[jan-jaap]

Apparently Kurt Akeley (founding team of Silicon Graphics and core developer of all the early big iron graphics) donated his archives to Stanford University:

https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4769497
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030...tire_text/

Material includes, among many others:

Code:

Box 4, Folder 31 Power Series & GFX Libraries
Box 4, Folder 32 Power Challenge & Power Onyx
Box 5, Folder 2 Bali
Box 5, Folder 3 Kona
Box 5, Folder 4 Venice
Box 5, Folder 5 Venice
Box 5, Folder 6 IMP 5
Box 5, Folder 7 VGX
Box 7, Folder 3 IM1
Box 7, Folder 4 DA2/DA3
Box 7, Folder 5 DC4 (CAE Timing)
Box 7, Folder 6 IP2
Box 7, Folder 7 PM2
Box 7, Folder 8 IP1
Box 7, Folder 9 Clover 1
Box 7, Folder 10 UC4
Box 7, Folder 11 UC5
Box 7, Folder 12 DA1
Box 7, Folder 13 GT Chip Set
Box 7, Folder 14 Eclipse
Box 7, Folder 16 Clover 2
Box 7, Folder 17 GE4
Box 7, Folder 18 Clover 3 CPU
Box 8, Folder 3 GE 11
Box 8, Folder 29 ASD Vision
Box 9 Clover 1
Box 9 Clover GL
Box 10 Iris GT Chip Set Specifications
Box 10 Iris 4-D Series Documentation

Some of the code names:

• Clover = 1st generation ('G')
  
• Clover2 = IRIS GT
  
• Eclipse = Personal IRIS gfx
  
• Venice = Reality Engine
  
• Kona  = Infinite Reality
  
• Bali = The aborted successor to IR
  

I would head over there if it wasn't half a world away. Ideally this material should be scanned and uploaded to bitsavers.

[Noguri]

So all hope to get new precious information may not be totally over yet

Nevertheless, and according to Standford library website, it seems there are still some complications ahead:
- The boxes belong to the so-called "special collections", which "are made (only) available for use in the Reading Room. They cannot be checked out from the library or borrowed via Interlibrary Loan.",
- Access to the reading room is itself reserved to Stanford card ID holders,
- There are extra mentions about copyrights and digital copies requests but the link points to a page not found...

Maybe some Stanford insider could provide some more information... and reasons to hope

[robespierre]

- The boxes belong to the so-called "special collections", which "are made (only) available for use in the Reading Room. They cannot be checked out from the library or borrowed via Interlibrary Loan.",
- Access to the reading room is itself reserved to Stanford card ID holders

Those are typical conditions for unique manuscripts or letters donated by an author's estate. It is usually possible for credentialed scholars from other colleges to get access to the collections by permission. As far as scanning goes, if the library is assured that the material is not going to be used for commercial purposes, they may have no issue with photographing or scanning the documents, as long as there is no danger of them being "eaten". So duplexing motor-fed scanners—of the type Bitsavers uses—would be verboten.

Collections of letters from historic figures are scanned and published all the time, but usually with some cooperation from the libraries with custody of the documents.

[jan-jaap]

Well, apparently it has been there since 2002. If it had stayed at SGI then Rackable would probably have destroyed it.

OTOH, Akely probably donated the material in the hope it would be useful to somebody. If there's relevant tech docu in there, maybe he can be convinced that it belongs on bitsavers. Akely himself could open doors at Standford.

[vishnu]

I see he's got some docs on Multigen Creator and Vega in there, we used those on our SGI's for a few years, I was not impressed with them. Looking at the Presagis website, I see they're still marketing them, hopefully they've become more useful in the 30 years since we gave up on them.

[chulofiasco]

I see he's got some docs on Multigen Creator and Vega in there, we used those on our SGI's for a few years, I was not impressed with them. Looking at the Presagis website, I see they're still marketing them, hopefully they've become more useful in the 30 years since we gave up on them.

do you have anything fun I could poke at?

[vishnu]

I see he's got some docs on Multigen Creator and Vega in there, we used those on our SGI's for a few years, I was not impressed with them. Looking at the Presagis website, I see they're still marketing them, hopefully they've become more useful in the 30 years since we gave up on them.

do you have anything fun I could poke at?

How about this, by far the the finest program I've ever written: 😆

Code:

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello World!" << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

[gmcenroe]

Apparently Kurt Akeley (founding team of Silicon Graphics and core developer of all the early big iron graphics) donated his archives to Stanford University:

https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4769497
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030...tire_text/

Material includes, among many others:

Code:

Box 4, Folder 31 Power Series & GFX Libraries
Box 4, Folder 32 Power Challenge & Power Onyx
Box 5, Folder 2 Bali
Box 5, Folder 3 Kona
Box 5, Folder 4 Venice
Box 5, Folder 5 Venice
Box 5, Folder 6 IMP 5
Box 5, Folder 7 VGX
Box 7, Folder 3 IM1
Box 7, Folder 4 DA2/DA3
Box 7, Folder 5 DC4 (CAE Timing)
Box 7, Folder 6 IP2
Box 7, Folder 7 PM2
Box 7, Folder 8 IP1
Box 7, Folder 9 Clover 1
Box 7, Folder 10 UC4
Box 7, Folder 11 UC5
Box 7, Folder 12 DA1
Box 7, Folder 13 GT Chip Set
Box 7, Folder 14 Eclipse
Box 7, Folder 16 Clover 2
Box 7, Folder 17 GE4
Box 7, Folder 18 Clover 3 CPU
Box 8, Folder 3 GE 11
Box 8, Folder 29 ASD Vision
Box 9 Clover 1
Box 9 Clover GL
Box 10 Iris GT Chip Set Specifications
Box 10 Iris 4-D Series Documentation

Some of the code names:

• Clover = 1st generation ('G')
  
• Clover2 = IRIS GT
  
• Eclipse = Personal IRIS gfx
  
• Venice = Reality Engine
  
• Kona  = Infinite Reality
  
• Bali = The aborted successor to IR
  

I would head over there if it wasn't half a world away. Ideally this material should be scanned and uploaded to bitsavers.

That looks like an interesting collection related to SGI company, I live in SF bay area and worked at a biotech company in Mountain View from 1980-2000 in a building across the parking lot from what was once the first Sun Microsystems building.  SGI was down the street in some interesting architecture. Now these are all Google buildings. As a research chemist our company had an agreement for access to the chemistry and medical libraries at Stanford. A few years before, not knowing that their libraries were private, I tried to enter the main undergraduate library. They had security people checking credentials, so I did not get far before they politely booted me out. That is what you get when you are a rival Cal Berkeley alumnus.  My guess is that getting into this archive would be like trying to gain access to a Presidential library, entry only with permission and a good research reason to look over the material. I hope that it gets digitized and preserved.

[hamei]

I tried to enter the main undergraduate library. They had security people checking credentials, so I did not get far before they politely booted me out.

Mine ! Mine ! my precioussss ! Thief ! thief ! try to steal my precioussss ! We hates it, we hates it, we hates if forever !

[vishnu]

Mine ! Mine ! my precioussss ! Thief ! thief ! try to steal my precioussss ! We hates it, we hates it, we hates if forever !

Truer words have seldom been spoken.