[mgtremaine]

uunix is wise... Still have a cup of bitterness to drink from last time I shipped an SGI. I was sure it would be fine and yet UPS managed to shatter an INDY case, I shudder to think what an O2 and the other tower offerings must go through.

-Mike

[necron2600]

If you are not focused solely on a Tezro or high-spec SGI, I do have some ~mid-spec Octanes lying around north of Boston.

[bjames]

A "bargain" for Xmas here ! : https://www.ebay.com/itm/50416005200-SGI...3323036953

LOL.. I saw that too...  $70k CAD, I thought the seller was trying to recoup what he paid for it 19 years ago.  But then I thought they didn’t sell for that much, unless he is adding inflation and the cost to f software.

just for kicks, you should make him an offer and see what response you get.

[Jacques]

That is well cheap hamei, especially for the V12 and dual 400s!

[tseter]

Hi,

I have started looking into SGI machines late 2019 and own two Indigo2 now. What you need to consider is that every contemporary computer is much more capable than even the latest SGI machines. Also, IRIX software is severely limited compared to modern software. This means that at least for me, there is no point in going for the top SGI's as no matter how much money I will spend on an SGI system, the systems are not good for anything more than playing around - forget any productivity. Maybe even a Raspberry Pi 4 is more powerful than a top Tezro - an entry level Macbook Pro certainly is. As such, to get a glimpse on how it was back in the days and to play around, any SGI system does it for me.

[necron2600]

"not good for anything more than playing around - forget any productivity"

that is quite bleak
I guess it depends on what your productivity needs are. The same thing has been said before about Linux vs Windows.

An SGI, with IRIX+nekoware, can be used today as a systems administration platform and Cloud management (amazon AWS APIs, vmware ESX/vSphere API, etc..), you can also develop with python or ruby, and more, languages. Photography and graphics editing. Vector graphics and painting (with a Wacom pen tablet too). Document and image scanning. PDF creation and manipulation. Desktop publishing (design and publish for digital and print media). Technical documentation creation. Spreadsheets. Data visualization (maple, mathematica, Octave, ParaView, vis5d, CERN Root, etc..). Systems engineering with UML and SysML tools. 3D modeling. CAD design. PCB circuit design. Audio (MIDI (keyboard input, etc..), multichannel XLR mic inputs, editing, etc..). Servers (web, ftp, database, email, file server (smb/nfs), etc..). HD-video editing (albeit not very modern but the basics are all there). Email. Video input (some SGI models) for use with microscope and stereoscope cameras. Some Games. Emulation with MAME, and many classic gaming consoles. Emulation of Commodore64, Amiga, Win95, OS/2, MacOS, AtariST, DOS, ScummVM, DEC VAX and PDP systems (SimH), IBM Mainframes (Hercules), etc...
All that with multi-monitor support too (depending on SGI model).

Of course, there is no modern web browser that runs on IRIX.. but if that is required to be productive today, then a smartphone or chromebook would be all that is needed. I, personally, would simply remote desktop (RDP) into a windows VM to display a modern web browser on an SGI to solve that need.

In conclusion, an SGI system can still be usable and good for productivity today.. depending on your specific needs and expectations.

[Trippynet]

I have started looking into SGI machines late 2019 and own two Indigo2 now. What you need to consider is that every contemporary computer is much more capable than even the latest SGI machines. Also, IRIX software is severely limited compared to modern software.

Well, this is quite obvious really. Indigo2s date originally from late 1992 (with upgrades in the form of the R10k and IMPACT in 1996). Even the most recent MIPS-based SGIs date from the early 2000s and use an OS that was released in 1998, so it's hardly surprising that they're well and truly out-performed by modern machines and have limited software available for them these days.

Thing is, that's not what SGIs are about. If you want to run modern software and do modern productivity things, a newer PC or Mac will be better. However, there are plenty of very decent 2D/3D graphical tools for IRIX, plus SGIs were used for all sorts of professional development in the 90s and 2000s, so software even from that era can still be surprisingly capable.

Ultimately it is about your expectations. I use my SGIs mainly for hobbyist stuff, music, programming etc. but I've seen plenty of decent 3D modelling and other such stuff that people such as Irinkus continues to do with his systems, plus necron2600 is correct that there are plenty of other good uses for them still. There's plenty of limits of course, but then there are with all older computers. It's about aligning your expectations with what old SGI systems are capable of doing.

[tseter]

Hi guys, you are right and I was a bit too definitive in my statement about productivity. What I meant was more "if you operate a business and/or your income depends on the hardware and/or software that you are using, it is generally not a good idea to invest in SGI machines in 2020". SGI will simply not give you an competitive advantage in 2020 and IRIX is a data safety risk when connected to a public network. This does of course not mean that there are no exceptions. George RR Martin is believed to write his novels on a DOS PC and is by all means a professional who depends on word processing. I also see the charm of the machines and a certain "calmness" radiated by the old soft- and hardware. That the Indigo2 is a design icon that should be in the MoMa instead of the G4 Cube goes also without saying (for me;-). Anyway, for me my initial point is still valid as I personally do not see the point in investing several thousand dollars in e.g. a Tezro that might be 10x faster than the Indigo2 but is still blown out of the water by my IPad as I can also enjoy the "SGI magic" with a Indigo2 for a few hundred dollars.

[necron2600]

New take on same old idea (VMs and remote desktop of apps): 
   
This is a mock image/idea.
Note: If RDP is used..  then the windows application could seamlessly access your IRIX home dir, or other directories on the IRIX filesystem.

[Raion]

Dodoid's D1 works on a similar principle, except he has found that 10Mbits of bandwidth gets chewed up fast for Remote X, VNC etc.