[SunRescue] Speaking of SGI equipment...

[Gregory Leblanc]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave McGuire [mailto:mcguire at neurotica.com]
> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 1999 10:59 AM
> To: Eric Ozrelic; rescue at sunhelp.org
> Subject: RE: [SunRescue] Speaking of SGI equipment...
> 
> 
> On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Eric Ozrelic wrote:
> >Does anyone like to run Irix? Is it a good OS and
> >does it run fast on...let's say an Indigo 2 250mhz system with
> >64 mb ram? I'm trying to decided if I want to buy one to play
> >with or not. Does anyone know any good SGI hardware references
> >or breakdowns?
> 
>   I've had a Sun of one sort or another on my desk for the 
> past eight years. 
> Until just recently, that is.  Now my desktop platform, at 
> home and at work, is
> an Indigo2 (R4400/250, 128-192mb RAM) running Irix 6.5.
> 
>   It consistently runs rings around my SS20/81s.  I'm a 
> diehard Sun fanatic but
> these machines are simply TOO MUCH better to ignore them.  
> AMAZING graphics
> capabilities, great sound support, great SCSI performance, 
> wonderfully fast CPU.
> If people are looking to put together such systems, I know a 
> little bit about
> them and would be happy to help with questions and such.

<rant>
Now this isn't exactly a fair comparison.  You're comparing a 64-bit 250-MHz
processor to a 32-bit 85-MHz processor.  I'm not too familiar with sound,
since I find that it's totally pointless for any "real" work.  I've never
seen all that big a difference in SCSI of about the same age, unless it's
just a cheap host adaptor and using the main CPU to do all of the work.
Graphics have got to be better on ANYTHING other than a Sun, the graphics
that I've used aren't that impressive.  Speaking of which, is the CG14 in
24-bit color actually slower than the cg6 when in 8-bit?  This 8-bit color
is awful for almost every web site that I visit often.  :(  

> 
>   I'm also running a ChallengeDM (4x R4400/250) and an Indy 
> (R4400/150) here. 
> Great hardware.
> 
>   Irix takes a bit of getting used to if you're a BSD 
> person...but it's quite
> nice when you get used to it, and it's very, very fast.

Shoot, I can't even remember what the flavors are yet.
	Greg