Richard, As most of group have mentioned that you need a support contract or purchase the MIPSpro compilers (C, C++, F77, F90, Auto- parallelization, GNAT Pro ADA 95) specifically for your host which you intend to run on. The FlexLM license file is in /var/flexlm/ license.dat. You might want to check your IRIX workstation or server you are doing your IRIX install on, and see if you already have any licenses in this file. You might be surprised if your SGI might have previously been licensed. You can print out or copy this file for safe keeping. Upgrading within IRIX 6.5.x will not modify this file. You will need to contact your local sales office (http://www.sgi.com/ sales/ ) or call SGI at (800) 800-7441 or (650) 960-1980 if you need a license. You will probably need a quote for a 2CPU license (even if you are running on a 1 CPU workstation). Depending on the version of IRIX, it did place some freebie licenses in there. They also used to produce a "HotMix" CD with all the sample or open license software. I believe I still have a lot of these HotMix CDs from IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4. I would suggest that you setup a free Supportfolio account and see what you have access to. https://support.sgi.com/login SGI will give you a 30 or 90 EVALUATION license for any software, so you can try out the MIPSpro compilers and see if you want to go for the cost of the software http://www.sgi.com/support/licensing/ . The MIPSpro compilers really take advantage of the SGI architecture and IRIX, more so than GNU software. But depending on what you need, GNU compilers might be fine for what you are doing. Some of the Development tools (http://www.sgi.com/developers/ technology/irix/tools.html more info) you can download and may get a PERMANENT license for ANY host (HOSTID=ANY in license.dat). You can download most of the available software (except compilers) at http://www.sgi.com/products/evaluation/ It will note what type of license (like FREE or no license needed). Most of the stuff that might interest you are things like Cosmo Player, Open Office, Message Passing Toolkit 1.9 and Parallel Virtual Machine-PVM (I have PDF version of non-copyright books on PVM and MPI if you need them), Java (1.4.1_06 which is NOT DST compliant without a patch that they created from a bug report I placed, but should be available from Supportfolio). If you don't want to purchase the MIPSpro compilers, the GNU compilers are available. All Freeware software is at http:// freeware.sgi.com/ and all the manuals/books are at Techpubs in HTML and PDF format http://techpubs.sgi.com . C++ coding standard for IRIX and GNU C++ are at http://www.sgi.com/tech/mlc/docs/cc-coding.ps I suggest if you can get it, to install IRIX 6.5.22 or later. IRIX 6.5.30 is the latest. You can then install the DST (Daylight Savings Time) patch for IRIX 6.5.22 to 6.5.30 (new patch for 6.5.30). IRIX 6.5.2f to 6.5.21f (f for Feature set, m for maintenance) require you to download a new tzdata file (from tp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/), modify /etc/TIMEZONE, and run the zic compiler for your locale. I can email you or provide you all this information if you need it. I also wrote TONS of documentation for work on installing IRIX, startup/shutdown procedures, backup procedures and I can send that to you also. I have expertise on IRIX 4.0, 5.3, 6.2,6.3,6.4 and 6.5.x on all kinds of MIPS and SGI hardware from MIPS workstations, SGI Personal IRIS, Indys, Indigos, O2s, Octanes, Crimsons, and Origin servers (200, 300, 3800). But I only have Indys, O2s, Octanes, Origin servers, and maybe an Indigo Impact for me to use. Most of everything else was upgraded or replaced. Let me know if you need anything. I'd be happy to help you out. -Darin