[rescue] SGI O2 Rescue

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003, Brian Dunbar wrote:

> SGI O2
> Irix 6.3
> MIPS R1000 Rev 2.7/2.6
> 195Mhz Proc
> 192 / 256 MB RAM

Nice!

> I know what I'm going to do with 'em .. and I won't ask what good they are
> for (grin) but I _will_ ask if there are any gotchas with these critters.

Supposedly the R10k CPUs are -really- flaky when doing OpenGL texturing
on the O2.  There is a workaround in some later IRIX 6.3 patch and in
IRIX 6.5, but it supposedly only works most of the time.

As for what it's good for, those boxes can do a -lot-.  Not a lot of CPU
work, but a -lot- in terms of on-the-fly textured OpenGL using the video
ports as sources.  They're also just damned cute and tiny and make good
general-purpose workstations.

I'm trying to get one to do entry-level NTSC stuff for my town's public-
access cable channel.  Everyone I've talked to at SGI says that the
lowly 180MHz R5k can do it, if I beef up the RAM.  Now I just need the
time to play with it and learn about direct access to the video and
frame buffers on it.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke   )  "Gamer weenies...are the sludge at the bottom
Elgin, TX          (    of the user swamp."           --Gary Nichols