cctalk Digest, Vol 53, Issue 10 - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

5 Jan 2008

Message: 8
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 11:25:29 -0600
From: "Jason T" <silent700 at gmail.com>
Subject: SGI Crimson (was:13W3-3BNC cable)
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
	<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID:
	<51ea77730801050925n2a68cd01wcbfb2a0bd2af23c5 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

On Jan 5, 2008 10:46 AM, Scott Quinn <compoobah at valleyimplants.com> wrote:

...
 So since mine says "Server" yet has a 13W3
gfx board (haven't opened
it up to ID it yet, and can't get into the OS to do a gfxinfo) it was
probably a field-upgrade?  I do have the "Elan" badge as well, and the
owner only had one Crimson, so I'm assuming that's where it came from. 
The only way to be positive is if you open the case. the 13W3 connection was the standard
monitor connector for SGI's for almost a decade.

...
 "Pimp my SGI," I guess, and just make use of
the nicer gfx board
before the dead Iris gets scrapped. 
Just part it out and sell it on nekochan.net if you are going to scrap it.

...
 I got an internal cdrom recogzined last night.  The
only Irix distro I
have now is 6.5.  Will the Crimson at least load fx from that?  It was
acting like it couldn't even find the file, though, giving some scsi
errors if I booted into the hdd's fx and tried 'ls dksc(....)" on the
CD.  I tried an Apple CD600i and a Toshiba model which was listed in
the SGI cdrom survey.  Of course, they could be bad drives, who knows.
  Too many variables!

Next method will be to attach the boot drive to another SGI and edit
/etc/passwd from there.

Thanks for all the helps 
Most of the older PROM style systems had an issue booting from a cd drive. You can't
just use any with them. Many people report that Plextor drives are some of the best and
Toshiba drive are right behind. Don't forget also that the cd drive must be ID 4 and
be set for 512 byte sectors (not 1024 or 2048). I personally have never tried booting my
crimson with my 6.5 cd's but if you just use FX from an Irix 5.3 cd you should be
fine.