0010 A truly "extreme" 3D graphics card from the 90s

[@mapesdhs597]

Adrian, sincere apologies for not sending you a covering email about the contents of the parcel. After posting I left for a month to an island to deal with my late step-Dad's house, got utterly immersed in various outdoor works (drainage, dry stone wall, fence construction along a river bank, cutting back trees, etc.) and completely forgot. I had a very non-nerd October. I remembered about sending some info after I returned last week, figured I'd get to email you proably next week, but you've beaten me to it. :D I've not watched the video yet, just about to, so just a quicky note while I think of it. The chocolate biscuit chunks were made by my partner, from a combination of crushed "Molly's" digestive biscuits and melted "Molly's" dark chocolate, plus sultanas or somesuch (I'll have to ask her, I forget the exact ingredients offhand). Always very tasty, what's intriguing is the surprising low cost of the chocolate bars (30p each, about 41c) and packets of digestive biscuits (31p). She changes the ratios each time, chunk sizes, etc., so each trayfull varies in sweetness, chunkier or not, etc. I included a couple of Molly's bars; for how good it tastes, one would never imagine it would cost so much less than the likes of Bourneville, or even supermarket mainstream own-brand dark chocolate bars (which in general are pretty good, ie. Tesco has a different bar which costs more but still cheaper than Bourneville). Anyway, if you like them (I'll find out shortly, hehe), I can send some more. My gf is often sceptical of my claims of her choccy munch awesomeness, but now perhaps seeing your response she'll at last believe me. :) Now some notes as I've watched the video... 0:54 - Those foam pieces came in a shipment from CA a couple of months ago (several rackmount Tezro systems), which did include a roughly equal number of that thickness of sheeting plus the type that's twice as thick. I normally use mostly bubblewrap and foam chips, but just for you I made a special exception, using foam/poly blocks where I could, and if need be isolating foam chips inside food freezer bags to spare you the tactile horror. Note I long ago wrote a general advice page on packaging for ebay/ebid users, see: www.sgidepot.co.uk/postingadvice.html 2:07 - Ah yes! The gloves. :D I bought the wrong size by mistake, so decided to include the box for you, either for your own use (great for soldering work, a la Louis Rossmann style), or feel free to pass them on to someone else if they're too large for your hands aswell. 2:15 - I remember now what I did. Anything you were not expecting to receive has a smiley on it... I plan btw on sending you something else next year, but that's for a future MMMC... 3:25 - It blows my mind how much and fast time has passed since we talked about your Indigo2. Again and again I wanted to get the items sorted out and posted, but other matters kept delaying things, then at last, between island visits doing drainage work, I finally got it all sorted. Duh me for forgetting about the covering email though, there were various things I was going to explain, inparticular the two different OS installs (6.2 and 6.5.22), the books, chocolates, etc. 4:47 - Oh! I totally forgot I included the mug. :D Very rare, given to me long ago by a senior engineer at SGI, I've never used it. Rather than it spending another decade or two in a box though, I figured you might like it. 6:20 - SGIs of the relevant type don't need those other small pins, just the main RGB and ground (with sync sent on the green channel of course), but this particular adapter is interesting because it does work ok just as it is with SGIs, whereas other adapters, unless modified, often do not, far example those made by SUN Microsystems. One can usually use a SUN adapter by removing the relevant conflicting smaller pin(s), or just all of them if one doesn't want to spend time figuring which to remove. 8:03 - Yes indeed. 6.5.22, the last version of IRIX for Indigo2, has more features, is easier to install and manage, provides better peripheral support and some other differences, but compared to 6.2 it can be quite the resource hog on an older system like Indigo2, or others from that era (Indy, ChallengeS, IRIS Indigo). 6.2 will feel a lot snappier, but it's less feature rich, less refined in its GUI functionality, etc. Perhaps the biggest difference is with how patch updates were managed, it can be all too easy to mess things up by installing the wrong patch on 6.2, whereas from 6.5 onwards SGI used a new system that pretty much makes it impossible to install something in error. The IRIS desktop is also better with 6.5.x though, in various ways. NOTE: when installing a disk into an SGI for the first time, it's possible upon power on for the PROM to lose the definition of the environment variable called OSLoadFilename. When this happens, the system cannot boot (an error which SGI never fixed). Thus, after fitting either disk and turning on the system, press Escape to access the Maintenance Menu, press 5 to go into Command Monitor and enter 'printenv', look for OSLoadFilename. It should be set to, "/unix". If it is blank, then enter: setenv OSLoadFilename /unix Then press CTRL+D to exit back to the menu, press 1 to start the system. You only need to do this once, it'll be fine on future boots. The disk btw, a Seagate 36GB 15K ST336753LC, is the best I've found for Indigo2, because in addition to having a good access time it is also very quiet. NOTE: although the Indigo2 chassis uses an inverted SCA connector, SCSI devices on the bus are *not* hot swappable. The bus is only FastSCSI2 (10MB/sec), ie. narrow and single-ended (same applies to Indy and ChallengeS). Not all later LVD disks support these compatibility modes, inparticular some SCA drives by Fujitsu. The largest capacity disk one can use in Indigo2 is a 300GB 10K or 15K, good models being the Seagate ST3300007LC and ST3300655LC. One can also use 68pin disks but that requires a different adapter, though curiously Fujitsu 68pin disks do work in Indigo2, but I stick to SCA as 50/68pin adapters are more expensive and modern suppliers often use the wrong pinout, something I discovered many years ago: www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/adaptertesting1.jpg www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/adaptertesting2.jpg www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/adaptertesting3.jpg Maybe such newer adapters work with other systems, but not with SGIs, whereas all the 50/80 adapters I've bought have been ok. I've tested a Samsun 850 Pro 512GB SATA in Indigo2 using a Acard ARS-2160H SCSI/SATA bridge box, that worked ok, though not useful speed gain, but the SCSI2SD is a better solution as the Acard devices don't seem to be that reliable in non-LVD systems. 9:15 - The RAM must be 72pin, 36bit, parity, 60 or 70ns, preferably gold edge but tin is usually ok too. Not EDO. That package is 64MB total, 4x 16MB SIMMs. It's the same type of RAM found in Pentium Pro servers and sometimes 486 systems too (typically workstation builds). R4K series Indigo2 has 12 slots supporting a max of 384MB using 32MB SIMMs. The later R10000 Indigo2 can use 64MB and 128MB SIMMs aswell, though the max is 1GB. 10:15 - The 6.2 disk is of course already on a sled with an adapter fitted. I wanted to include the 6.5.22 disk in the same way; alas I couldn't find a spare sled in time, but threw in the extra adapter anyway, figured you might find it handy for other systems aswell. 12:35 - For full details of Extreme graphics, see Section 5 of the Indigo2 Technical Report: www.sgidepot.co.uk/i2.html Btw, SGI included so many details of how their tech worked in documents like this that it resulted in one rival being able to copy their work; SGI sued but lost the case IIRC. As a result, SGI never again published such detailed info about its tech, so to this day very little is known about how their final VPro gfx products work. It was years until the Octane Technical Report found the light of day, which does explain how MGRAS gfx works, which in the later Indigo2 was referred to as IMPACT, MaxIMPACT being particularly sought after as it was the first desktop gfx to offer fully functional 3D with mimapped textures (in Octane it's called MXI). 15:30 - Feel free to take the card set apart to have a look at the different boards, it's quite easy to do, and note that SGI's 1990s PCBs are very resilient to ESD so don't worry about that too much. I'm not sure where this particular set came from. I obtained about 30 sets separately long ago, but also lots of systems over many years. I have about sixty Indigo2s atm. 17:02 - Choc chunk on top made from the bars below. :D Well, not those specific bars, that would be weird. :) 18:35 - Others on the beach will wonder why you're laughing, hehe. 19:40 - Just gloves in there. :D Hmm, looks like they're maybe a bit too big for your hands aswell. I usually buy the Medium size.

[@stevewhitcher6719]

Some people are dismissive of the "value" range of the British supermarkets, but i always give them a go some are good value and some dont taste that great. If saving a quid on a bar of choccy means you can buy more retro gear then its great, but my coffee is always either from freshly ground beans or at a pinch those starbucks nespresso pods.

[@ZakHooiTM]

Would be awesome to reproduce those mugs, would like one on my desk

[@organiccold]

Now, this what i call a step by step. :)

[@squeakonline]

That's chocolate Tiffin cake! I make it but with milk choc... It is awesome! Take your frustrations out wholloping a bag of digestive biscuits with a rolling pin 😂

[@W62315]

As soon as I saw that packaging and heard SGI I knew it was from Ian! Cheers!

[@RetroJack]

Obligatory Jurassic Park quote for Irix: "It's a UNIX system!" she exclaims. "I know this!"

[@dmtd2388]

First full reality CGI that changed Hollywood Jurassic Park CGI made and rendered in 1992 by Silicon Graphics and pre rendered by Amigas 3000 workstation while PCs and Macs back then where in stone ages or office excel machines and some dos gaming

[@IanSlothieRolfe]

Tom Sharpe was a writer, best known for his Wilt series, as well as Porterhouse Blue and Blott on the Landscape, all three of which were adapted for television. His books were considered a bit rude and offensive for the time but hilarious, in the tradition of farce.

[@stealthbanana]

Indecent exposure and Riotous Assembly are two of the funniest books I have ever read.

[@tmbarral664]

I nearly died laughing reading Wilt. A must read ;)

[@DavidMarshall15]

Read Wilt over 30 years ago, back in my teens when I generally didn't have time for books but Wilt was one book I couldn't put down.

[@evensgrey]

I saw the TV adaptation of Porterhouse Blue. It was wonderful how, at the end, the college collectively did get their revenge on the new, and many people would now recognize deeply corrupt, Headmaster.

[@MrLukealbanese]

I remember reading a Byte magazine review of the SGI Indigo 2 with the extreme graphics card while I was doing my Masters in 1992. It cost $86,000!!!!

[@GeoffSeeley]

The university I went to in the late '80's had one SGI (Iris?) workstation accessible by students but you had to sign up for usage and have a reason to use it. I built a pseudo forms language to Postscript compiler (for compiler class) as my reason to use it but I recall playing the flight simulator mostly and learning how to outer-loop a 747 :-) Fun times!

[@edgeeffect]

Back in the day, I had a "posh" 386 and my mate had a massively upgraded Amiga 1200 and we DREAMED of an SGI... Tom Sharpe was quite a big comedy writer in the early 1980s.

[@boontau]

Very generous donar and spend a lots of effort in packaging..

[@mapesdhs597]

Thanks! 8)

[@W62315]

Holy crap Adrian has an SGI too? My favorite retro tech channel with the coolest vintage hardware around? This is amazing!

[@Petertronic]

I read the Adrian Mole books - and I had the editions with the same covers as yours. Good times!

[@MichaelClark-uw7ex]

I remember when everyone thought my 1MB Trident card, 300 MB HDD and Sound Blaster were state of the art.

[@dglcomputers1498]

Ms. Mollys is Tesco's budget sweets range, so basically the cheapest chocolate they sell, it used to be sold under the "Tesco Value" name. For people unfamiliar with who Tesco are, they are the UK's biggest supermarket chain who also own/merged with the most well known wholesale "cash and carry" retailer Booker. Compared to their rivals they are nearly as large as their two biggest competitors combined and have both large, medium and convenience stores, plus they also have convenience store franchises under the Budgens, One Stop, Londis and Premier brands.

[@Dukefazon]

4:05 - I can see a Game Boy and some similar devices too :) I was cleaning two Game Boys yesterday and I had a nitrile glove on. I had to check stuff on the Internet and I just casually touched the touchpad on my laptop and my phone and I was surprised that the touchpad worked without a problem with the nitrile gloves, I didn't know this.

[@eliseosterbrink8000]

I just found your channel yesterday and have to say that I'm really enjoying your content! My dad didn't really do a whole lot of electronics stuff with me while I was growing up, but if he had you'd definitely remind me of that. You're just so passionate about all of the cool old electronics that you get and it's absolutely contagious! I don't know a ton about computers in general but all of your videos help me piece things together so I can better understand how the various components work. Thank you for what you do! :)

[@jameslewis2635]

Time for an SGI upgradathon. Lets see how far you can upgrade that Indigo 2 which looks like one of the more basic SGI machines of the day. That graphics card is more than a bit crazy with 3 boards attached to each other AND an empty expansion port on the uppermost board.

[@Codeaholic1]

Installing Irix and applying all the patch overlays takes forever. Be glad if he did that for you. Clone that HD and save it. I miss my octane 2. It really was a great machine. I also had a Fuel and O2. Neither of them were great to work with in 2002.

[@mapesdhs597]

It's certainly a pain with 6.2, though I use product selections files which makes it very easy to do, but yes it can take a while on an underpowered system. I even used the OS install process as a benchmark way back.

[@Codeaholic1]

@@mapesdhs597 Yeah i did 6.5 install on my O2 and regretted every minute. Not to mention not knowing which failed patches were important and which weren't.

[@VintageImitationParts]

10:55 Looks like Tiffin? Crushed rich tea biscuits, golden syrup, sultanas, cocoa powder all mixed up and pushed into a shallow tray, melted milk chocolate poured on top, refrigerate to set. Delicious!

[@magnustveten492]

He is a brave man…..

[@andyjdhurley]

Crushed digestives normally round these parts but certainly delicious.

[@blackwolf9748]

So excited to see some SGI stuff on your channel! Can't wait to see the follow up!

[@frazzleface753]

Like many from the 80s I read the two main Adrian Mole books. I also remember reading that Tom Sharpe blurb on that back 🤣 It was uncanny how Sue Townsend was able to tune into the thoughts of a teenaged boy of the early 80s. One of my favourite diary entries though, was when Adrian's Dad got out of bed in a panic after hearing on the radio that the UK was at war over the Falkland Islands. He promptly went back to bed when he found out the islands were thousands of miles away.

[@BrewProof]

would love to see something like quake or doom running on that SGI machine with before/after benchmarks for that new GPU. not sure if anyone bothered to port those but i bet even Q3 could run decently with that new card if a good port exists

[@mapesdhs597]

Alas Extreme is early in the days of SGI 3D technology on desktop and thus at that point did not support hardware texture mapping (that came later with IMPACT, which was fast but of course not optimised for gaming; the same IMPACT tech but in faster form was carried over to the Octane workstation in 1996). MaxIMPACT certainly runs even Quake2 very well. I have though benched Quake/2 running in software mode on various SGIs including Indigo2, unsurprisingly one has to run it in a very small window to be playable, and really it's not playable on earlier R4K systems. Quake2 though does benefit greatly from hardware texture support and is thus best suited to High/MaxIMPACT, O2 or better gfx on SGIs. The Quake3 port runs decently only on VPro (ie. V6, V8, V10 and V12, found in Octane/2, Fuel, Tezro and certain high end systems such as Onyx350), with which 1600x1200 works fine, whereas MXI/MXE can run it but really not quite smoothly enough. When it came out I actually bought, played and finished Quake2 on an R5K/200, not a PC. Anyway, here are the Quake/2 numbers (I've not gathered Quake3 data, not much point since only VPro is really viable): www.sgidepot.co.uk/quake1bench.html www.sgidepot.co.uk/quake2bench.html As for Doom, it of course uses more of a 2D engine than 3D, which means needing a fast 2D pixel fill rate. Original Doom ran at a very low res, which looks tiny on a typical SGI 1280x1024 display from that era, so one can use scaling options to zoom it up by 2x, 3x or 4x, at which point it's blatting massively more pixels to the screen than the PC version ever was. It runs especially well on Indy XL24 gfx which is more of a 2D board. Extreme is geared towards 3D but still has a 2D fill rate high enough to run Doom full screen. See the following for various primitive fill rate and other comparisons: www.sgidepot.co.uk/gfxtables.html XL24 gfx was available for Indigo2 aswell (I have several) but as with Indy it was meant more for 2D tasks such as imaging and video, combined for example with Indigo2Video and CosmoCompress for full size/rate PAL/NTSC MJPEG capture and playback at quality rates as high as 4:1 (which looks very good indeed; I once used such a config to capture all of Phantom Menace, more than two hours of PAL, without a single dropped frame, all via a simple shell command using dmrecord). The guys at id (whom I visited in 1995 just before Quake came out) told me later that natively written versions of Quake/2/3 games for SGIs could run much better, making optimised use of SGI-specific features (such as unlimited textures and video-as-texture on O2), but the ports as they are were just "quick and dirty" to get the job done. Still, they run pretty well all things considered. And in case you're interested, see: www.gamers.org/dhs/usavisit/

[@petertorda5487]

Definitely YES!!! Show SGI machine. For many of us grown up in 80's / 90's they have been almost mythical machines operated by only chosen ones, same like CMI Fairlight, or Ned Synclavier in music :-D

[@CallousCoder]

I worked on SGI machines, but the CMI Fairlight as a synth head, is still on my wish list! I envy Chris from Retro Recipes, that his friend Chris Blythe will allow him to play his restored Fairlight. I can't wait for that episode. 32.000 dollars back in the 80s. That was as much as a 128.000 in today's money... pfff.... My love for synths doesn't go that far :D

[@petertorda5487]

@@CallousCoder Very interesting machine, used by my favorite artists. Also still keep waiting for next episode of that build. Anyway I can says, that SGI graphics and CMI Fairlight were responsible for my interest into computers that days. :-)

[@mapesdhs597]

@@petertorda5487 Just a thought, do you guys know about the MrFirechild channel? I think you might like it: kzbin.info I always wanted to get into synth stuff and compose, but I ended up with 100+ SGIs instead. :}

[@petertorda5487]

@@mapesdhs597 Hmm, his channel looks interesting, last video Yamaha CS-80 (Vangelis synth :-)), thanks for tip. Anyway this is interesting, what you can squeezed out from regular XG midi module. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6i4iKqep6-EmLs. Also maybe you can post something from your SGI collection on your channel. I remember when 3Dfx came out, "Aaaa SGI graphics in my computer". :-D

[@mapesdhs597]

@@petertorda5487 Most welcome! I'll likely post something someday, but probably not on YT. I don't think their algorithm could cope with the fact that SGI gave me permission long ago to publish their various PR materials, eg. if I digitised original VHS demo videos, something I've wanted to do for a long time (I have quite a few). Also, because of my somewhat spicey political commentaries on entirely unrelated channels elsewhere, anything I posted on YT would probably just be a magnet for haters who couldn't care less about SGIs. I'm sure this is why I have 38 subscribers even though my channel has no content at all, I think they keep hoping I'll post something. :} Maybe instead I'll create a different channel that's solely about SGIs, keep it separate. That would probably be more sensible, but not for a while, no time just now. Btw, this is the one that got me hooked on Firechild's channel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2bKqp-YodJrm9k I do have one basic synth (Casio CZ-1000, sadly needs repair), but nowhere to set it up and no time to do anything with it, and my guitars gather dust. Some day. I have music in my head I need to let out. :D

[@flekkzo]

It’s such a bummer SGI didn’t survive. They were so awesome and I wish we could have seen where they ended up today.

[@mapesdhs597]

To have persisted they would have had to undertake massive shifts in management style, return to their roots, get rid of secretive pricing, ditch the reseller sales model entirely as it was hurting them badly, and a whole host of other things, but by the time the company had entered the VW320/540 era it was already largely too late. SGi made a lot of mistakes, some definitely avoidable, others a bit more iffy to judge with hindsight, but certain foundational structures were just plain bad, such as charging for the compilers and insisting on licenses for things like Cinepak encoding support. They used licenses for all sorts of sw products but it was never a serious revenue source, it just held back wider adoption, along with a confusing OS licensing policy (many believed the physical media had to be original, which was never the case). There really ought to be a movie about them, their legacy can be found everywhere and many of their systems are still used today, people just don't know about it.

[@another3997]

You could say the same about many companies that didn't survive. 3DFX, SUN, Palm, Psion, Acorn to name but a few... all had good ideas and/or groundbreaking products, and all are gone. But they all left a legacy.

[@ChrisDreher]

I recognize that 180 pin / 9 blade white connector in the middle of the video card's top board! I selected the 100 pin / 5 blade version of that same part in the mid-1990s for a custom embedded PCI connector. My 100-pin connector was made by AMP in early 1998, with part number 149009-4. That brings back memories! Now I wonder what SGI used that connector for. Maybe video memory expansion?

[@ChrisDreher]

Note: the 149009-4 is for the 100-pin male connector, not the 180-pin female connector seen on the SGI video card.

[@nerdmeister2]

No, it is for the Indigo2 Video or Galileo Video Option.

[@6581punk]

14:13 I can't see LSI without thinking of the song by the Shamen.

[@HaveYouTriedGuillotines]

The Shamen! They have such a good sound, I really need to try writing something Shamen esque one of these days.

[@fdfmad]

Can t wait seeing the silicon graphics upgrade!!!

[@Mrhellacat]

Love old fashioned super high end fringe hardware! Thanks!

[@stevencarlson5422]

must have a video on the silicon graphics machine !!!! with that new card

[@coyote_den]

What if it was a "special" brownie and Adrian starts giggling uncontrollably by the end of the video?

[@alienprotein69]

Would love to see this 😂

[@wizdude]

We’re all waiting for “the moment” when the brownie kicks in :-)

[@andyjdhurley]

I'm pretty sure that was tiffin, not a brownie and they are usually delicious so I quite understand the glee.

[@frazzleface753]

Adrian is so positive and laughs a lot, I'm not sure we'd notice 😊

[@minty_Joe]

That would be entertaining

[@paulwratt]

We got the UK TV series of "The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole" here in NZ (AU too?) during the mid to late 80's - looking forward to the next SGI video

[@bjf10]

I sysadmin'd IRIX machines from 2001-2003, mostly Octanes but we had some old Indigos, Indigo 2s, Indys, and O2s around (mostly as xterminals, but I had an O2 on my desk!). There was also one dishwasher sized Onyx 2 (I believe?). Years later I ended up working for SGI in WI, designing supercomputers. I worked in the building that the Cray 2 was designed and built in, and we had lots of old SGI hardware (Cray had been bought by SGI in the late 90s) sitting around.

[@mapesdhs597]

Just curious, did you ever meet John Mashey there?

[@bjf10]

@@mapesdhs597 nope

[@jcreazy]

I honestly don't know what SGI is but I'm excited to see what it can do

[@tekvax01]

that extreme display card set is worth around 50K back in the day!

[@bryndal36]

I remember reading the books when I was a kid about the same age as Adrian Mole. Loved them. There was a tv show as well.

[@KimSeiji]

Wow!! anxious to see the indigo2 working!

[@nerdmeister2]

@Adrian: 8:32 The Indigo2 uses normal Fast Page Modules with parity (60ns) and they have to be installed in groups of 4 identical SIMMs. It doesn't work with EDO RAM. 9:46 if you intend to install a 2nd HDD inside the Indigo2 keep in mind that there is no termination on 80pin-SCA drives, termination has to be provided by the SCA-SCSI adapter. If it lacks the termination feature, you cannot use this adapted drive on the upper 3.5" drive bay on the end of the SCSI chain. In this case you have to switch it with the original drive installed in the lower drive bay and turn on that drive's termination. 13:40 The Extreme GFX set uses the GIO64 bus. The EISA slots in the Indigo2 are pretty much only useful for a specific 100Mbit network card (3Com 3c597 with hacked Phobos drivers). 14:57 This screw head corrosion is absolutely normal after nearly 30 years in SGI machines, even Indigo1 & 2 stored in very dry environment showing this, nothing to do with mistreated machines :)

[@mapesdhs597]

70ns is also ok btw. The bus has its own termination, there's no need to set it on the adapter, the disks will work fine in either bay, single or both. FYi the relevant circuitry is part of the PCB on the back of the CDROM base tray. Some rare Indigo2s (usually Flint systems, I have a couple) had a different base tray which extended bus 0 to a socket in one of the rear option slots, allowing for disk striping across both buses, though Flint systems (typically MaxIMPACT with IMPACT Video) would not have a spare slot, so the bracket would just be left dangling out the back of the machine, the cable jammed underneath the top lid. :D Lack of physical slots was often an issue with Indigo2, eg. no room in a Max+IMPVID system for an EISA 10/100. Re the EISA slots, I came across a most peculiar EISA SCSI card in an Indigo2 once, a very long card with some onboard RAM, but alas the system had no disk so grud knows what sw was required, it didn't show up in IRIX hinv from a clean 6.5.22 install. And yep re the screws, though I'm surprised I didn't swap them out for nice ones as I did take the set completely apart to clean every board. :D Probably wasn't wearing my short distance specs, so didn't notice.

[@Ryanfox1981]

I got my Onyx2 IR3 from Ian :) Awesome guy!

[@mapesdhs597]

You did? When was that? Yikes my memory is such a mess now. :D

[@jaycee1980]

That insulation board is usually referred to as "Celotex" here in the uk.. i wonder what it's called elsewhere :)

[@6581punk]

18:08 There's even an Adrian Mole TV series which covers the first two books. Then one much later about him now being grown up, the cappuccino years which I hated at the time but I rewatched recently and appreciated it a bit more. Sue Townsend who wrote the books is sadly no longer with us, but she had a really terrible time with her health over the years.

[@markphillips8019]

The best characters in the series were without doubt Bert and his wife Queenie. Adrian, try not to laugh too hard on the beach. And yes, Britain in the early 80's was really like that!!

[@evensgrey]

@@markphillips8019 Few writers really caught the essence of a time and place like Sue Townsend. Although in one of the later books, it gets a bit meta when it switches to being about Sue Townsend, author od the Adrian Mole books in universe (for which Adrian once tried to sue her, thinking she had obtained his diaries and published them as her own work). What was really sad about that is his old frenemy Barry Kent actually DID write a very unflattering book about Adrian under a thin pseudonym. I have always questions how many people are really quite that stupid. Adrian sees all the clues and writes about them, but never puts them together. Part of it is he's rather stupid, but he's also ignorant. Can YOU imagine anyone growing up anywhere in the Western world and NOT knowing why a girl named Pandora would have picked up (or tried to pick up) the nickname 'Box'?

[@andreww2098]

Sadly it was undiagnosed until it was too late Diabetes that did the damage to her, she went blind and had to have her last few books typed by an assistant

[@markphillips8019]

@@andreww2098 gotta love that National Health Service. I left the UK 25 years ago since then I've had some significant issues up to and including brain surgery. I'd still be waiting back in Blighty or worse would have died of the issues.

[@andreww2098]

@@markphillips8019 In Her case she ignored the symptoms, she received treatment upon diagnoses but the bad habits had already set in and she suffered as a result, the doctors can only treat you if you actually go see them, and private health care is available in the UK and is cheaper than in the US

[@budude2]

In the mid 90s I applied for a job at SGI - I didn't get it and good I didn't because they closed up shortly after.

[@dustys5512]

You sounds very upbeat and cheerful for a Portland resident. ✌️😎

[@rtechlab6254]

Those are SCA (single connection attachment) drives used in a LOT *nix systems at the time. We had pallets of them in the Calgary warehouse. My desktops at the time (2000) were and Indigo 2 Solid Impact and Amiga A3000/040

[@mapesdhs597]

Sweet combination! 8)

[@sazman2000]

Oi Oi, Adrian, from bonnie Scotland, love your videos, i was late to your channels, but binged em and am up to date...lol

[@herbiehusker1889]

Speaking of breaking seals, what's a seal's least favorite beverage? A Canadian Club.

[@justinv433]

Looking forward to part 2!

[@Alcochaser]

There were three main internal SCSI connectors. 50 pin "Narrow" 8 bits, 68 pin "Wide" 16 bits. Neither of these two were hot swap capable, and neither passed power or jumper settings to the drive. (Yes jumper settings, I will explain later). The third, 80 pin. Passed Ether narrow or wide, Power, and jumper (configuration) settings to the drive. In order to be able to put any hot swap SCSI drive in any bay, the 80 pin connector passes info telling the drive what SCSI ID to be on, and some other settings. It is why that adapter has jumper places to configure the drive.

[@darrenjacobson7456]

Son of a biscuit! I had a 21 inch CRT with that connector on the back. I got rid of it a few years ago because it's cable went bad and I didn't think I could find a replacement cause I didn't know what the connector was called. 13w3, wish I'd known that, I loved that monitor it was built like a tank.

[@mapesdhs597]

Was it an SGI monitor? Sounds like a GDM20E21. Pity really as I have loads of SGi 13W3 cables, literally dozens.

[@GarthBeagle]

14:48 Yup that connector is for shutter glasses for that new fangled 3D stuff!

[@deltacx1059]

13:21 I mean if your work area doesn't have carpet and is not super dry then there is next to no chance of esd being a issue.

[@ionstorm66]

That is fine for something easily replaceable, but for rare retro hardware it's worth it for extra insurance.

[@johntheexplainer]

The 3D connector on the video card plugged into a pair of glasses with an LCD shutter in front of each eye. It'd synchronize them with the frame rate of the monitor, so it would blank the left eye, show the right field on screen, then blank the right eye and show the left field on screen. Never saw it myself, the halved effective frame rate sounds like an instant migraine to me.

[@RyanAumiller]

That is now a standardized "3D Sync" connector that exists in the professional/commercial display and projection market. You get +5v on pin 1 to power an Infrared emitter, rf emitter or wired LCD shutter glasses, a 3.3v TTL signal on pin 2 and of course ground on pin 3, it can be fairly easily adapted to the 3.5 or 2.5mm TRS connectors on a lot of consumer 3d gear.

[@mapesdhs597]

It actually works very well, the glasses back then typically being CrystalEyes. I tried it out using a GIS system with stereo volumetric data on a POWER Indigo2 Extreme long ago. I would have included such a kit but alas despite obtaining some emitter units I've not bagged any old CrystalEyes sets yet, though relevant sw to drive them is another matter.

[@RyanAumiller]

@@mapesdhs597 volfoni edge series 3d glasses work on ALL the old SGI systems. plug and play.

[@mapesdhs597]

@@RyanAumiller Thanks for the info!! I shall keep an eye out for them, well actually both. :)

[@superchiaki]

the used workstation CRT can up to 200hz, means 75-100hz. i played on a popular asus geforce with shutterglass-support years ago some japanese 3D "adultgames" with shutterglass running on effective 70hz without headache ;)

[@falken_gt4]

I used an SGI computer which was bought alongside a Pentium 60 in the “Solarium” computer lab in Dundee University in 94. The most work I did on it though was chatting to people on Telnet Bulletin Boards like Brinta

[@hessex1899]

I had a R4400 Indigo2 Extreme for most of the late 90s. I absolutely loved that machine. This really brings back some fond memories.

[@hessex1899]

You need to find yourself a Phobos 100mb ethernet card for your Indigo 2's. :)

[@hessex1899]

EISA and GIO64 bus. The Extreme card uses the GIO64 bus connector.

[@mcborge1]

R.I.P Sue Townsend. I loved the Adrian Mole books and TV series as a kid. Sue Townsend is from my home town of Leicester snd she founded the Goldhill adventure playground my daughter used to go to, which is just up the road from where we live. :)

[@freednighthawk]

I used to have an SGI 960 that needed a new ROM. I still regret every day getting rid of that computer, but I couldn't keep toting a 120lb paperweight cross country. It was fully kitted out with 4 slot mount P2s, all the ram, and I think 3 SCSI hard drives. I also had the matching LCD monitor.

[@mapesdhs597]

I was trying to figure out what you meant by SGI 960 (because there's no such system), but are you perhaps thinking of the Visual Workstation 540? Though that AFAIK only used PIII XEONs.

[@freednighthawk]

@@mapesdhs597 Yeah, you're right. I haven't owned that system in nearly a decade. Big purple thing that stood about 3 feet tall and weighed well over 100 lbs.

[@mapesdhs597]

@@freednighthawk Purple? That doesn't sound like a VW540, they're blue.

[@freednighthawk]

@@mapesdhs597 The side panel was purple.

[@MrBrianms]

I'd like to see the graphics card working. I did enjoy the graphics in the rave videos from the '90s. Thanks.

[@mapesdhs597]

If you can't wait for Adrian's video, I also sent a parts kit to Gamers Nexus for assembly and review, more a fun thing really: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZC1h6GHmrx_kKs

[@TheSudsy]

You neeeded a cup of tea with that Tiffin or Rocky Road for the true UK experience. :)

[@mrchrome5403]

UK home sweet home :D another epic vid thankyou Adrian :D

[@littlereddots]

Adrian love your stuff. When you unwrapped that card I automatically said in my best Stallone voice, wow look how big he is. Tom Sharpe is a hilarious writer, sorta like Evelyn Waugh, check out Wilt, its hilarious. All the best

[@MarkTheMorose]

That card isn't being carried: he's walking.

[@notacop1477]

Looking forward to the sgi action

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

Definitely not a sweets opening channel. Congrats on all the things you receive. I hope you can do fix update and make videos of the sgi computer, it's really interesting super hw from the past.

[@Hiraghm]

I miss my O2; I configured my Linux box to look as much like Irix as I could, but it's still not the same.

[@satsuke]

Aren't those "ultra wide" scsi connectors SCA2 style? All the sun hardware I've worked with used that (if equipped with scsi)

[@mapesdhs597]

Yes, though not hot swappable in Indigo2, just a cheap way to use a newer model drive via an adapter.

[@jjdigitalvideosolutionsllc5343]

Most Amiga expansions that accepted 72pin SIMMs were limited to 32MB sticks. My Blizzard 1260 accelerator is the only Amiga expansion that I have that will accept 64MB and 128MB SIMMs. With the SCSI add-on, the 1260 holds a whopping 256MB with two 128MB sticks. What's different about the 64MB & 128MB sticks that makes the incompatible with my other devices?

[@mapesdhs597]

Possibly how the memory mapping works, but it could be any of a range of factors.

[@notacop1477]

Lovely mug

[@rmx77]

i had an original iris indigo the purple ones but those were prone to brittle plastic. i did have and original factory hard drive from the ones i had. i had 2 units and sadly i didnt get a monitor mouse or keyboard or even video adaptor for the machine so i pillaged the stuff from them and scrapped them. i did have the drive but gave it to someone else for their silicon graphics collection. the hard drive was a seagate hard drive of all things and it had a sticker factory sticker that said to put the hard drive in the bottom slot. i do still have all the ram for the machines i have but i figure you wouldnt need all that since you have lots of ram as it is. idk if this was special ram or not but none the less i have it

[@mapesdhs597]

O2 is much worse than IRIS Indigo for brittle plastics. Heck, I use some old Indigo cases as mini tables for DIY. :D It was really just the locking catches on the front flap that were prone to breakage. Re the RAM, if it came from an R3K Indigo then that is specific to such systems along with R3K Personal IRIS or equivalent 4D Series. For R4K Indigo though, the same RAM can be used in various 486 systems and also Pentium Pro servers.

[@TheThomasites]

I used to use a SGI O2 machine. Used it for my Alias Wavefront courses at the end of the 90s. A great machine for the time. Maybe need one again🤔

[@mapesdhs597]

Was that in the UK? I know Bournemouth uni had quite a few O2s, I ended up buying most of their external disk units.

[@TheThomasites]

@@mapesdhs597 nah. Toronto.

[@mapesdhs597]

@@TheThomasites Funny how it sounded so similar. :) I bought all of the external disks Bournemouth had been using, bizarrely they never deleted any data. All sorts of student animation project files.

[@misterkite]

Back when I was in college, I worked in a media lab that had an Indigo 2 and an Octane. I always wanted to own one... it was the first system I ever used that did the cute little "head shake" when you mistyped your password at login.

[@johnvosh1986]

Just wondering when the update video is coming on the video card.....

[@Captain_Char]

i still have a SyQuest drive with I think an 80 pin scsi, the disk looks like a fat floppy with a hard disk platter in it, its 200 mb if I recall

[@yakacm]

I bought an Octane 2 machine from Ian maybe 15 years ago. Ian is only 30 miles up the road from me thou so I went to his home to collect it.

[@mapesdhs597]

Blimey, time flies eh? :D Do you still have the system?

[@my3dprintedlife]

Every time I see or hear about those Silicon Graphics systems I think about the variety of different applications they were used for.

[@mapesdhs597]

It's something little mentioned on forums down the years. Some day I'll do a write up of the less well known fields of use to which they've been put, such as in slaughter houses. They are still used today quite a lot, lurking in the background, mostly for controlling medical scanners, textile & knitting machines, PCB production, defense applications and other industrial manufacturing processes. A few studios do still have an IR4 for Inferno, but they keep quiet about it. :D

[@mouseyclickey]

I wanna see that card split apart so we can see the massive chips on the bottom board Here's my WAG on how the "sandwich" is architected: Top (visible) card is the framebuffer, middle - texture memory, bottom, texture processors and more memory.

[@brianfox7067]

Oh my God that sgi mug is amazing and there aren't any on ebay

[@Tranarpnorra]

Hey SGI stuff! I was until a couple of years back one of the top three collectors of these systems in sweden. I had almost all of the systems, including some full size racks and spare parts and other stuff in droves.Had to make room for living so sold off most of the stuff and donated some to an equally "crazy" SGI aquaintance. I believe he is now the no 1 collector in Sweden. I have the same acrylic mug, although a lot more worn. Seems that it develops cracks when you use it with coffee and tea and after a while it starts to leak from said cracks. It's a cool mug though.

[@CallousCoder]

That's so cool! I worked 9 months for SGI during their last, dying twitches as an Irix support engineer. I did the same for DIGITAL systems... They also died... Maybe it's my fault :D Anyways two of the best systems in the 90s were SGI and the Digital Alpha. SGI should've bought Alphas better at floating point than MIPS. Maybe they both would've still be around :(

[@Tranarpnorra]

@@CallousCoder Yeah, I agree. SGI and DEC had cool systems. Design wize though, I think SGI still has produced the coolest looking systems up to date.

[@CallousCoder]

@@Tranarpnorra aesthetically, for sure!

[@mapesdhs597]

@@CallousCoder What happened with those two companies in terms of their CPU designs is a saga worthy of its own telling, but in short, both fell for Intel's IA64 bluff, Intel bagged all their relevant design staff (I knew one of them), and that was that. SGI told me that, *if* IA64 came out on time (it didn't, was very late), SGI's planned new design would have been about a third faster, but a lot more expensive. Hence the decision to switch. What they didn't know was that Intel didn't actually have a design, but once they'd obtained staff from DEC, HP, SGI and elsewhere, then they could get to work. IA64 has a number of features which are similar to things SGI had been planning to do. I did a SPEC analysis way back: www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/spec2006tables.txt The big talent loss for SGI was the winter of 1996/7, about a 3rd of the CPU team left. Hence the huge delay after R10K/195 until anything better, though it didn't help that R10K was a bit hard to clock up. The 21264 had an advantage there, but the Alpha suffered from cache issues - resolved by the 21364 though. Pity we didn't get to see it progress onwards, like IBM have with Power.

[@CallousCoder]

@@mapesdhs597 DIGITAL didn’t fall for Intel, they would never have; they designed their CPUs for their OSes and vice versa. They were more a hardware company than software company. Despite having small OS teams they created brilliant OSes. Tru64 Unix with TruCluster is still the coolest OS I have ever used. But Digital was bought by Compaq that sold a lot of the IP to SAMSUNG who was already producing Alpha’s but the Compaq was slurped into HP and HP believed initially in their Okay (but not up to par to the Alpha) PA-RISC and then also like SGI went all in on that dilly Itanium. Intel did indeed play a very dirty game. And indeed stole a lot of IP that way. But you see that x64 is finally losing momentum, even Intel is jumping on the RISC-V, Apple on ARM, M$ is optimizing for ARM. So I think that within 5 to 10 years RISK finally won that risc-cisc battle.

[@AxelWerner]

These SGI gears must have been worth bazillions. maybe even more!

[@hfiguiere]

3:59 I did my intership (for my CS degree) porting a driving simulation software on one of these beasts - it was really (an expensive) cutting edge workstation. That was the "Start me up" summer.

[@hfiguiere]

8:22 when I used one, Pentium 90/Pentium 100 was the top PC CPU.

[@MrSketchydave69]

Tom Sharpe wrote satirical novels such as Blott On The Landscape, Porterhouse Blue & Wilt. The bboks were turned into TV mini series in the lare 80's or early 90's......as was Adrian Mole too

[@jolesco]

I bought a refurbished "SGI Octane SE" back in 2003 for $600, it came with IRIX 6.5.18. It was a fun machine for a while, got rid of it a few years ago

[@warmfreeze]

OMG that mug is freakin awesome... where can i get one?

[@mapesdhs597]

I guess keep an eye on ebay and suchlike. That particular mug was a gift I received from one of the SW Ep. II Technical Directors at ILM, where they used my web site for staff training. One can get lucky though, eg. one time I found an original Cray mug in an ordinary 2nd hand shop for just 0.5 UKP.

[@johnclemens1338]

Great video. Adrian, would you mind testing any SCSI-to-sdcard emulators/cards/whatevers you happen to have around on your SGI? I'd like to know if they would work to get my old Indigo2 working as well. Thanks! Story time! My first internship (1994) was in a simulation department that ran on SGIs. It kicked off an entire career and a passion for computer architecture and UNIX. Dorky teenage me loved it. Other SGIs in the office included a Crimson that had to be run with the side panel off and a box fan pointed at the open case to keep it cool, and 8 CPU power challenge server they were *wasting* as a samba server, and several indys and personal iris's. The indigo2 graphics were incredible, and even though PC's quickly overtook the R4000 CPU in integer and then later FPU performance, it really wasn't until 1999 or so with a K6 and a Voodoo 2 Banshee that I finally felt I had a PC that matched-or-surpassed that SGI in every way. They were 5-6 *years* ahead of most everyone else (I know the HPUX fanboys, both of them, would disagree... but they are subjectively wrong). They invented OpenGL! invented STL! They ran the least stable version of UNIX I've ever used (IRIX), because stability be d*mned, we want performance! .. And their cases were truly works of art. Such a fun, weird, and beautiful mess of a company.

[@mapesdhs597]

The SCSI2SD v6 will work ok and is probably the best non-rust solution, I've used it with Indy aswell. Best card is the Samsung Endurance Pro, far better write endurance than the typical Sandisk models that most end up buying. However, SCSI2SD is a bit pricey, so if you just want to get the system going again then a good yet quiet 15K HDD would be about two thirds cheaper. The model I normally put in Indigo2s is the Seagate 36GB ST336753LC, good access time but very low noise. Thanks for the memories! Odd though, when it comes to stability I found IRIX to be very capable, though that went down the toilet when SGI adopted ATI gfx. If you had stability issues then that should have been fixed under maintenance contract.

[@johnclemens1338]

@@mapesdhs597 Actually the stability problems really hit as we were trying to run later irix versions on older r3k(?) based personal iris systems.. had a few kernel panics on those. Iirc the i2 and Indy's we're always pretty stable. Well that and the overheating crimson :) Thanks for the heads up about scsi2sd V6! Good to know at least one version works with SGIs.

[@mapesdhs597]

@@johnclemens1338 Ah, in that case I can't say I'm so surprised. When I think of "stability" in connection with SGIs that is definitely not in relation to IRIX 5.3. :D Or 6.2 for that matter. SGI didn't nail down the OS issues properly until 6.5, after that it was plain sailing. Most welcome re SCSI2SD. Note I've tested a Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SATA SSD in an Indigo2 and Indy using an Acard ARS-2160/H SCSI/SATA bridge box, it worked ok but alas these Acard units are it seems not that reliable when used with systems that employ narrow/SE SCSI (they work better with wide/LVD, such as Fuel and Tezro).

[@mooseteets]

adrian mole books were a fav when i was a kid :D

[@_macrophage]

Where can I get one of those mugs I want one

[@jensschroder8214]

15:30 I wanted to look at the circuit diagram on the card. Those are big books. Will have cost a fortune.

[@rangercv4263]

I am now a fan of Ian. Good on ya Ian!

[@mapesdhs597]

Thanks. 8)

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Ooooo, that purple SGI mug. 💜

[@minty_Joe]

The moment I saw the gloves and Adrian trying them on, 2 quotes came to mind: (1) "They're not kid gloves, Mr. Valient. This is how we do things down in ToonTown." - Judge Doom (2) "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." - Johnny Cochran

[@MrDwadi84]

Hi Adrian, I have question, my friend is looking for Macintosh to VGA adapter, where can he buy such device? I am from EU. Thanks for info.

[@mrwang420]

for that gpu. What is that white slot on the front for? Can you plug more into it?

[@mapesdhs597]

If you mean the top of the card, yes, the most common expansion option being Indigo2Video. The connector on the side is the main GIO64 link to the system bus (64bit @ 33MHz, ie. 264MB/sec), with up to four physical slots in Indigo2 but only two logical slots.

[@kbhasi]

As cool as the SGI stuff were, the packages that were marked 🙂 were equally as interesting! (17:10) As I never grew up in the 1980s, I had never heard of that series. On first impression seeing you flip through one of the books, I'm imagining it was like the "Wimpy Kid" series of its day.

[@CallousCoder]

Were you even aware about Silicon Graphics then? Not being born in the 80s? Because it really started it's demise around the turn of the century -- just like the other super computing RISC god: DIGITAL with it's Alpha CPU.

[@kbhasi]

@@CallousCoder I am, but I was talking about the books.

[@CallousCoder]

@@kbhasi Hahah right!

[@awilliams1701]

About a year ago I watched someone trying to run the original Blender. It requires an Irix system. Not having one he opted for emulation in Mame, but the emulation wasn't that great. He was getting roughly 25% speed out of it. Also it flat out refused to render anything. You could edit stuff, but the rendering would crash every time. He thinks it's a piece of hardware the emulator doesn't support.

[@JamesMWall]

What model utility knife is being used in this video?

[@Irinikus]

Ian's a great guy!

[@mapesdhs597]

Ta! :D

[@racalac]

Worked with an SGI Origin 3800 at a job ($1M supercomputer!) and had the pleasure of programming on the 64 (!!) CPUs it had.

[@mapesdhs597]

Did you use the APO compiler function for that? I always wondered how well that worked.

[@perhansson6718]

When I buy stuff on eBay and I'm happy with the packaging I do write that, if anything ever got shipped like this to me I don't think the eBay comment field would be sufficient for conveying my compliments! 🙂

[@mapesdhs597]

One guy in Italy said to me, if WW3 ever breaks out, could I please come to Italy and wrap up his house. :D

[@ovalteen4404]

I remember the SGIs as a differently-compatible system. Even though it was 13W3, you couldn't use it with a standard 13W3 cable to a KVM. It had to be a SGI specific one, and the KVM box had to be an upper-line one such as Black Box. In addition, it used a different scan code map for the keyboard, so the KVM had to be smart enough to change the mapping between PCs and SGIs as you switched screens. I had an Octane at the time. Its "Flame Fractal" screen saver could draw the entire screen several times a second, while the best Intel processors at the time could barely imagine a screen in like 10 seconds. Intel's FPU performance at the time had nothing on MIPS. The system came with a port of Doom installed, which was kinda interesting, but definitely not something you want the boss to see you playing...

[@mapesdhs597]

And there was me in the early 2000s using Quake2 to show off a 5-screen CAVE setup driven by a 16-CPU Onyx2 IR2E to visitors. :D We'd also run Doom in the RealityCentre room, which was a 28 foot wide screen with 170 degree viewing angle, though that was more for off hours lols. I don't have any footage of the Quake2 sessions, but here's me demoing an engineering application in the CAVE called Covise (note I was wearing motion tracked CrystalEyes, so I saw a proper seamless 3D image, not the apparent double image picked up by the ordinary camera): www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/iancovise.avi Yikes, that was about 20 years ago.

[@bitoxic]

3:35 I see you have an Atari XL too Adrian, can you please show case that on one of your videos?!

[@evensgrey]

16:30 That's what people in the UK call a "yorkie bar." They're often used similarly to energy drinks, especially by truckers.

[@timb7085]

Nice stuff - loved SGI back in the day! (I date myself) - and yeah, those gloves are standard fare for working on gross stuff... :)

[@ITGuyinaction]

🤔🤔🤔🤔 I remember those times... and also much older... Retro is cool!

[@kaitlyn__L]

This 3D card makes me wonder: what would a single CUDA core look like on a ~1994 LSI or VLSI chip? Could you even get one on a single board of that size? Presumably this answer does exist somewhere.

[@mapesdhs597]

That's an interesting question. I don't think I've seen any channel comment on how many transistors are used for the shader units, but I suppose one could make an educated guess by examining die photos, noting the main shader section, working out the approx. transistor count based on the stated count for the entire die, dividing that by the no. of shaders and then converting that into a likely die or multi chip size based on the transistor density of the process nodes used back in the early 90s for tech such as is found on the Extreme board. The Indigo2 Technical Report has some info but there's likely more elsewhere.

[@UncleAwesomeRetro]

I have not been interested in SGI stuff, but the stack of graphics cards is very intriguing :D

[@wanjockey]

Jesus I want that mug, so jelly