HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: stanj@ferrari.corp.sgi.com (Stan Jensen)
Subject: Re: System Evaluation (How much is it worth)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 21:35:37 GMT

In article <34023@adm.brl.mil>, karron@karron.med.nyu.edu (Dan Karron (karron@nyu.edu)) writes:
|> 
|> I would like to know what people are paying on the
|> secondary (used) market for an 85GT, without disks, 32mb memory.
|> How much does SGI buy for trade in such a system ?
|> How much does SGI or other vendors ask for such a system ?
|> I am not selling nor buying a system. I just
|> need an evaluation of what it is worth for our books.

As far as I know, SGI doesn't buy used systems, but we do sell a "remarketed"
4D/85GT with 8MB for $39,900 (list), plus about $7,800 (two H4-C04B and one
H4-C16) for the additional 24MB. The "Silicon Graphics World" trade journal
lists Sun Valley (408-224-6261),  Minicomputer Exchange (408-733-4400), XS
International (404-874-1212) and Security Computer Sales (612-227-5683),
among others, as companies that buy used SGI equipment. (std. disclaimer)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stan Jensen, Systems Engineer                          stanj@corp.sgi.com
Silicon Graphics Inc., M/S 14L-120                    Phone:(415)390-5822
P.O. Box 7311, 1350 Charleston Road                   FAX:  (415)962-1589
Mt. View, CA  94039-7311                                "I (heart) Tonks"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jdh@bu-pub.bu.edu (Jason Heirtzler)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: bad GL code locks up 4D-25
Date: 9 Nov 92 02:04:00 GMT
Organization: Boston University, Information Technology


Recently someone brought to my attention a smallish (~560 line) GL
program that not only locks up the console on our 4D-25s, but
completely hangs the whole machine (no response from pinging them;
you have to hit the reset button...)

Now, I'll admit that the code is almost certainly buggy, and I do
realize that bad GL code can lock up the grahics console, but what
about hanging the whole machine?

As an aside, it appears that the program is probably calling ortho2()
with bad parameters, but that's *not* really what I care about.  I'm
more concerned about the machine hanging!

As an aside, if it's run on the Indigo, it spews out errors:

   ERROR #4  ortho2: ERR_BADWINDOW

and doesn't hang, but, as I say, that's not the issue..

So, obviously this hanging thing is very bad, but (as a practical
matter) should it be reported to the hotline?  Maybe a better way
to phrase the question would be:  is this a known problem with the
older machines, with no possible fix?

The release is 4.0.5 (and 4.0.1 as well)

Talk to me California...


----------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Heirtzler      1-617-353-2780            jdh@bu-pub.bu.edu
Sci Comp & Vis       Information Technology    Boston University

"Congratulations.  You aren't running Eunice."
        -- Perl "Configure" script
From: dom@castle.ed.ac.uk (Dominic A. Varley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: ADVICE WANTED: Hard Drives for IRIS Indigos
Date: 5 Nov 92 10:53:18 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

Hi all,
	I'm posting for a friend who hasn't News access.  He would
like some advice on which 1 Gbyte drives are best for connecting to an 
IRIS Indigo workstation.  Then a brief description on how to set about
connecting it.  If you have any advice can you mail him at 

	markga@comms.ee.hull.ac.uk.

thank you from me and him.

Dominic Varley

********************************************************************************

dom(hull.ac.uk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: dunlap@bigboote.csd.sgi.com (Christopher Dunlap)
Subject: TAC - Who to contact.
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 18:13:06 GMT


In article <1992Nov6.094158.44464@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>, arritt@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
|> How does one make a suggestion regarding the TAC?


|> The problem is that the TAC personnel don't consider that there are
|> four time zones in the U.S., and that SGI is located in the westernmost
|> one.  My calls are CONSISTENTLY returned after working hours in
|> the Midwest (usually I get a message time-stamped around 6:30 pm or so).  
|> This requires at least one more round of phone tag before getting in
|> touch with the engineer.


It's a tough problem. Many customers do work after hours. And THEY get
mad if we assume that they're not there after some arbitrary time. 

Recently we installed an "Interactive Voice Response" (IVR)  system. 
The most important feature of this system is that it allows you to 
leave a voice-mail message for the owner of the call and for the owner
of the call to leave a message for you. The message is tied to the 
call-id, so you don't have to worry about someone being out sick or 
whatever - whoever picks up the call responsibility will see the 
message. 

This channel is useful for highly technical or detailed information
that must be exchanged between the support engineer and the customer.

I'd like to hear more about your specific experiences, however. Help
me to set priorities, and the examples can help me in communication
with bosses and staff. 


|> 
|> I called the TAC and asked how to register a suggestion/complaint, but
|> the person on the other end didn't know how to go about it.  I'd like

Interesting. You should be able to say that you're not happy and want
to make a suggestion, and that should come to our attention very
quickly. I'm having one of our staff check the call histories to see
if we can figure out who needs training. 


|> to target my suggestion a little more closely than just sending a letter
|> to the CEO of the company.  Any suggestions from you SGI folk out there?

You can email to me. (dunlap@sgi.com) 

Also, you really should be able to just leave a message at our 800
number and a management-type will get back to you. 

Also, the management in your local office can help. This is a useful
path to take since the lines between "field" and "factory" support is
blurry. What people often associate with "The Hotline" is often
something in field, and vice-versa. 


|> 
|> My intent is constructive.  In the end this ought to be good for SGI too, 
|> by improving customer loyalty.


Always appreciated. Hope to hear from you soon. 


regards,

chris




-- 
D. Christopher Dunlap  		Customer Services Engineering
				Customer Support Division
email: dunlap@sgi.com		Silicon Graphics Computer Systems 

--
D. Christopher Dunlap  		Customer Services Engineering
				Customer Support Division
email: dunlap@sgi.com		Silicon Graphics Computer Systems 

Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: kleinren@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de (Rainer Kleinrensing)
Subject: fsck problem in single user mode
Keywords: fsck, single user
Organization: Rechenzentrum der Universitaet Freiburg, Deutschland
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 11:33:32 GMT

Hello there,
today we had a problem with a mangled root entry in /etc/passwd.
To fix it, we booted single user and manually did a /etc/fsck /dev/usr
in order to be able to mount it and use 'vi'. However, fsck wanted to
print a message like 'UNREF FILE, OWNER=root', but what was printed was
'UNREF FILE, OWNER=Bus error (ore dumped)', fsck was not able to
continue beyond this point.
With 'echo' we created a passwd file with only the root entry,
after that fsck worked. Perhaps one could fix this ?

   Rainer Kleinrensing   rainer@indigo.mathematik.uni-freiburg.de
   Institute for Applied Mathematics
   Freiburg University

-- 
Rainer Kleinrensing,203-3068 <kleinren@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: "alan kennedy" <alan.kennedy@canrem.com>
Subject: paint programs
Reply-To: "alan kennedy" <alan.kennedy@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: comp
Date: 5 Nov 92 22:00:35 EST

-> Hi, Alan - I believe we've met, actually!  I run the CGI department
-> at what *used* to be Side Effects - we've completely restructured and
-> now changed our name to Spin Productions.  As memory serves you came
-> over to do some recording some time ago - I may be wrong.

Nope... not me. There is another guy named Alan who works the Wavefront
at CFA... I think. Perhaps it was him. But then again this is a "small"
town, and we probably have met at some point.

I agree about with your idea about getting a paint package for an SGI.
The worst thing about paint systems of the 80's was the hardware. Too
expensive and very little if any upgrade ability. With SGI, you have
lots of room to move. Not to mention being able to run several
applications on one box. And although sometimes I hate SGI (the
company), the boxes are VERY dependable. We have basically ZERO down
time. Perhaps a small problem once a year, which is not too bad.

Anyway... see you at SMPTE!

Alan Kennedy - The Image Group Canada Ltd. - Toronto, Ontario
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: steev@ipecac.esd.sgi.com (Motorin' Flarey Henderson)
Subject: Re: Putting disk in an R4000 Indigo
Organization:  Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 18:11:30 GMT

In <1992Nov11.204741.28323@bradley.bradley.edu> guru@camelot.bradley.edu (Jerry Whelan) writes:

>	We are considering purchasing a 15 seat lab of indigos.
>We'd like to avoid paying SGI's high prices for peripherals
>and thus we'd like to put our own hard drives in the machines.
>However, it appears that the indigos use a funky card connector
>rather a normal scsi cable for the drive interface.  Could
>someone tell me what is involved in installing an internal
>scsi drive on an R4000 indigo?

Offhand, I'd say that the easiest way to connect your own HD is to connect
it externally.  There may be some third party company that will sell you the 
necessary goodies to install it internally?

>	Also, am I correct in assuming the the R4000 indigos
>(unlike the R3000s) accept standard commodity 9-bit simms?

Close,  the simms in the R4K Indigo are standard commodity 36bit, 72pin
simms (80ns).  These are obviously different than the even more commodity
30pin 9 bit simms.  The memory data bus width for the R4K Indigo is 128 
bits wide.  Imagine if we used 9 bit simms what that would mean!   You would
have to install simms in groups of 16!

>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>``written by a drunken insane pathological liar''        guru@stasi.bradley.edu


--
steve valin		steve@sgi.com
	   	  It's like deja vu all over again...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: kleinren@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de (Rainer Kleinrensing)
Subject: Re: <Info required> pathname too long with bru.
Organization: Rechenzentrum der Universitaet Freiburg, Deutschland
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 19:38:02 GMT

olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson) writes:

>The only fix is to use shorter pathnames.  Someday we may support
>the newer version of bru that goes to 1023 chars total.

And, if possible, don't try to back up CaseVision/Workshop
(for that reason).

>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

-- 

   Rainer Kleinrensing,    rainer@indigo.mathematik.uni-freiburg.de
   Institute for Applied Mathematics
   Freiburg University
From: morrisdj@uhura.aston.ac.uk (DJ MORRIS)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: How display a GL application on remote X server ???
Date: 10 Nov 92 16:21:34 GMT
Organization: Aston University

toepfer@du9ds4.uni-duisburg.de (Hansjoerg Toepfer) writes:
: I have remote access to an IRIS Indigo.
: Is it possible to run remote GL applications with display on my SUN under X11?
: I always get the following error:
: 
: dgl error (TCP connect): Connection refused
: dgl error (default init): default dglopen(du9ds4:0.0,4) returned -127
: 
: Could someone give me a hint?
: 
I also had this problem.  What you need to do is tell both machines that they have access to
the other's x-server.  You do this using the xhost command.  Best if you read the man page.

Hope this is helpful.

Daniel Morris, Aston University, Birmingham, England.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: ib@ivan.asd.sgi.com (Ivan Bach)
Subject: Re: GL hacks - Rotating text
Keywords: GL, text rotation 
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 17:12:08 GMT

In article <BxIqvu.B17@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu Mark E. Johnson
<maejohns@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> writes:
> Suppose I wish to draw labeled cubes (similar to wooden blocks
> with letters on their sides) and have them rotate all over the place...
> Has anyone written code to do someting similar, say with the fm calls
> I know how to rotate things around, but am having a hard time with the
> letters.
It is easy to rotate text in two dimensions by using Display PostScript (DPS)
or the IRIS Font Manager (FM).  The design of the IRIS FM was patterned after
PostScript.  You request fonts by specifying a PostScript font name and point
size, the fm functions fmfindfont, fmscalefont, and fmsetfont correspond to
the PostScript operators findfont, scalefont, and setfont, DPS and FM use 3x3
transformation matrices, etc.

Why is it difficult to rotate text in three dimensions by using DPS or FM?
Because PostScript is a 2D page description language.  A two-dimensional
transformation is usually described mathematically as a 3x3 matrix of the
form:

    [ a  b  0 ]
    [ c  d  0 ]
    [ tx ty 1 ]

You can use just six values to specify such a matrix, because the matrix
elements in the third column always have the same values.  Such matrices allow
you to translate, scale, and rotate images in two dimensions.  You need 4x4
matrices to specify the kinds of transformations you want to do in three
dimensions.  You could use 4x4 matrices in your program to perform
transformations in three dimensions, calculate the projection of your 3D scene
on a 2D plane, and determine the elements of a 3x3 matrix.  Then you could
generate PostScript code that describes the projected image, or call
appropriate fm functions.

If you convert character outlines into line segments or polygons, then you
can use GL commands to do much more with characters than can be done in
PostScript.  You can use shading, textures, lighting, anti-aliasing, fog, etc.
You can make 2D or 3D characters fly across the screen, or simulate that a
viewer is flying around stationary characters.  

Ivan Bach, ib@sgi.com
From: dhinds@leland.Stanford.EDU (David Hinds)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Killed?
Date: 4 Nov 92 20:31:29 GMT
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA

In article <1992Nov4.065527.4867@shannon.ee.wits.ac.za> philip@concave.cs.wits.ac.za (Philip Machanick) writes:
>Occasionally when I have a bug in a program or allocate a very large
>data structure, my program dies with the message
>  Killed.
>This is not enourmously informative (whatever happened to core dumps)?
>
>What's going on?

I think this is what happens when a process exceeds the stack size
resource limit.  The reason there is no core dump is that when the
stack is full, there is no way to call the regular signal handler.
You should get an error message in the SYSLOG, though.  You might be
able to get around this by using the sigstack() call to specify an
alternate stack for signal handlers; this requires -D_BSD_SIGNALS.

        - David Hinds
          dhinds@allegro.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: naiming@eng.umd.edu (Naiming Shen)
Subject: Help with No permission writing on a NFS mounted directory
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 20:24:12 GMT
Organization: Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland

Hi, network, nfs experts:
I tried to mount my sgi workstation directory on a remote SunSparcstation.
I put a line in the /etc/exports on the Sun and did exportfs. On the iris
side, I put "lions:/usr2/ff /usr/people/testing/ff nfs rw,bg,hard,nointr,
timeo=100 0 0" in the /etc/fstab.(lions is the name of the Sun, ff is the
directory I want to mount on to the sun.).
After I did "/etc/mount lions:/usr2/ff /usr/people/testing/ff"
and used "df -k" to check, it was mounted: it shows:
lions:/usr2/ff    nfs xxx xxx xxx 51% /usr/people/testing/ff

Then I went to /usr/people/testing, did 'ls -ls':
1 drwxr-xr-x root deamon  512 Nov 10  ff

But I can't copy files or create directories even I am a root! Can
someone out there point to me what problem I am having?
thanks in advance.

Naiming,


Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: stanj@ferrari.corp.sgi.com (Stan Jensen)
Subject: Re: paint programs
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Distribution: comp
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 19:30:03 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.4553.21677@dosgate>, alan.kennedy@canrem.com (alan kennedy) writes:

|> Another thing you may want to look into, is a product called "Flame"?
|> I'm not sure of the exact name, but I think that was it. It is something 
|> like a non-real-time Quantel Harry. A Harry is a powerful paint & 
|> compositing system. All these products will be on display at the SMPTE 
|> conference next week at the Metro Convention Centre.

D.A. Technology in Melbourne, Australia (61 3 529 1711) makes the Flame
product that Alan refers to. I've also heard good things about it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stan Jensen, Systems Engineer                          stanj@corp.sgi.com
Silicon Graphics Inc., M/S 14L-120                    Phone:(415)390-5822
P.O. Box 7311, 1350 Charleston Road                   FAX:  (415)962-1589
Mt. View, CA  94039-7311                                "I (heart) Tonks"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: jonathan@rahul.net (Jonathan Heiliger)
Subject: Re: NT programs under IRIX????
Organization: a2i network
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 05:44:24 GMT

In article <1dqshoINNgbq@werple.apana.org.au> hunter@werple.apana.org.au 
(James Gardiner) writes:

>I was just wondering the other day about what NT on SG machines
>really means to us.

    It was my thought that you had to run NT on the SGI.  Perhaps that was 
under IRIX, or not.  That would be an interesting question to pose to 
Microsoft.
 

-- 
Jonathan Heiliger ........ Electric Power Research Institute
Internet: -/- jonathan@rahul.net -/- flix@mecca.epri.com -/-
Telephone <*> (415) 855-2888

Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: msc@ramoth.esd.sgi.com (Mark Callow)
Subject: Re: Panasonic SVHS, VLAN, and indigo
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 22:04:36 GMT


In article <1992Nov13.202114.7974@ringer.cs.utsa.edu>, senseman@ricky.brainlab.utsa.edu writes:
> Panasonic's S-VHS AG-7750 comes with a 9-pin interface connector for serial I/O
> control. My question is whether an Indigo can directly control the AG-7750
> without buying a VLAN system. Right now, we have our AG-7750 connected to a
> AG/A770 multi-event controller using the 9-pin connector. We are planning to
> generate videos using Wavefront's "Video Composer" and need to if we
> can get by without the VLAN system.  Thanks.
> 

If the AG-7750's serial port is rs232 or rs422 and you can find the
pinouts to make an appropriate cable, you should be able to control it
directly from the Indigo.  You will, of course, have to write some
software.

	-Mark
From: olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: TAC and time zones
Date: 7 Nov 92 03:18:09 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA

In <1992Nov6.094158.44464@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> arritt@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:

| How does one make a suggestion regarding the TAC?
| 
| The problem is that the TAC personnel don't consider that there are
| four time zones in the U.S., and that SGI is located in the westernmost

They *do* consider it, believe me.  Unfortunately, they just can't always
get back to you in time.  Also, consider that many people work all kinds of
'unusual' hours.  Just make sure that when you log your call, you indicate
when you will be available and include the time zone.  That will help some,
but it isn't a guarantee; some days/weeks are worse than others.

There have been discussions of distributing smaller support centers
around the country, partly to avoid this kind of problem.  I have no
no idea how serious/official they were.

| I called the TAC and asked how to register a suggestion/complaint, but
| the person on the other end didn't know how to go about it.  I'd like
| to target my suggestion a little more closely than just sending a letter
| to the CEO of the company.  Any suggestions from you SGI folk out there?

You can ask that your call be escalated, but I doubt it would do any
good.  This is an issue that everybody is aware of.  Probably your
call is being gotten to after the rush slacks off, and unfortunately
for you, it doesn't slack off early enough.
--
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
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: howardl@koosh.asd.sgi.com (Howard Look)
Subject: Re: GL hacks - Rotating text
Reply-To: howardl@koosh.asd.sgi.com (Howard Look)
Cc: howardl
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 18:53:14 GMT

In article <s78h2fo@zola.esd.sgi.com>, cmarrin@fred.esd.sgi.com (Chris
Marrin) writes:
|> 
|> In article <BxIqvu.B17@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, "Mark E. Johnson"
<maejohns@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> writes:
|> > 
|> > Suppose I wish to draw labeled cubes (similar to wooden blocks
|> > with letters on their sides) and have them rotate all over the place.
|> > 
|> > I know how to rotate things around, but am having a hard time
|> > with the letters.  I could figure out the coordinates of the
|> > vertices of these letters and draw them each time - but this
|> > leads to ugly results.  
|> > 
|> > Has anyone written code to do someting similar, say with the
|> > fm calls?  Is it as tedious as I think it will be?  Any sample
|> > code out there?  
|> > 
|> 
|> Use Inventor...
|> 

(Oh, bless your heart, Chris.)

Inventor can take any Adobe type-1 font and extrude it into three
dimensions. The Text3 object behaves just like any other 3D object; it
can be rotated, scaled, texture mapped, whatever.

To address your specific example, here is a simple scene graph that
looks like a wooden block. If you have loaded the inventor_eoe subsystem
(which comes with 4.0.5) you can save this snippet to a file, then read
it into /usr/sbin/SceneViewer.

#Inventor V1.0 ascii

Separator {
    Separator {
	Material {
	    diffuseColor .6 .2 .1
	}
	Cube {
	}
    }
    Separator {
	Material {
	    diffuseColor .2 .3 .5
	}
	Transform {
	    translation 0 -.7 1.2
	    scaleFactor .2 .2 .2
	}
	Text3 {
	    string "A"
	    justification CENTER
	}
    }
}

Writing an equivalent program using Inventor is very straightforward.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Howard Look   Silicon Graphics   howardl@sgi.com   (415) 390-1780
..__   One of these :) after being run over by one of these O-O
From: mlevin@husc8.harvard.edu (Michael Levin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: anyone using XView on an Iris?
Date: 11 Nov 92 21:05:26 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center


     Does anyone have XView (3.0 or 2.0) running on an Iris? Could
someone who does send me the library (uuencoded) or at least give me a
Makefile or any other tips needed to build the public domain version?
I've obtained the XView distribution, but it doesn't look like I'll be
able to build it myself (for lack of disk space, and experience with
xwindow programming). Can anyone help me? Please email to
mlevin@husc8.harvard.edu.  

Mike Levin