Nekochan Net

hinv:



Note that only half the RAM slots have been used.


gfxinfo:




uname -a:



The system is running IRIX 5.3 with XFS, with a 36GB 15000rpm 68pin system disk (Fujitsu MAX3036NP + adapter), 40X CDROM
and QIC-150 tape drive:



It runs buttonfly surprisingly well.

Ian.

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Very cute! Hope to see pics if you get a chance to post some.

bummer

Buttonfly doesn't use textures, and GR graphics doesn't rely on the CPU for geometry so I'm not surprised.

I am somewhat surprised you managed to install IRIX 5.3 on it, when the release notes of IRIX 5.3 w/XFS mention:


If "not supported" != "explodes in your face", then maybe I should try this on my 8MHz IP4 w. 16MB RAM

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jan-jaap writes:
> I am somewhat surprised you managed to install IRIX 5.3 on it, when the

AFAIK any R3K can use it just fine. I've been running 5.3/XFS on IRIS Indigo for years, so I saw
no reason why it wouldn't work on an old PI. It doesn't need anything special in R4K CPUs to function.


> IRIX 5.3 with XFS is not supported on products containing IP4 or IP6 processors.

Could just as easily be SGI not wanting customers to try it, and thus pretending it won't work.


> IRIX 5.3 with XFS is not supported on systems with less than 32MB of RAM.

I've had Indigos with 16MB booting ok.

I think it was just SGI trying to avoid customer issues.

Ian.

Here's an older picture before I took before all the upgrades and OS reinstall:




Here's one I took when I was fiddling about with the internal devices (better CDROM not yet fitted, trying to
clone the temporary 18GB onto a 36GB/15K; didn't work, Fuel wasn't happy with an 18GB 50pin connected
to the 50pin cable, so I cloned the disks using an Indigo2 instead):



Ian.

NB: a 36GB/15K and 40X CDROM are of course overkill for a system of this type, but the idea is to have the most reliable
items possible, and these should last a good long while. Plus, short of changing the CPU/whatever, it's as fast as it can be.
And at least the disk is totally silent.

Ian.

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SGI Systems/Parts/Spares/Upgrades For Sale: http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgidepot/
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c-ray benchmark!

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ROFL!! Ye gods, I dread to think...

Hmm, maybe I'll try the default simple test, but even that might take 8+ minutes to complete.

Ian.

It's interesting to see some pictures of your 4D/20. It's a TFLU chassis (front loading for the HDD), introduced in mid 1989 if I remember correctly. My 4D is dated from november 1988 and had the original chassis.

Next week, I'm certainly able to add some photo off my current ATX mod (thanks to Gerhard web site). An ideal way to revive these workstation that have too often a dead PSU.

The 36gb / 15K HDD is a good surprise, I never tried anything else than these big old 5 1/4" HDD that spin for 30sec after they were powered off...

Practical use with my video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbyV085Yu3g

It's clear that buttonfly run well, I'm curious to see the difference with the Turbo option.

Irix 5.3 is also a good and interesting surprise. I always read that 5.3 was only "usable" on 4D/30 or 35 with 32mb of ram at a minimum, and 4.0.5 the last "usable" version for the 4D/20 and 25. I only have the two original EOE 3.3.2 tapes, I never tried anything else....

Mathieu

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arhiman57 writes:
> It's interesting to see some pictures of your 4D/20. It's a TFLU chassis (front loading for the HDD), introduced in mid 1989 if I remember
> correctly. My 4D is dated from november 1988 and had the original chassis.

I think one of my other PIs might be like this, not sure.


> Next week, I'm certainly able to add some photo off my current ATX mod (thanks to Gerhard web site). An ideal way to revive these
> workstation that have too often a dead PSU.

Thanks for the info you sent me about that! Looking forward to your summary post on the procedure.


> The 36gb / 15K HDD is a good surprise, I never tried anything else than these big old 5 1/4" HDD that spin for 30sec after they
> were powered off...

With the old big disks, it's a wonder the PI doesn't take off.


> It's clear that buttonfly run well, I'm curious to see the difference with the Turbo option.

When I can I'll see if I have a Turbo somewhere, but not for a while.


> Irix 5.3 is also a good and interesting surprise. I always read that 5.3 was only "usable" on 4D/30 or 35 with 32mb of ram at a minimum,
> and 4.0.5 the last "usable" version for the 4D/20 and 25. I only have the two original EOE 3.3.2 tapes, I never tried anything else....

I certainly wouldn't call it snappy, but it's useable. Just about. Worth it though IMO in order to have the newer sw stuff beyond 4.0.5.

Ian.

PS. I seem to lead a stretched techy existence; here I am sorting out a 12MHz PI, meanwhile today I bought a Core i7 870, hehe...

The Turbo option seems to be a bit fragile - I've heard of several having failures causing graphics lockups (have one of them with the problem). Haven't poked around enough to see if it's a RE overheat issue or something with the quad DSPs. Do know that pulling the Turbo and replacing it with a spare RE2 fixed the problem, so it's one of those.

Do the DSPs replace the Weitek GE or merely augment it? Haven't gotten far enough into the code to figure it out, and the tech info I've found doesn't go that deep into the Turbo Option.

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Great to hear of another one coming back to life.
The IP6 will support a full compliment of parity 4mb SIMMS which double the memory spec to 64mb and the system does not complain about it If you can get the memory, I dare you to five it a shot.
I recommend you fit a QIC150. With the volume header on my drive full of bad blocks, I found something enjoyable about booting my system by initially loading sash from a tape.

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I already had one in the machine, sold it for a decent price. I have some others, but untested as yet.

Ian.

QIC-150 test successful! Updated the hinv in the orig post.

Ian.

I happen to have a bunch of the Toshiba SIMMS that don't require the stop-write-warm restart sequence to work.

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Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Systems available for remote access on request.

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