From: olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson)
Subject: Re: Considering getting an SGI indigo
Keywords: SGI Indigo
Organization:  Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 06:48:59 GMT

In <kaz.718002370@du248-15.cc.iastate.edu> kaz@iastate.edu (Jimmy Buffet) writes:

| I currently own a 486-50 EISA and am running OS/2 2.0.  Regardless of where
| I run, I can't seem to do everything I want.  OS/2 is the closest I've gotten,
| but its lack of apps (especially graphics) is very, very annoying.  I love
| the operating system however.  So, right now, I'm looking at scraping
| together every cent I can and getting an SGI machine, probably the Indigo.
| I have a large number of questions, some which should not be crossposted
| like this, but deal with it, I'm tired. 
| 
| 1.	Does (will) NT run on an Indigo?  What features will be disabled
| 	running on a non 80x86 machine?  What about VDM's?

Maybe.  NT was shown (demonstrated is too strong a word) on an
r4k Indigo at the NT developers show in July.  As far as I know,
SGI has made no official commitment to supporting or selling
NT on the r4k Indigo.

| 2.	Will the supposed portable OS/2 scheduled for 1994 run on an R4000
| 	based machine?  I'd really rather run OS/2 then NT?

Rather unlikely.

| 3.	How is current dos emulation (SoftPC, I assume) on the machines?

Middling poor (runs DOS 3.3 as a 286).  A much better version of
SoftPC has been promised for some time now that runs at about a
16 Mhz 386, and supports Windows, but I don't know when (or if)
it will be available.

| 	Now, I know this sounds REALLY bad for someone thinking of buying
| 	such a high-end (or low-end, depending on your point of view  :)  )
| 	machine, but will most games run quickly enough in Soft PC?  What
| 	kind of graphic emulation is there?

Graphics oriented games are painfully slow on the current
version.  Also, there is no joystick...

| 4.	What type of ray-tracers are available that aren't your usual
| 	50 bizillion dollar packages?  (I'd settle for half a bizillion)?
| 	Animation capabilities?

There are a number of these, ranging from public domain to
extremely expensive.  You may get better answers to this question
on comp.graphics.

| 5.	Will NT REALLY run on SGI machines?

See above.  Certainly never on all SGI systems, but perhaps
on the r4k Indigo and related followon systems.

| 6.	What is the operating system like?  I assume some Unix clone
| 	running X.  What implementation of X, if I'm corrent?

Mostly S5R3 based, with a lot of BSD commands, libraries, and
kernel support (most notably, all of the networking).  The
next major release is supposed to be S5R4 based.  Currently
X11R4, with some of the X11R5 client stuff; next major release
is supposed to be all X11R5 based.

| 8.	If anyone has techincal specs on the lower end SGI machines (Indigo,
| 	Magnum (whatever the hell it is), etc...) and pricing info, I would
| 	REALLY appreciate it.  Does SGI have an educational discount policy?

There are two machines named Magnum.  The (formerly) MIPS system
released under that name, and the SGI 4D/30 and /35, which were
codenamed magnum.  The latter are now in limited production, since
they offer relatively little over the Indigo series, at a higher
cost (mainly, they offered a single 6U VME slot).  I'm not familiar
enough with the MIPS system to comment on it.  SGI definitely
has some discounts, but I don't know enough about them (or how
official they are) to comment further.

As to technical specs, they go on for many pages (for each system)  If
you want the whole thing, contact an SGI sales office.  If you have a
small number of specific interests, one of us can probably answer.

--
Let no one tell me that silence gives consent,  |   Dave Olson
because whoever is silent dissents.             |   Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Maria Isabel Barreno                        |   olson@sgi.com