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well, i ended up getting an entry level low specs octane2
no upgrades, no extras, but i liked it so i got it.
it probably hasn't been run in a long time, hopefully it won't have issues.
i can always upgrade it later if i need to.

it comes with an 18GB hdd, how much room does irix take up?
since hdd are pretty cheap i can add a larger second one right now, and just put apps on it.
or just set aside the small hdd and use just one big one for everything.
is there any reason to care about 15k vs 10k rpm? you mentioned heat, but its probably not that big a deal is it?
15k should let it seek faster, maybe perform better.

i could really use some help finding a good flat panel monitor for it. it's harder than i thought it would be.
i've been trying to find a modern flat panel display, with an IPS panel, that has sync on green.
maybe that doesn't exist, but i found some TN panel ones that might work.

what would happen if i used a modern high-res display, would it drop down to a lower supported mode, or just go black-screen out of range?
I mean with just a standard 13w3->vga cable, no extra scan conversion boxes or tricks involved.
if i found one that supports sync-on-green, which is a higher res screen, and has a vga input, would that work ok?
because i mean, these displays can do lower res non-native by putting black bars around it.

also, my modern pc's and laptops don't have a serial port.
so for the nullmodem cable, is it ok if i get a usb to db9-female nullmodem cable like this?
it has options for chipset: PL2303 or FTDI which one should i get?
https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Chipset-C...B0769CTG14

i'm going to just direct connect everything. i got a kvm but i won't experiment with it til i have the system all working.