SGI....

[Jules Richardson]

Lyle Bickley wrote:
> On Wednesday 09 November 2005 07:46, John Allain wrote:
> 
>>>Of course if they're going to implode I hope someone can save archives
>>>of software + docs from the days when they *did* make decent machines!
>>
>>There's a joke in there somewhere.
>>The leading history archive center building was donated by SGI to
>>Computerhistory.org, now all the boxes they moved out of Moffett
>>field they may have to move right back in.
> 
> 
> The Computer History Museum purchased the building directly from SGI.
> See:  http://www.computerhistory.org/bldg/
> 
> Some of us here in Silicon Valley have been collecting and preserving SGI 
> boxes and software for a very long time. 

It's good to hear. It's a relatively hard brand to get hold of in the 
UK, plus boxes usually show up stripped of memory and hard disk (and of 
proprietary keyboards in the case of older models).

A few years back the company I was working for at the time did a few 
projects in partnership with SGI because it was 'showcase' type work; I 
used to hear tales of obselete kit getting thrown out at SGI and even 
the employees weren't allowed to rescue it from the crusher.

 > I have at least one of every system
> that SGI produced from the "lowly" PI to the "mainframe" Onyx Infinite 
> Reality with Sirius Video - and much additional optional hardware and its 
> associated software. 

Wow, that's pretty awesome. They did some very cool stuff - I was in the 
game too late to see the earlier stuff and only worked with the Origin 
200 / 2000 hardware. At the museum we've gained a 4D/25, pair of 
Indigos, various Indys and an Indigo2 - but I'd love to get hold of some 
of the larger / older systems. It's not much to show for a company who's 
name lots of people have heard of.

(I haven't, however, tried contacting SGI UK directly in a museum 
capacity and see if I can resuce anything - which might be worth a try)

 > AFAIK, I have a copy of just about all of the software
> that they SGI produced from IRIX to specialized graphics software for 
> specialized hardware and networking.

I'm glad someone's got it - even if it is presumably copyrighted to hell 
and back right now! :)

> The largest repository of SGI documentation outside of SGI itself is:
> http://futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/sgi.html

Initial glance and that looks like a useful resource!

It might be worthwhile for Ian to contact Weta Digital in NZ (Lord of 
the Rings fame) - they had a *huge* amount of SGI hardware when I saw it 
a few years ago and their machine room was most impressive (lots of blue ;)

They may well be interested in supplying some details / photos though 
for posterity. Might make for an interesting article / feature.

(unfortunately according to 
http://www.top500.org/sublist/Site.php?id=2343 it looks like they might 
have gone the IBM route in the last couple of years)

cheers

Jules