[SunRescue] Re: Speaking of SGI equipment...

[Sam Creasey]

On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Dave McGuire wrote:

> On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Sam Creasey wrote:
> >Such comments reminde me strongly of NeXTstep...  The most painful OS to
> >maintain I've ever loved....  (but the hardware...  designed by crack
> >fiends, I swear...)
> 
>   Huh?  Interesting.  I *love* their hardware designs.  What specific aspects
> of their hardware do you dislike?

Ok, first, I'll temper my statement that the next dimension board is, in
my opinion, about the single coolest "video adaptor" (an almost wildly
understated name for it) ever produced.  I think they got that one right.



Component layout for my monoslab:  Connect monitor to slab.  Feed power
and video to monitor from same cable.  Power off the base if it become
disconnected.   Do not place a power switch on the monitor (also, include
only an 8" cable).  

No hard power switch.


I think a lot of the deeper issues are centered around the manner in which
they isolate the peripheral controllers behind "wacky" ASICs...  and some
issues on the choice of said controllers.   What documentation existed
when I attempted to work on the ethernet driver for next/linux (not very
long, after I began to understand what was happening) was nearly insane.
Don't remember who was responsible for that chip.  (and the sun3 saturates
ethernet off the lance just fine...)

Though, I admit, if the hardware were actually documented, there does
remain the chance that I might be able to see all of it in it's full
glory, and finally figure out what the fuck they were thinking...

-- Sam


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