would just disappear
in the large room if I'd only move it to the other end.

> Even 400 MHz R12k machines are down to less then 100 EUR (100 US$).

Not always true.

> Beleve me: Even with the same CPU (175 and 195 MHz R10k) and similar
> GFX (IMPACT == SI) an Octane will outperform a Indigo2.

Sure. The question remains if you run applications that make use of
that. Hell, I've been running some GTK1 applications (Gimp, Sylpheed,
etc.) on a 4D/420 (Dual 40 MHz R3000 with IRIX 5.3) with a performance
that was ok in my book. Of course *none* of these apps did make real
use of the second CPU aside from scheduling on OS level in the sense
that Sylpheed isn't bothered very much by the Gimp filtering on the
other CPU.


-- 
Best regards,
 Gerhard                            mailto:mail at g-lenerz.de

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