20 Jun
2006
20 Jun
'06
11:54 a.m.
Just picked up an Indigo2 at a swap meet. It came with no drives
installed and, as a consequence, no operating system. I think it's
operational since I get the nice SGI ba-ba-dink! from the speaker when
powered up.
SGI makes what they're calling Irix 6.5.22m available for free download.
It is in (3) tarballs containing a bunch of tardist files.
First question is:
Is it possible to do a bare-metal install of Irix over the network using
these packages? SGI manages to do a complete dance around the issue of
whether this release is a maintenance ONLY (designed to drop over a
previously installed system) or whether it can do a complete fresh install
onto a bare hard drive. If it cannot, would someone with the 6.5 Base CD
set be neighborly and contact me off-list?
Second question is:
The unit came with the EISA "Extreme" graphics adaptor. When I connect it
to my shop monitor with a 13W3 --> HD15 cable I get absolutely no display.
Are these boxes like the Suns and Alphas where they default (or can be
made to default) to a serial console under initial conditions? If so, any
pointers to the required null-modem wiring? (The unit has Apple-type
8-pin mini-DIN serial ports).
Any sage advice appreciated!
Steve
--
20 Jun
20 Jun
1:04 p.m.
On 6/20/06, Steven N. Hirsch <shirsch at adelphia.net> wrote:
SGI makes what they're calling Irix 6.5.22m
available for free download.
It is in (3) tarballs containing a bunch of tardist files.
First question is:
Is it possible to do a bare-metal install of Irix over the network using
these packages? SGI manages to do a complete dance around the issue of
whether this release is a maintenance ONLY (designed to drop over a
previously installed system) or whether it can do a complete fresh install
onto a bare hard drive. If it cannot, would someone with the 6.5 Base CD
set be neighborly and contact me off-list?
No you can't do a new install from this distribution. You need the
6.5 base install first. I'd make you a copy but all of my Sgi CD's
are in PODS in transit.
Second question is:
The unit came with the EISA "Extreme" graphics adaptor. When I connect it
to my shop monitor with a 13W3 --> HD15 cable I get absolutely no display.
Are these boxes like the Suns and Alphas where they default (or can be
made to default) to a serial console under initial conditions? If so, any
pointers to the required null-modem wiring? (The unit has Apple-type
8-pin mini-DIN serial ports).
http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi/hdwr/bks/SGI_EndUser…
The cable is the same between the Indy and Indigo2. Check out
http://techpubs.sgi.com for every doc ever published on the Indigo2.
Any sage advice appreciated!
Steve
--
www.blackcube.org - The Texas State Home for Wayward and Orphaned Computers
www.blackcube.org/personal/index.html - Personal web page
21 Jun
21 Jun
7:50 p.m.
Hello Steven,
Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 1:54:15 PM, you wrote:
SGI makes what they're calling Irix 6.5.22m
available for free download.
It is in (3) tarballs containing a bunch of tardist files.
First question is:
Is it possible to do a bare-metal install of Irix over the network using
these packages?
No, this is only a maintenance package (wouldn't be different with a
feature stream release) that can only be used with the original 6.5
installation media.
While a real 6.5.x disc set has installation tools to boot from, the
packages downloaded from the web AFAIR lack these tools so you need to
start with 6.5.
If it cannot, would someone with the 6.5 Base CD
set be neighborly and contact me off-list?
Unfortunately... it's not just "a CD", it's at least 4 or 5 and it
becomes easily more if you're entitled to a compiler or intend to use
GCC.
The unit came with the EISA "Extreme"
graphics adaptor. When I connect it
to my shop monitor with a 13W3 --> HD15 cable I get absolutely no display.
Extreme graphics is a pretty nice 1994/1995 highend workstation
solution. It's GIO64, not EISA. Both buses share the same slot but
there are different connectors available for different types of cards
(EISA and GIO64).
Are these boxes like the Suns and Alphas where they
default (or can be
made to default) to a serial console under initial conditions?
No, typically they do more or less both at the same time.
Graphics output is (95% chance) 1280*1024 at 72Hz SYNC-ON-GREEN (SOG). Make
sure your monitor is ready to handle SOG signals, I think it's not
possible to get separate SYNC - at least not using standard "Sun
Style" cables.
If so, any pointers to the required null-modem wiring?
(The unit has
Apple-type 8-pin mini-DIN serial ports).
If you've got an old Sun with a miniDIN connector (an IPX for
example), pinout is just the same.
From man serial:
The DIN-8 serial port connectors on the Indigo,
Indy, Indigo2, Challenge
S, Challenge M, Power Challenge M, and the MENET 4-Enet, 6-serial board
(XT-FE-4TX-6A) have the following pin assignments.
serial(7) serial(7)
---------
/ 8 7 6 \
( 5 4 3 )
\ 2 1 /
---------
4D Compatible Pin Assignments (RS-232)
_________________________________________
_Pin___|_Name____|_Description___________
1 | DTR | Data Terminal Ready
2 | CTS | Clear To Send
3 | TD | Transmit Data
4 | SG | Signal Ground
5 | RD | Receive Data
6 | RTS | Request To Send
7 | DCD | Data Carrier Detect
8 | SG | Signal Ground
Macintosh SE Compatible Pin Assignments (RS-422)
_________________________________________________
Pin__|_Name__|_Description_______________________
1 | HSKo | Output Handshake
2 | HSKi | Input Handshake Or External Clock
3 | TxD- | Transmit Data -
4 | GND | Signal Ground
5 | RxD- | Receive Data -
6 | TxD+ | Transmit Data +
7 | GPi | General Purpose Input
8 | RxD+ | Receive Data +
Hope this helps...
--
Best regards,
Gerhard mailto:mail at g-lenerz.de
Old SGI Stuff http://sgistuff.g-lenerz.de/
6772
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participants (3)
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james.rice＠gmail.com -
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shirsch＠adelphia.net