sgi.pi - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

27 Apr 2000

On Apr 27, 13:08, Scott Hall wrote:
...
  Thanks for the reply, Mark.  This PI is on circa 1994
Irix 5.3.  Nope,
 this cut of Blender is IrisGL, so I don't think that's it.

 Certain stock Irix 5.3 demos don't work.  Launching the MahJong is fine,
 so is the flight sim.  Launching the mandelbrot fractal maker is a no
 go--says 24-bit is needed.  The Porsche driving sim. comes up but puts
 up an error message that says "gconfig: not enough bitplanes for RGB
 mode." 
Some of the demos are intended specifically to show off capabilities, or
demonstrate how to program, the 24-bit or Z-buffered systems, so I wouldn't
expect them all to work or even compile on an entry-level graphics system
(if you only have entry-level graphics, some of the headers and libraries
will not be there).

...
  Mark Green wrote:

 > > > A student of mine has a circa 1990 SGI Personal Iris with GR1.2
 > > > graphics--apparently less than 8-bit.  He wants to run Blender  on
 > it
 > > > <www.blender.nl> and he'll need at least 8-bit graphics to do
 > that.
 > >
 > > Anybody have a PI graphics board that's 8-bit or better to give or
 > sell
 > > to him?
 > >
 >
 > There's something wrong here.  I know of no SGI with less
 > than 8 bits of graphics, all the PIs have at least 8 bit
 > graphics, and most of them have 24.  So the problem must
 > be somewhere else. 
Mark is right:  GR1.2 is 8-bit.  Some GR1.2 boards are apparently
upgradable to TG (the next level), if the big chip in the middle is
socketed rather than soldered (you replace it with a TG piggyback board).
 I *think* all versions can be upgraded to 24-bit.  Whether you'd find an
upgrade now is another matter, of course.

-- 

Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Dept. of Computer Science
						University of York