7 Jan
2009
7 Jan
'09
10:07 p.m.
JP Hindin wrote:
Middle of Minnesota - there's absolutely nothing up here that needs anything
more powerful than an office with a few PCs in it, sadly. I'm not even sure
what there might be down in Minneapolis - it's not exactly heavy computing
territory (although of course 3M have their roots here, so maybe there are
still a few gems tucked away down that way)
cheers
Jules
On Wed, 7 Jan 2009, Jules Richardson wrote:
Well I went to see them there circa 2000 - their machine room was *full* of
dual-height racks with mostly O2k systems, plus a few cabs of graphics
hardware (although I don't recall exactly what now) and others just stuffed
with disks. I don't remember what they had for desktop systems now, whether
those were SGI or just stock PCs...
There was definitely no PC renderfarm at that point in time.
Oh, ISTR that NIWA had some SGI stuff alongside their Cray at their Wellington
site, too - I suspect that might still be there as most people investing in
anything that requires a Cray probably hang onto it for a while :-)
JP Hindin wrote:
I lived about 5 minutes from Camperdown where Weta lived. (I actually
lived in the same suburb as Peter Jackson, so I saw him weekly at the
shops and stuff)
Curious you mention them. I only ever remember seeing O2s, Indigo2s and
similar (many moons ago, mind you). From recollection they only ever used
1U PCs for their renderwall. I'm sure that'd been replaced by blades now.
I don't remember seeing any big SGIs... but that is hardly conclusive. I have a small SGI collection (a dozen and
counting, including the Onyx2,
Origin 2000 rack and rack Onyx 10000) and, to be honest, I mostly collect
them because... well, they look cool, and when I was in a position where I
couldn't collect (a. New Zealand, b. No space) I drooled over them.
Weta
Digital in NZ had *masses* of SGI kit - wandering around their machine
room was fun. I wonder if it's still all there... probably been ditched for a
load of PCs by now :-( I'd love a
big SGI - Indy/Indigo/4D machines seem reasonably plentiful (for
purchase+shipping costs at least) but the big stuff seems pretty rare (&
uneconomical to move long distances)
I'm unsure where you're at - but I picked all of mine up from the Boeing
surplus in Missouri. They're selling them cheaper than dirt... (how about
a pallet of four Onyx2 desksides for $25? Or an Origin3000 for $100?)