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5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - Printable Version

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5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - Raion - 05-21-2021

Greetings everyone. I am posting this approximately at the same time, three years ago, where I was eating Zaxby's with my ex girlfriend when everyone began messaging me in a panic: Nekochan.net was gone. 

I checked myself, and I got a sinking feeling. A huge one. 

But hey, we're still here. We'll continue to be here. We will remain. 

On this somber day, I wanted to write a small page on how this affected me, and continues to shape my future. It is here: http://irixnet.org/nekochan-3yr.html

Additionally, I am proud to announce that IRIX Community Edition Patchset 1, codenamed Centauri, has passed vetting and is now available for download: 

http://irixce.org/download.html

Physical media is eventually planned, but will probably be a while. 

And perhaps the crowning achievement for me, since May 2nd I worked to get Xenoware, a small scale software distribution, done and ready for market. It is here: http://irixce.org/xenoware.html

What is Xenoware? it's my personal attempt at providing an express install of classic IRIX programs, and a few new ones, in a handful of distributions. The core value of Xenoware is: make it easy for new users. This version of Xenoware is codenamed Andromeda. 

Hence, as much effort has been done to compromise ease of installation, and avoiding a big fat mess for me, that I could manage. Thus, GNU development programs are in /usr/gnu, BSD programs in /usr/bsd (this existed already on IRIX), and the actual programs fielded are in /usr/bin

Some of the highlights:

Chocolate Doom (includes Hexen, Heretic, Strife)
Darkplaces (Quake 1)
GIMP GTK1 
XMMS

Many of these are built on existing patches and documentation with minor fixes here and there by me or outright dirty hacks. It's not that many new programs, just a handful. I'd like to thank Canavan, dexter1, and all of the Nekoware prior contributors, plus solidcore and jpstewart for fielding my sometimes idiotic questions on this effort. 

Xenoware, once it's out of this very early release (I didn't have time to test this software packaging on all systems, and I want to work out the issues before building a MIPS III version! Expect revisions!) will get probably an update every 6 months or so. It's a sidecar, and a kind of "baby's first" and thus is limited in scope, optimizations etc. The details are on the xenoware page.

Enjoy guys, and I intend to bring many more years of IRIXNet being a part of all of your lives. I have grown to care a lot about the community, and I make it a point to remember everyone's avatars, names and prior posts to better help me connect with you guys. You're all like family to me.

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - Shiunbird - 05-21-2021

Good job and thanks for the efforts.

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - Raion - 05-21-2021

I'd like to think my efforts are pretty good but a lot of this has been a learning experience for me.

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - mopar5150 - 05-22-2021

(05-21-2021, 08:57 PM)Raion Wrote:  I'd like to think my efforts are pretty good but a lot of this has been a learning experience for me.
I think you are too hard on yourself, you have done a great job along with those who have helped you. 

Without you guys keeping IRIX and this wonderful hobby alive so much would be lost. I  don't understand a tenth of what you guys discuss here most of the time, but I love the passion I see in the interactions. 
Keep fighting the good fight and don't be afraid to call out for help as this is a very worthwhile effort.

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - mamed - 05-23-2021

Very nice acheivments should be fun to install and give a look! Ahh nekochan a place I wish I had been around for

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - kaigan - 05-23-2021

I got into the SGI community too late to have been around for Nekochan, but the information available in its archives has been invaluable to me (and in helping others) on many occasions. It's an incredible shame that the site was lost.

That said, even through various struggles, splits, and all of that, the community is in a very healthy place. A large group of enthusiasts are working to port software through several projects, we're discovering and rediscovering new and interesting tricks with the hardware, and we're using, enjoying, and preserving as much of the history and knowledge of these systems as we can. That's wonderful.

Raion, your work has been instrumental in that. Your leadership of the IRIX Network and coordination of multiple projects such as Nekoware II and Xenoware help to keep interest alive. I'm proud to be a part of the IRIX Network's staff, even to just be someone ideas can be bounced off of and someone crazy enough to try just about anything with my gear.  Biggrin

It's been a great ride, and I can't wait to see where it goes. Long live the community.

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - Raion - 05-23-2021

Thanks for your thoughts Kaigan. You've been invaluable in the development of the community!

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - Trippynet - 05-23-2021

I'm not as active as I used to be lately, but I was around for several years of Nekochan and it was an invaluable source of info when I bit the bug again, dusted off my O2 from storage and powered it up. This only increased when I got my (now poorly) Indigo2 and Fuel and I was gutted when Pete pulled the plug with no warning.

Thank you Raion and everyone else who has set this place up and kept it going. It's great that we still have a community despite everything that has happened!

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - weblacky - 05-23-2021

I wasn't part of any other sites when Neko went down...I just thought...well damn, how much of that info did I miss that I still need? Maybe it will come back or an archive will show up on wayback or something. After about 2 years, nothing. Then I said to myself, I guess SGI collecting may be just too hard and over by now. I just put everything aside and went on with life. It wasn't until I saw this website and recognized some of the old-timer names that I got excited and got back into it, trying to remember all the questions from Neko that I could remember to ask!

Once I got on this site, I felt it safe to start collecting again (new systems I'd never had before) because I had access to new people that knew stuff about these system that I didn't, so they may be able to tell me what's normal with these beasts.

I've since purchased 6 SGI machines since joining! So the site definitely gives you confidence that even though it's risky, someone may be able to point you in a the direction you need to make your purchased 100% (what parts to try, etc).

I'm part of the Patreon subscribers because this is important to me, I hope SGI collectors do have a place to save/swap info. We cannot hold it all in our heads and as time moves on, without documentation, we forget what those special commands or patches even were.

RE: 5/21/21 - Never Forget (Third Anniversary) - defaultrouteuk - 05-24-2021

This is a huge achievement Raion! F'ing marvelous. My sincere thanks to you and your team. I am glad to be a member of this community.

Lastly, I apologize for my absence of late, however, rumors of my death have been largely exaggerated. I'll try to be more online than I have been of late, I love this place.

To everyone, if you need to find me and I didn't reply to your PM for a day or so...and it's urgent...you can reach me on defaultrouteuk at gmail dot com which is my personal email. Or reach out to Raion who has my cell.