From: brian%jaguar.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Brian Sturgill)
Subject: Re: Considering getting an SGI indigo
Date: 1 Oct 92 23:58:01 MDT
Keywords: SGI Indigo
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

In article <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?

My wife saw NT running on an Indigo at SigGraph, they were demoing Open
GL under NT. Also there was an Indigo on display at the July NT
Developers Conference... but the booth was so crowded I couldn't see if
NT was running on it.

>
>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?

I doubt that IBM would put it on their competitors hardware.
Certainly since it's only thought to be coming out till mid-to-late '94
I would not expect to see it on a competitors hardware until at least '95.
Besides why OS/2 over NT?  NT is a much nicer system.

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

I'm told the DOS compatiblity is reasonably fast on the ACE-compliant
RISC machines... but I have no direct experience.

>
>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?

Don't know.  They did show Open GL if that helps.

>
>5.	Will NT REALLY run on SGI machines?

It already does... they've demoed it on Indigos, and they
sell a machine NOW called a Magnum 4000 specifically intended for NT.

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

The system is SVR 4 based, but with most of the Berkeley extentsions.  I'm
not very pleased with it's stability on multi-processors, but
on single processors, it's a better than average Unix, though
it may slip to below average as a bunch of Unixes are about to
get major facelifts.
SGI recently (a little over a year ago) switched from News to
Motif... like wise their X was totally revamped.  It is still
probably slower than the average X implementation, but they
seem to be steadily improving it.  I've had no contact with
IRIX for about 6 months, so I don't know about the latest release.

>
>7.	Wait, you're telling me an operating system that barely works in
>	it's native processor environment is going to run on SGi's?  
>			(Just kidding, no flames please   :)   )

Ok, I'll just gather tinder! :-)

>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?

Don't know about Indigos these days, but DDJ has a Magnum ad.
It's R4000 based, comes with NT -- says it's two times faster than
an Intel 486/50.  They give a phone number for more info:
	(800) 998-6477

>Any ideas, thoughts, money, info, or help would be greatly appreciated.
>Sorry about the crosspost, but I trust the people on the operating system
>war front more than anyone else (I'm not going to post in the msdos groups  :))
>Again, thanks in advance for any help!

You're welcome, I'll gladly give you information I can if it will get you
to change your .sig!!! :-)

>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Jeff "Kaz" Kaczmarek (kaz@iastate.edu)     This is your brain on drugs:  NT.
>						   OS/2 2.0 in 92!
>"The future is long past forgotten, when you're on the road to madness!"
>	-Geoff Tate (Queensrhyche)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian
-- 
C. Brian Sturgill                I strongly encourage you to read Ross Perot's
University of Utah                             United We Stand
Center for Software Science             How we can take back our country.
brian@cs.utah.edu; CIS: 70363,1373  (It's more important than OS/2 vs NT! :-))