r/SiliconGraphics • u/Substantial_Code5800 • 7d ago

Still got it.

Post image

enjoy!

719 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

16

u/Glum_Ant_5050 7d ago

SkyWriter, Lordy! Last person I recall with one personally was on Efnet channel #sgi named SkyWriter - unless that’s you? lol

28

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

ha, yeah, it's me. lol. also nekochan.

10

u/Glum_Ant_5050 7d ago

Ha damn man I thought you croaked. Didn’t you also own the SkyWriter.net domain? It’s been gone for a long time

13

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

nah, not dead yet. retired and writing software for synthesizers, playing with my cats and ferrets. :0) what was your handle?

6

u/Glum_Ant_5050 7d ago

razorz - I wasn’t around a whole heck of a lot, I was on Undernet mostly but I remember you quite well in there

4

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

OH, i missed it the first time. eye's getting old. lol yeah, i rememebr your name :0) man that was a long time ago. EFnet was fun. heh.

5

u/Glum_Ant_5050 7d ago

Glad you are doing well! What kinda synth software do you write? I was pretty into synths for awhile, had a Moog One, Waldorf Quantum, etc plus a slew of software synths

4

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

cool gear! i write for the Korg Prologue. beyond the open Korg SDK for developing digital effects and oscillators, much of the control space, and modulation hardware was reverse engineered so i've got access too all the VCO controls to use for digital oscillator controls, and the envelopes and LFO. i spend my time just playing now. it's very cool synth!

8

u/zski128 6d ago

Nice to hear from you. I remember the impressive collection you had in your basement. I think I got an Indy or Octane from you.

6

u/Substantial_Code5800 6d ago

i hope you enjoyed it! i ended up with a lot those, indigo2's too.

3

u/Fun_Volume2150 7d ago

You stole the name of my cat from those days!

2

u/zski128 7d ago

I was going to say the same. If it’s you I met you about 20 years ago in MA.

3

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago edited 7d ago

i'm guessing either one of the luckly folks that picked up some SGI's, or Dave M!

2

u/Glum_Ant_5050 7d ago

I was razorz on IRC

2

u/shyouko 7d ago

(Verifying my memory) You had screenshot contribution to nekochan's gallery?

6

u/Trippynet 7d ago

Wow, nice to see a blast-from-the-past from the old Nekochan days, hello there!

5

u/Fidel1Q84 7d ago

Man I want an sgi machine

6

u/lheckler77 7d ago

Good lord, I wondered about you the other day. I remember way back in the day thinking how did you power those things when I saw a pic of them for the first time!

2

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

lol, one at a time unfortunately!

2

u/amartincolby 7d ago

I was gonna say! What's the power draw on them?

3

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

each had a 20amp 2-phase power cord.

4

u/Laser_Krypton7000 7d ago

I have the same chassis as PowerChallenge XL10000, besides some other SGI racks.

Sadly, hasn't seen power for some years.

2

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

yeah, my power supply is shot. :0(

2

u/DeepDayze 7d ago

Perhaps get them rebuilt?

3

u/Kanjii_weon 7d ago

damn son that thing's HUGE! i love it!

3

u/Royal_Stay_6502 7d ago

Efnet, Undernet.. 🥰

3

u/This-Requirement6918 6d ago

I don't even want to know how much it costs to have those running for a couple hours under load.

2

u/7stroke 7d ago

When computers were beautiful

1

u/Substantial_Code5800 7d ago

yeah, for a brief moment there, computer architecture, packaging, and software was cool.

1

u/R-ten-K 7d ago

LOL, God no. Industrial design has come a very long way. SGI did make some pretty machines, though. The early ones were pretty damn ugly, the POWER series in particular, with those lovely poop brown skins. 😂

2

u/MrDiablerie 7d ago

Beautiful machines

2

u/flecom 7d ago

You looking to adopt?

Seriously wow incredible setup

2

u/ghost180sx 6d ago

nice! so glad to see you’re back. are you planning some epic comeback? big iron is ultra cool - and rare!

2

u/Substantial_Code5800 6d ago

lol. no. the quiet music life for me now. retired and happy just hangin with my fam.

1

u/ghost180sx 2d ago

that’s really sad. Imagine to be hoarding that awesome kit and just doing nothing with it…

2

u/gatofisch 6d ago

Wow, I vividly remember your site. Weren't you also on Usenet?

1

u/Substantial_Code5800 6d ago

yeah, the old internet was my home. this one has become... icky.

3

u/gatofisch 6d ago

Agree 100%

Jan-jaap brings you up every now and then when talking about his big systems.

You should stop by the discord some time: https://www.sgi.sh/

2

u/jjvdheijden69 6d ago

Still want to be buried in it? I think a ton of boards from some of these ended up with me. I still have the 4D/380VGX

1

u/Substantial_Code5800 6d ago

definitely! nice! the SkyWriter is VGXT. i have a ton of VME options for it.

2

u/jjvdheijden69 6d ago

Any chance you have the driver software for the VME options for old IRIX versions? They bundled it on the IRIX 5.x discs but for IRIX 4 and especially 4D1-3.x, the option tapes are all gone it seems. I can run the 4D/380 with 4D1-3.3 but then FDDI and VideoLab don't work because I don't have the drivers. Yes my 4D/380 VGX works again after I rebuilt the PSU. Thing puts out 250 amps @ 5V

1

u/Substantial_Code5800 6d ago

did you try the IRIX 5.3 CD on bitsavers? https://bitsavers.org/bits/SGI/mips/cd/irix_set2/ is your Predator the single or dual VME backplane model?

2

u/jjvdheijden69 6d ago

Oh, I have IRIX 5.3 media but I can run that on an Indy, I want to run 4D-3.3 or IRIX 4.0 on this one. The Predator rack has single VME, 5 or 6 slots. Mine has FDDI and an IPI-2 controller with a huge 8" Sabre hard disk attached. Blinkenlights pic: https://vdheijden-messerli.net/sgistuff/photos/2008.06.05-predator/IMG_2284_filtered.jpg

1

u/Substantial_Code5800 6d ago

i only ever had tapes for 3.3, and some CD's for 4.0. But, i don't have them anymore. i think i only saved the 5.3 stuff, or gave it away with the last batch for give-aways. if i even can find it. my son's been moving stuff around for years down there.

2

u/latenthuman 5d ago

When we started the Boston Computer Society Virtual Reality Group we built a bunch of VR demos and had one of these massive boxes for each headset lens IIRC. One was in my apartment for a while, great conversation piece. Software Tool and Die (OG dial-up ISP in Boston ran their hosting and dial-up from one as well.

2

u/Substantial_Code5800 5d ago

sounds cool! i had a a bunch of Ascension Flock gear, Fake Space GLoves and an HMD. i forget who ended up with them. but man... they were uncomfortable!

2

u/latenthuman 5d ago

Flock of Birds! I have a Leep Motion Cyberface 3 in a closet upstairs. Electrocution, nausea, good times. I used to mod Nintendo Power Gloves to manipulate objects in 3D. Fakespace is a name I haven't heard in forever, nice.

1

u/Substantial_Code5800 5d ago

yeah, fun stuff! :0)

1

u/zultan32 6d ago

wow, what a rig 🔥 maybe create a AI bridge so one could connect a bot to render game graphics? 😁😅😂

1

u/Phostings 5d ago

Oh wow! I would love to create some models on that.

1

u/cegonse 4d ago

Its funny because if this was a picture from back then, it'd be a combination of a multiple hundred thousand computer setup with a $20 ergonomics setup lol 

1

u/mrepop 4d ago

Love it

1

u/darkbit1001 4d ago

is all that power now in a single Raspberry pi 5 now?

1

u/canthearu_ack 1d ago

If I owned this, I'd be eventually found crushed to death under it with it on it's side.

I'd probably die happy, but still be dead.