[Irinikus]

We're well on our way, in my opinion!

Not being able to openly talk software on Nekochan was detrimental to the community in my opinion!

Your opinion is extremely uninformed. There were thousands of posts, particularly in /dev, by professionals in places like CERN, who really knew what they were talking about from a time when Irix was being used in high-end situations. I miss joerg in particular. The man didn't run an Octane, he ran a multi-rack Origin 2000 for a desktop.

That will never come again.

About "not talking about software" that's equally ridiculous. People talked about software all the time. Many people would run through rare and unusual software that we will never see again, putting up screenshots of themselves producing something. foetz did graphics programs several times, unixmuseum did cadcam and fea, others demonstrated other rare and unusual programs.

What you couldn't do was talk warez .... which I notice has happened here as well. Even thinking you could take on Autodesk and others in public was silly. I cannot understand why people ever thought they could.

The demise of nekochan was not a blessing in any way, particularly in the way it happened.

You're right, I may be uninformed on this subject, as I too was late to the party as far as Nekochan was concerned, and things had already largely turned sour at that point.

The manner in which the forum was shut down was pretty pretty much a big F-YOU to all of us, and it's very sad that useful information from the site will more than likely never be recovered.

I do however have the opinion that the "devision" in the community that has formed since (and as a result) may prove to be good for the community, as it gives people options, and thus helps to alleviate tensions on both fronts, as long as the fronts don't confront each other, that is.

From what I see, there's little tension on the Silicon Graphics User Group, as well as on this forum. Far less on either than there was on Nekochan on a good day, towards the end anyway.

From what I see, old faces keep popping up all the time, so this may help to restore some of the lost information in time.

All we can do really, is make the best of a bad situation. (And I think that we are rising to the challenge.)

[Irinikus]

Yes, the way that this was handled was quite petty. I am just hoping that one day whatever caused that action will recede far enough in Pete's mind that he decides "oh to heck with it, let me wrap this all up and dump it on the internet somewhere."  Otherwise, it's just gone. The people who contributed that knowledge don't deserve that.

I agree!

I really hope that in time, we as a community redeem ourselves enough in Pete's eyes to allow that to happen!

[Raion]

I noticed today that it appears Peter has renewed the Nekochan domain name. I hope it comes back in some capacity.

Peter, if you're ever lurking here, I'm open to talking to you still.

[weblacky]

Just to throw in my two cents on Nekochan and this new forum.

I was a Nekochan user for about a 4 year period from 2010-2013, I don't think I was in before that...not sure. I was renewed after many years by finally being able to buy more SGI systems locally (major dry spell, like 7-8 years, for chances to buy), which renewed me to fixing those new system and issues (I had already fixed all issues with what I owned back in 1998-2003).

I actively posted because I had gotten a Tezro in 2010 and it was a very rare find back then, so I had my 15 minutes (or less) of fame.

I don't remember there being discussion tracking (no notices via email of thread movement), so I had to remember to check threads every day (which became too hard). I also felt like much of the info should have been sticky as a basic knowledge base, I don't think it was. So basic organization of this rare (mined) info was lacking, you'd have to read a huge thread to find the four pieces of info you needed.

Now of course, I didn't mind all this because we were lucky to HAVE the info. But staying actively involved after your issue was fixed was not easy. I think it's much easier here because the notifications keep me coming back and engaged.

I also think (aside from our newbies) that the real old timers that like to share and have that knowledge are (for the most part) here, right now. They were the ones that wanted to keep coming back (like me) to see people's fixes. We've managed to keep this pretty civil, I think we're all still grateful to have a place this this to meet again (even informally). I don’t think users have gotten too comfortable where they’ve started to post bad content (outside of proper discussion areas).

So thanks again to Raion for setting this up and for letting people (like me) join with just a simple sign up.

I'll admit that the SGI landscape SGI really changed in some ways (that I didn't fully predict). I got in when they (SGI) was still running the MIPS business, still had free SGI supportfolios via registration of a system on Irix, free software directly from SGI server HTTP! Maintenance downloads for free and patches! I saw it go offline, but it was still fresh in our minds and for a while still online (like the manuals and such, thank god someone kept those up).

Now new people are coming in who never saw any of that, never even saw the net in 2003 and can't really grasp todays media content-consumption oriented computers versus industrial single-purpose computers and applications (outside of CNC). When I was around, SGIs were ALWAYS being unloaded by the pallet full (kid you not) at Boeing Surplus, eBay, and local (large) computer recyclers as nearly junk. They tried to up prices but they were not too bad for Indy and Indigo2 (or lower) stuff. Octanes were still being used so those were high, then in 2008, I started to see cheap Octanes (didn’t get one until recently though).

In the last 3 years prices have gone pretty insane, so that became my tipping point, to finish my collection before prices went out of reach (still have three station models to go). I’m still trying, but I remember the days when SUN SCSI CDROM enclosures were door stops and $20 on eBay and SGIs were a several hundred with full monitor and peripherals. SCSI drives were considered trash and you could stock up for $40-$50 on basic (9GB or less) sizes. Good thing I never got rid of anything :-)

Now I see BUSTED and ABBUSED SGIs for many hundreds of dollars, not even turnkey working. People are stealing peripherals and drives/trays so those aren’t included. It’s devolved from a gentlemanly sport to a MMA fistfight for new buyers.

Many of our new users have broken machines that have either been damaged as trash or mistreated by previous owners and now need real help making things right again.

I feel like this community has the core to do that, people posting about fixing things, how to properly install Irix from the start, patch information, and more. I don’t really care too much about the applications (to me it’s the status and history of SGIs, not really the practicalities).

People here are more willing to dig into problems and not be too concerned with personal details or fighting. I like that and want things to stay that way, collecting is a fun activity and learning is too. This place has shown that many users here are of like mind.

Let’s have fun learning about these systems, new issues, and cheering on new success stories.

Thanks for reading,
-Weblacky

[Raion]

Thanks for your input weblacky. I should note I have dexter1 and several other community members doing their part as well.

I realize I've had to grow into a leadership position. I'm also the main one here keeping everything maintained. It's not easy at all, but someone has to do it. And I'm certainly not going to leave it to others. The fact that you can't even reach a lot of content via HTTP is why I'm so militant about having compatibility.

Indeed high end SGIs are in a dry spell. I think prices will go back down again during the next recession; but that will take time. I'll be ready to snap up what I can. I do worry long term about going to Japan and trying to bring my big stuff with me. I'll probably elect to take a boat and either buy a container to put my SGIs inside, or load them into my cabin. Shipping an Onyx2 or Tezro is just retarded. Or I'll sell and replace them; either way I like to think I'm here for the long haul.

[micrex22]

One of my biggest issues with Nekochan is that there was a general lack of rapport. If I had posted something it was mainly just me talking to myself on various subjects thinking out loud. I think that was due to the languishing admin team and there wasn’t a motive for anyone to connect their circles of people together.