[rescue] Need some tips to start up my SGI indigo2.

[Mike Meredith]

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 19:54:44 +0200, Arjen Ronhaar wrote:
> I just bought my first unis/irix machine, a SGI Indogo2, R4400 at 
> 200MHz, with a 2.1Mb systemdisk, and 96Mb of memory, runni8ng on IRIX
> 6.2. I bought it from old stock at work (Pemstar) complete system for
> 10 Euro ($11.20).

That's a good start.

> disk space now.- Would it be better to wipe all and to install the OS
> from scratch (witch i do not have on disk)?

You're unlikely to find anything other than 6.5 (easily) to install
from, which is a good idea but you'll probably want more that 2.1Gb.

> It is a stand allone system, not connected to a Network or Internet,

SGI's are a lot easier to fiddle with if they've got a network
connection.

> - Is de cd format the same for SGI and PC?

With the exception of IRIX CD's (which are EFS and so not readable,
although duplicatable on a PC) yes.

> - Is the floppy format the same for SGI and PC?

Floppy? To be honest, finding a floppy for an I^2 is just about
possible, but probably isn't worth the effort (they're just too small
and unreliable).

> Finaly i have a few simple questions, being new at this.
> - My mouse is near extinction, can i replace it wit just any mouse, or

Any PS/2 mouse should work.

> - What is the best place to look for parts, 

http://www.13w3.com/
http://www.xsnet.com/ (expensive but complete)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/ (http://www.ebay.co.nl/?)

And here of course.

> I need a floppy drive and 

Are you *really* sure ? I've seen 1 I^2 with a floppy, and it isn't one
I've owned, and it wasn't ever used that I saw. A network connection
would be far more valueable.

If you really need one, it's going to be tough to find, because the I^2
will only take SCSI stuff.