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/usr/people/flexion

SiliconGraphics ONYX users know the answer to this..

With great power comes: - great responsibility, or -huge electricity bill
28 comments
Kevin Karhan :verified:

@flexion or anyone with a seriois workstation...

I mean I'd love to have one but I don't have space for it...
youtube.com/watch?v=Bo3lUw9GUJ

Sassage πŸˆβ€β¬› Flare

@kkarhan Some day, some day… 🀞
I think I’d start with something smaller tho :Β·P

But damn I miss Dodoid :Β·(

/usr/people/flexion

@sassageflare @kkarhan Dodoid is still around in the SGI scene.. he's working on DFRD (Dodoid Fast Remote Display), a PCI card to offload browser rendering via GL forwarding, to bring the modern web to IRIX 4Dwm desktops.

Kevin Karhan :verified:

@flexion @sassageflare Really?

I mean a "web accelerator" would make sense given the aging hardware's limitations...

Sassage πŸˆβ€β¬› Flare

@flexion @kkarhan Ooh that’s good to know! I was just wondering based on his last youtube upload being 3 years ago. πŸ˜‹

Nice! So that's related to his D1 project? He teased that in a video and I thought it was suuper cool!

Sassage πŸˆβ€β¬› Flare

@flexion @kkarhan Whoa, if the project’s coming along now’s the time for me to get an SGI machine. ;Β·P
not like you make me want to get a few dozen already xD
Thanks for the links!

Kevin Karhan :verified:

@sassageflare @flexion +1

Tell #Dodroid I sez hi and we'd all love to see more updated content.

Also there's space on the :fediverse: for #RetroComputing fans including #sgi nerds...

Kevin Karhan :verified:

@sassageflare @flexion Needless to say that I want to see some "Scalable Workstation & Server" to be redesigned and reintroduced.

Like some 19" rack with PCIe switch as "sideplane" and cables to interconnect Mainboards and Storage, GPUs, NICs and all the other "fun stuff" one would love to shove into a "deskside" minirack...
serialcables.com/product/pcie-
dolphinics.com/products/PCI_Ex

Kevin Karhan :verified:

@sassageflare @flexion Have it's rear be a giant liquid cooling radiator with a bunch of Noctua fans that pull the air through the chassis and out to through the radiator...

noctua.at/en/nf-f12-industrial

Y' know...

Something that would actually be feasible as a design and not some #SingleVendor / #SingleProvider solution only...

Kevin Karhan :verified:

@sassageflare @flexion That being said I do have a "boring" HP Z600...

But you'll likely call me a filthy casual for even mentioning a regular-ass #amd64 workstation...

/usr/people/flexion

ONYX πŸ’Žβ€‹β€οΈβ€‹πŸ’•β€‹βš‘β€‹
btw: still looking for a PSU for this beauty.. even a 'loaner' would be cool, just to see if it still powers up.

my hand holding the front panel door open of an SGI ONYX
Gilgwath

@flexion *looks at the three X99 boards they plan to build a k3s cluster with* What? There's a power bill? And you are telling my that NOW?πŸ™ˆπŸ™‰πŸ™Š

retroprom

@flexion We had an entire retro SGI park at a former employer. Some were used on the road back in the day, with warning stickers on how to re-seat the mounted modules after transport. One used to be a community shell host. Some had up to 9 or 12 graphics outputs. That must have been fun times.

Anthony Sorace

@flexion In 1997 or so, somebody got my department a Challenge system *on indefinite loan*. I want to say it was one of the then-new R10000 systems, but wouldn’t swear to it. Unfortunately nobody knew what to *do* with it, so it sat almost entirely idle the whole time we had it. I felt bad for it so for a year or so my login routine opened a window and ran β€˜dc’ on it, just in case I needed a calculator quickly.

Huh. I just realized that’s probably where I fell in love with RPN calculators.

Karpour

@flexion Looks so pristine! Hope you can get it running someday! :)

/usr/people/flexion

@shelldozer thanks, I know Ian has one and have been in contact with him. Thing is, I don't know if that Onyx still works, so it would be an expensive experiment, buying and shipping a PSU from the UK. I'm still hoping to find someone nearby who will borrow me a power supply for a test run first. Or find a second Onyx / Challenge.

Adrian Morales

@flexion I want to laugh, but I'm holding in my tears right now... πŸ˜…πŸ˜­

Mark Asbach

@flexion When I had a job as a student researcher with my university’s VR center in 1999, I really loved our Onyx 2 - not only for the great design and the colour TFT showing load in all four rendering pipelines, but also very much for the fact that you could dry your clothes quickly by hanging them near to its fans exhaust air streams. It was quite hot and loud though, in the student room where they had put it …

Mark Watson

@flexion right on! I had SGI Reality Engines for my use at SAIC, Angel Studios, and a project at Disney. Awesome, but best to have the compute part far away from where I worked.

BashStKid

@flexion Especially if your two or three 21” monitors turned the room into a sauna …

/usr/people/flexion

@MattMerk ROFL! epic party! Wish I was there too :D thanks for sharing!

Kithop

@flexion I've been kind of terrified at the two Indys I have being spec'd with 1kW power supplies.

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