Intended purpose

server/mainframe: medium to large scale servers; super computer use

desktop/workstation: workstations (for those with UNIX familiarity)

handheld: not appropriate

real time: not appropriate

Hardware Supported: SGI MIPS

• 6.2: MIPS R4000 to R10000 based SGIs^w36
• 6.4: MIPS R10000 based SGIs^w36
• 6.5: “is back to being an all-platforms release; amongst the systems which are supported by 6.5.x would be R4000, R4400, R4600, R5000, R8000, and R10000 MIPS CPU based systems (but certain configurations of systems that run with R4000 CPUs are no longer supported).”^e92

Maximum Number of Processors: 128^e63

    “The entry into the product line is a one- to eight-processor deskside system that can be rack-mounted and seamlessly expanded to 128 processors, providing up to 256GB of shared physical memory and 80GB per second of sustained I/O bandwidth. The key component of an Origin2000 system is a modular building block of processors, I/O, memory, system bandwidth, power supplies, and chassis. A single module supports one to eight MIPS® R10000™ processors and 64MB to 16GB of memory, and provides more than 5GB per second of sustained I/O bandwidth. Each module also internally supports up to five 3.5-inch Ultra SCSI devices and a CD-ROM. As your needs grow, you can expand the system by adding modules and linking them with the revolutionary Silicon Graphics® CrayLink™ Interconnect, a high-speed, scalable interconnect fabric that provides a single system image across all modules. Alternatively, you can use CrayLink Interconnect to link multiple modules into a tightly integrated array of departmental servers.”^w34

    “The ‘product line’ supported by IRIX is extremely broad; the paragraph which you quote only describes the entry point into the Origin server product line.”^e92

Number of bits: 64^w43

    “Digital UNIX continues to dominate the 64-bit arena, leaving HP-UX and IRIX to contest the second position, followed closely by AIX. Solaris and NT trail significantly behind. IRIX has transitioned its hardware line completely to 64-bit technology, but lags in the area of 64-bit standards conformance, without support for the predecessor of the 64-bit UNIX98 standard, UNIX95.” —D.H. Brown Associates^w43†

File Systems Supported:

• preferred file system: XFS^e23
• file systems can read/write/format: XFS^e23, EFS^e23
• file systems can read/write: HFS^e23, FAT^e23, NFS^e24
• file systems read/write through optional software: SMB (through SAMBA); DFS (client)^e118 [http://www.sgi.com/software/dce/index.html]
• file systems read only and can write through optional software: ISO 9660^e23

Disabled support:

Internet Services:

    Businesses and organizations with servers powered by IRIX: Hustler, Maserati, MayoHealth.org, Nissan, SGI (Silicon Graphics)^w52

    IRIX 6.4 places third, bundling CacheFS and AutoFS, and network security features almost as strong as Digital’s. But IRIX lacks network time facilities (NTP) and TCP/IP capabilities such as IPv6 and IPSec.” —Digital Equipment Corporation, “AIX 4.3 Leaps To 64-Bits In Dead Heat With Digital UNIX 4.0”^w51

See also chart of internet features.

Application Programs:

Security:

references within this web site

(for your convenience, look for this symbol marking passages about IRIX)

•     Cost
•     Hardware Supported
•     Hardware-Software Integration
•     File Systems Supported
•     Speed
•     Ease of Use
•     Maintenance and Administration
•     Hardware (Physical) Layer of an Operating System

further reading: web sites

Please send recommendations on additional URLs to Milo.

official web sites

    SGI: http://www.sgi.com

    http://techpubs.sgi.com (on-line documentation)

FAQs

(Frequently Asked Questions)

    http://support.sgi.com (official SGI FAQs)^e3

    http://www-viz.tamu.edu/~sgi-faq/ (user contributed FAQs)^e3

user group web sites

    Silicon Graphics User Groups Guide to all the Silicon Graphics user groups.

    Huntsville SGI User Group (Alabama)

    Atlanta SGI User Group (Georgia)

    SGI Chesapeake Region User Group (Maryland)

    Silicon Graphics User Group Denmark

    Silicon Graphics User Group Deutschland (Germany)

    SGI Metroplex User Group (Dallas)

    Houston SGI User Group

    Silicon Graphics Gebruikers Groep (Netherlands)

    NASA Langley SGISIG (Virginia)

other related web sites

    r4400’s guide to sgi/irix Excellent set of links to all kinds of information on IRIX.

    http://www.futuretech.vuurwerk.nl/sgi.html “SGI Technical Advice and Information”^e124

    http://www.sgihelp.org/ “S G I Help”^e124

    http://www.sgiaddict.net/ “the sgi addict”^e124

    SGI in the media: Myth vs. Reality

    http://home.earthlink.net/~bhami/rosetta.html “Rosetta Stone for Unix”; a guide for comparable commands and directories in several popular forms of UNIX (AIX, Darwin, DG-UX, FreeBSD, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD, SCO OpenServer, Solaris, SunOS, Tru64, and ULTRIX).

    http://thezone.gsfc.nasa.gov/^e3

    Stokely’s SGI System Administrator FAQ links

    CPU Speed Tests

    http://www.linuxrx.com/WS_Linux/OS_comparison.html “The Linux resource exchange — Operating systems comparison” LINUX, HPUX, Windows NT, BSDi, FreeBSD, IRIX, Digital UNIX, Solaris, Macintosh, OS/2, UnixWare, OpenServer^e83

    http://www.unix-vs-nt.org/ John Kirch’s article “Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX”

    http://www.dhbrown.com/pdfs/osscorecard.html “Operating System Scorecard — D.H. Brown Associates”

further reading: books

    For more UNIX book listings, see also the general book listings on the UNIX web page.

If you want your book reviewed, please send a copy to: Milo, POB 1361, Tustin, CA 92781, USA.

Price listings are for courtesy purposes only and may be changed by the referenced businesses at any time without notice.

further reading: books: introductory/general

A Practical Guide to the Unix System; by Mark G. Sobell; Addison-Wesley Pub Co; October 1994; ISBN 0805375651; paperback; 800 pages; $37.95

further reading: books: administration

Essential System Administration: Help for Unix System Administrators (Nutshell Handbook); 2nd edition; by Aeleen Frisch; O’Reilly & Associates; December 1996; ISBN 1565921275; paperback; 788 pages; $27.96

The Complete Guide to Netware 4.11/Intranetware; 2nd edition; by James E. Gaskin; Sybex; December 1996; ISBN 078211931X; paperback; $47.99; includes information on getting NetWare working with Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, and OS/2

further reading: books: internet

Building a Unix Internet Server; by George Eckel; New Riders Publishing; June 1995; ISBN 1562054945; paperback (with CD-ROM); 325 pages; $30.40

further reading: books: enterprise/business

further reading: books: content creation

further reading: books: programming

Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series); by W. Richard Stevens; Addison-Wesley Pub Co; June 1992; ISBN 0201563177; hardcover; 744 pages; $63.95

further reading: books: hardware

further reading: books: miscellaneous

If you want your book reviewed, please send a copy to: Milo, POB 1361, Tustin, CA 92781, USA.