[weblacky]

Hi All,
I can no longer find any documentation about the Phobos G160 install guidelines.

I have an extra Solid IMPACT with attached Video-4-IMPACT card that I eventually want to install in an Indigo2 R10K Solid IMPACT machine.  Which means I can either replace the current solid IMPACT card with this card or I can install them in tandem.  But the machine has a G160 already installed.

So, I thought the Indigo2 GIO64 bus was only two busses with a pair of ports on each bus.  Can I "share" a Phobos G160 with one of the solid IMPACT cards?  I thought I saw something years ago that said not to do this...but I cannot find any real document that proves otherwise.

I thought they would all "fit" as a SOLID IMPACT only takes a single board slot of space, so I should be able to push the G160 right next to a SOLID IMPACT and properly seat the connectors.

Also it currently runs a 060-8002-xxx PSU, I asked Ian a while ago if this was normal for R10K machine, he said it was.  The info I have claims an R4400 machine can do DUAL SOLID IMPACT with this PSU, but of course I'm talking about an R10K and 
I've never even SEEN a 060-0027-xxx Indigo2 PSU for sale (outside of Ian's listing) in all my 20+ years of collecting SGIs.  So that's unlikely.

Anyone tried something like this combination of a DUAL headed SOLID IMPACT with VIDEO IO with a G160 in an R10K Indigo2?

Advice?

[robespierre]

The Indigo2 expansion slot riser has two logical slots, but either 3 or 4 physical card connectors. (3 on the teal Indigo2, where there are 4 EISA slots. Impact Indigo2 switched those around, so there are only 3 EISA slots but 4 GIO64 connectors.) This is marked clearly on the board where there is only Slot0 and Slot1.

You cannot combine dual graphics heads with GIO64 option cards.

[Trippynet]

What robespierre said. It is only possible to use 2 GIO64 cards in an Indigo2 at a time. Dual-headed graphics with the G160 is not a possible combination. It'll fit, but it won't work. I inadvertently tested this when I installed my MaxIMPACT boardset. It didn't work initially, then I realised I had the G160 in the top slot, so was using both GIO64 ports from one group. Swapping it around so the G160 was at the bottom fixed this as I was then using one card per group and then my Indigo2 booted.

This doesn't cover the EISA slots however, so it is possible to run dual-head graphics with an EISA 100Mb NIC. I have the manual for the Indigo2 and running 2 GIO64 cards plus an EISA card is a supported config.

[robespierre]

Yes, and it's kind of a shame, since the Indy, for example, can handle two GIO32bis cards in addition to graphics, so the chipset has provision for 3 cards (and so does the memory map).

[weblacky]

Ok, so I did remember right in my first statement, that option cards cannot share a bus with graphics.

Ok, general info pages confirm that although the IMPACT-ready backplane provides an additional GIO64 slot that only two GIO64 options may be installed at ounce.

http://www.sgistuff.net/hardware/systems/indigo2.html

Under “expansion slots” section reiterates this point.

The inclusion of a second GIO64 slot in each pair is purely for a power and mounting (not logical bus link). This provides video option boards or multiple-board set graphics with additional power, this is the reason for the flexible FPC cables between a board set (was not done through bus slots) as that was the only available interlink.

Ok, well that’s that then. Sad to choose between dual head and real networking...I never understood why networking wasn’t given a special a slot in Indigo2. If the thing was so powerful why limit to 10Mb? Without a DCD option or anything they really limited the VR and other multi-display market on this model as the data was trapped in a single system during any real application usage.

Not the end of world though, I guess.

[Trippynet]

That's why the Indigo2 wasn't a perfect system, albeit still great for the time. The main problem is that when they upgraded the system with IMPACT and the R10k, they didn't really change much else on it and the rest of the motherboard technologies were several years old by then. 10Mb networking was great in 1992 when the first Indigo2s came on the market, but in 1996 when it received upgrades, they really should have considered upgrading the onboard networking to 100Mb. Similarly, quicker SCSI would have been nice.

Ah well!

[Irinikus]

In my opinion the biggest problem that the Indigo2 has is the lack of available texture memory!!!!! Even with the additional T-RAM's, the Max Impact graphics option is bottlenecked by the tiny amount of texture memory available to it!!!!

If you consider what a Max Impact system will cost you today, you're much better off choosing as system such as an Octane! (So I can't recommend it as a productive machine!)

@Trippynet, I'm obviously aware of the nostalgic value the Indigo2 has to you! (And absolutely appreciate your point of view!)

[Trippynet]

Oh, I fully agree that texture RAM is another flaw of the Indigo2. There really should have been an 8MB option (even if it would have been frightfully expensive at the time). It's one of the reasons that for many years my Indigo2 was just a SolidIMPACT system and I did texturing stuff on my Fuel instead.

That's the thing, there's a number of things that were great about the Indigo2 - it's very solidly built (especially compared to later and more fragile systems), and is a nice little system to use. But like pretty much all SGIs, there are flaws, and the base technology of much of the system is from the early 90s - despite the upgraded graphics/CPU options that came along later.

[Irinikus]

I agree when it comes to the build quality! It's definitely the most solid system SGI produced in my opinion. (The weakest point of the build quality being the power supplies!)

For this reason, I may not power mine up again! (I think that it may be a good idea to recap any of my older machines that have been standing as a precaution, if I ever intend powering them up again, as it seems that when a cap goes it seems to take a whole lot of other downstream components with it! So recapping as a preventative measure is probably a good idea!)

As far a power supplies go, I even cringe every time I power up my Octane2, as I know that the Power supplies in those machines are also a problem!!! (For this reason the Octane2 may not be powered up again either!)

I only intend on using my Tezro from this point onwards! (And maybe the Onyx2, but just imagine recapping an Onyx2's power supply!!!!!!?????)

[sunray]

Hi All,
I can no longer find any documentation about the Phobos G160 install guidelines.

I have an extra Solid IMPACT with attached Video-4-IMPACT card that I eventually want to install in an Indigo2 R10K Solid IMPACT machine.  Which means I can either replace the current solid IMPACT card with this card or I can install them in tandem.  But the machine has a G160 already installed.

So, I thought the Indigo2 GIO64 bus was only two busses with a pair of ports on each bus.  Can I "share" a Phobos G160 with one of the solid IMPACT cards?  I thought I saw something years ago that said not to do this...but I cannot find any real document that proves otherwise.

I thought they would all "fit" as a SOLID IMPACT only takes a single board slot of space, so I should be able to push the G160 right next to a SOLID IMPACT and properly seat the connectors.

Also it currently runs a 060-8002-xxx PSU, I asked Ian a while ago if this was normal for R10K machine, he said it was.  The info I have claims an R4400 machine can do DUAL SOLID IMPACT with this PSU, but of course I'm talking about an R10K and 
I've never even SEEN a 060-0027-xxx Indigo2 PSU for sale (outside of Ian's listing) in all my 20+ years of collecting SGIs.  So that's unlikely.

Anyone tried something like this combination of a DUAL headed SOLID IMPACT with VIDEO IO with a G160 in an R10K Indigo2?

Advice?

Lets see if I can attach some pictures from the install manual and my Indigo2 R10000 with PSU.