chuck@marie.mit.edu (PARSONS, CHARLES) (03/05/91)
If there is a FAQ list on these topics could someone send it to me?
I have to make a quick decision on a R6000 configuration to buy and
I'm looking for some advice on what to buy/not buy. Here are a few,
I went through the last 100 letters (all that are still on our newsserver)
and found info on some of them. I know alot about VMS but not much
about unix, so unix pointers on formating disks etc are also appreciated.
The system should be a 320 with 8plane color graphics. It will be used
heavily by 2-3 users for scientific computing.
1. 3rd party memory?? IBM wants >$4000 to go from 8-16 meg.
2. 3rd party disk drives? I will probably get a internal IBM 320meg
drive and a 3rd party 1.2 gigabyte, either fujitsu or seagate. Any info
on formating, disktab entries, etc?
3. I can't afford the 24bit color, but should I get the 8bit '3D' board,
or stick with the low end color board?
4. Software. Anything in particular to get/not get? For instance the
CD hypertext info disk?
5. Does the field upgrade from 8bit color to 24 bit color take more
than just memory, i.e. can I do it myself for less than $13k?
6. Any problem with just 4 slots? I need ethernet, an external scsi
controller and graphics. It would be nice to have 1 slot free. does
24 bit color take 2 slots?
7. How is the IBM 19" monitor?
8. Any ftp sites out there dedicated particularly to r6000?
Many thanks for any info you can share.
Chuck@mitlns.mit.edujeffs@soul.esd.sgi.com (Jeff Smith) (03/07/91)
|> 1. 3rd party memory?? IBM wants >$4000 to go from 8-16 meg. I think there are companies that will sell IBM style syms, so you can upgrade a 8M board to something higher. The board is harder to make, and I don't know if they have been cloned yet. |> 2. 3rd party disk drives? I will probably get a internal IBM 320meg |> drive and a 3rd party 1.2 gigabyte, either fujitsu or seagate. Any info |> on formating, disktab entries, etc? Using 3rd party disks usually works pretty well. I would think a major 1.2G drive should work, but hopefully you can get some real experiences. |> 3. I can't afford the 24bit color, but should I get the 8bit '3D' board, |> or stick with the low end color board? This is a tough question to answer. It really depends on what you need to do. If you can forsee the need to use the 3d capibility, then it is probably a good bet (see slot stuff below). However the X server does not work well on this card at this time. This should improve over time. I have a conflict of interest here. I used to work for IBM on various UNIX OS development, including the RS/6000. I now work at SGI, who OEM's the 3d board to IBM... |> 5. Does the field upgrade from 8bit color to 24 bit color take more |> than just memory, i.e. can I do it myself for less than $13k? I have never seen a fully configured board, but I think it can be up to 3 boards. The basic 3d board. The Z-buffer, and the 24 bit color. However this is partially speculation. I have no idea how much things cost. |> 6. Any problem with just 4 slots? I need ethernet, an external scsi |> controller and graphics. It would be nice to have 1 slot free. does |> 24 bit color take 2 slots? 4 slots in the 320 is sorta a bad deal. You need one for ethernet, one for SCSI, and one for a display. This make expansion sorta tight. You probably want to find out how many slots a fully configured 3d card takes. |> 7. How is the IBM 19" monitor? excellent. It's a sony trinitron tube. Good luck with your 6000. Unfortuantely I never had one to my self for a long time, although my SGI machine works just fine. jeffs@sgi.com
jona@bcr.bellcore.com (Jon Alperin) (03/07/91)
In article <1991Mar6.182757.13151@odin.corp.sgi.com>, jeffs@soul.esd.sgi.com (Jeff Smith) writes: |> |> 1. 3rd party memory?? IBM wants >$4000 to go from 8-16 meg. |> |> I think there are companies that will sell IBM style syms, so you can upgrade |> a 8M board to something higher. The board is harder to make, and I don't |> know if they have been cloned yet. |> - Be careful...IBM has marketed several versions of their memory chips (SD1, HD4), and most are not available from 3rd party (In fact, the ones that I have talked to could only reply "Duhhh" when I asked which chips they had). I have been told that you cannot mix the chip types, even between the paired boards. Jon Alperin Bell Communications Research * All opinions expressed are my own *
graeme@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Graeme Moffat) (03/08/91)
jeffs@soul.esd.sgi.com (Jeff Smith) writes: >I have never seen a fully configured board, but I think it can be up to >3 boards. The basic 3d board. The Z-buffer, and the 24 bit color. However >this is partially speculation. 4 boards, two piggy backed on the other two, which use two slots. >|> 6. Any problem with just 4 slots? I need ethernet, an external scsi >|> controller and graphics. It would be nice to have 1 slot free. does >|> 24 bit color take 2 slots? >4 slots in the 320 is sorta a bad deal. You need one for ethernet, one for >SCSI, and one for a display. This make expansion sorta tight. Since the 8 bit 3d display is the same as the 24 except with smaller piggy back boards, this leaves 0 slots for expansion. (I mean same construction, I've not seen a 24 bitter, just looked in the service manuals - we're still waiting for ours). The colour graphics and monochrome boards are single slot. (but who wants them *B^) PS. The design of the ethernet boards connections is sadly deficient - the bnc connector is too close to the end of the board, making it almost impossible to fit a T-connector on if there are any cards (such as scsi or display) beside it, or with a 320, to even put the back cover on at all! I am wondering if anyone uses a short stub of cable directly from the board to the T - not a recommended practice with ethernet, but I believe it usually works? -- Graeme Moffat g.moffat@aukuni.ac.nz \ Time wastes us all, Computer Aided Design Centre, Fax: +64-9-366-0702 / our bodies & our wits School of Engineering, Ph: +64-9-737-999 x8384 / But we waste time, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland, NZ \ so time & we are quits
AER7101@TECHNION.BITNET (Zvika Bar-Deroma) (03/08/91)
In article <1991Mar4.233040.18106@athena.mit.edu>, chuck@marie.mit.edu (PARSONS, CHARLES) says: > (stuff deleted) .. . . > > 1. 3rd party memory?? IBM wants >$4000 to go from 8-16 meg. Whether IBM or 3rd. party, buy lots of it ! Certainely NOT 8meg.- 16 is a minimum, 32MB probably makes more sense, but you really have to benchmark your applications in order to decide. > 6. Any problem with just 4 slots? I need ethernet, an external scsi > controller and graphics. It would be nice to have 1 slot free. does > 24 bit color take 2 slots? I think that the Silicon Graphics adapter requires 2 slots, so in case that's what you need, you'll have NO free slots left. > > 7. How is the IBM 19" monitor? great ! /Zvika Zvika Bar-Deroma Phone: (+972)-4-292706 Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Fax : (+972)-4-231848 Technion Haifa 32000 Israel BITNET : AER7101@TECHNION DOMAIN NAMING : AER7101@TECHNION.TECHNION.AC.IL