🔎 Throwback Thursday Unix Workstations: (Image of a Silicon Graphics O2 workstation with monitor, keyboard, and system unit on a desk) Dennis van Zuijlekom from Ermelo, The Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ , via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Silicon_Graphics_sgi_O2_(6822984152).jpg For serious computing, whether it was software development, engineering, or video production, Unix workstations like the SGI O2 were preferred with their faster processors, larger RAM, and sophisticated graphics capabilities. vintage.computer

Before PCs dominated creative work, Unix workstations like the SGI O2 powered engineering, 3D graphics, and video production. Built for performance, these machines defined high-end computing in the 90s. #ThrowbackThursday #SGI #Unix #VintageComputing #VintageComputer

April Mcclain Delaney - Integrity Index View April Mcclain Delaney's political integrity grade, campaign financing, and conflicts of interest.

Rep. April Mcclain Delaney (D-MD) disclosed 5 trades:
Traded: Feb 9 | Disclosed: Mar 10

Bought: $CHRW ($1K-$15K)
Sold: $SGI ($1K-$15K), $ENTG ($1K-$15K), $BJ ($1K-$15K), $VIK ($1K-$15K)

integrityindex.us/candidate/april-mcclain-...

Reverse Engineering The PROM For The SGI O2 The SGI O2 was SGI’s last-ditch attempt at a low-end MIPS-based workstation back in 1996, and correspondingly didn’t use the hottest parts of the time, nor did it offer much of an upgrade path. None of which is a concern to hobbyists who are more than happy to work around any hardware- and software limitations to e.g. install much faster CPUs. While quite a few CPU upgrades were possible with just some BGA chip reworking skills, installing the 900 MHz RM7900 would require some PROM hacking, which [mattst88] recently took a shake at. The initial work on upgrading SGI O2 systems was done in the early 2000s, with [Joe Page] and [Ian Mapleson] running into the issue that these higher frequency MIPS CPUs required a custom IP32 PROM image, for which they figured that they’d need either SGI’s help. Since SGI is no longer around, [mattst88] decided to take up the torch. After downloading a 512 kB binary dump of the last version of the O2’s PROM, he set to work reverse-engineering it, starting by dissembling the file. A big part of understanding MIPS PROM code is understanding how the MIPS architecture works, including its boot process, so much of what followed was a crash-course on the subject. With that knowledge it was much easier to properly direct the Capstone disassembler and begin the arduous process of making sense of the blob of data and code. The resulting source files now reassemble into bit-identical ROM files, which makes it likely that modifying it to support different CPUs is now possible with just a bit more work. For those who want to play along, [mattst88] has made his ip32prom-decompiler project available on GitHub. Thanks to [adistuder] for the tip. * * * Top image: Silicon Graphics 1600SW LCD display and O2 workstation. (Source: Wikimedia)

Reverse Engineering the PROM for the SGI O2 The SGI O2 was SGI’s last-ditch attempt at a low-end MIPS-based workstation back in 1996, and correspondingly didn’t use the hottest parts of the tim...

#Reverse #Engineering #mips #sgi

Origin | Interest | Match

Reverse Engineering The PROM For The SGI O2 The SGI O2 was SGI’s last-ditch attempt at a low-end MIPS-based workstation back in 1996, and correspondingly didn’t use the hottest parts of the time, nor did it offer much of an upgrade path. None of which is a concern to hobbyists who are more than happy to work around any hardware- and software limitations to e.g. install much faster CPUs. While quite a few CPU upgrades were possible with just some BGA chip reworking skills, installing the 900 MHz RM7900 would require some PROM hacking, which [mattst88] recently took a shake at. The initial work on upgrading SGI O2 systems was done in the early 2000s, with [Joe Page] and [Ian Mapleson] running into the issue that these higher frequency MIPS CPUs required a custom IP32 PROM image, for which they figured that they’d need either SGI’s help. Since SGI is no longer around, [mattst88] decided to take up the torch. After downloading a 512 kB binary dump of the last version of the O2’s PROM, he set to work reverse-engineering it, starting by dissembling the file. A big part of understanding MIPS PROM code is understanding how the MIPS architecture works, including its boot process, so much of what followed was a crash-course on the subject. With that knowledge it was much easier to properly direct the Capstone disassembler and begin the arduous process of making sense of the blob of data and code. The resulting source files now reassemble into bit-identical ROM files, which makes it likely that modifying it to support different CPUs is now possible with just a bit more work. For those who want to play along, [mattst88] has made his ip32prom-decompiler project available on GitHub. Thanks to [adistuder] for the tip. * * * Top image: Silicon Graphics 1600SW LCD display and O2 workstation. (Source: Wikimedia)

Reverse Engineering the PROM for the SGI O2 The SGI O2 was SGI’s last-ditch attempt at a low-end MIPS-based workstation back in 1996, and correspondingly didn’t use the hottest parts of the tim...

#Reverse #Engineering #mips #sgi

Origin | Interest | Match

Reverse Engineering The PROM For The SGI O2 The SGI O2 was SGI’s last-ditch attempt at a low-end MIPS-based workstation back in 1996, and correspondingly didn’t use the hottest parts of the time, nor did it offer much of an upgrade path. None of which is a concern to hobbyists who are more than happy to work around any hardware- and software limitations to e.g. install much faster CPUs. While quite a few CPU upgrades were possible with just some BGA chip reworking skills, installing the 900 MHz RM7900 would require some PROM hacking, which [mattst88] recently took a shake at. The initial work on upgrading SGI O2 systems was done in the early 2000s, with [Joe Page] and [Ian Mapleson] running into the issue that these higher frequency MIPS CPUs required a custom IP32 PROM image, for which they figured that they’d need either SGI’s help. Since SGI is no longer around, [mattst88] decided to take up the torch. After downloading a 512 kB binary dump of the last version of the O2’s PROM, he set to work reverse-engineering it, starting by dissembling the file. A big part of understanding MIPS PROM code is understanding how the MIPS architecture works, including its boot process, so much of what followed was a crash-course on the subject. With that knowledge it was much easier to properly direct the Capstone disassembler and begin the arduous process of making sense of the blob of data and code. The resulting source files now reassemble into bit-identical ROM files, which makes it likely that modifying it to support different CPUs is now possible with just a bit more work. For those who want to play along, [mattst88] has made his ip32prom-decompiler project available on GitHub. Thanks to [adistuder] for the tip. * * * Top image: Silicon Graphics 1600SW LCD display and O2 workstation. (Source: Wikimedia)

Reverse Engineering the PROM for the SGI O2 The SGI O2 was SGI’s last-ditch attempt at a low-end MIPS-based workstation back in 1996, and correspondingly didn’t use the hottest parts of the tim...

#Reverse #Engineering #mips #sgi

Origin | Interest | Match

🐡 OpenBSD on SGI: a rollercoaster story

#openbsd #bsd #sgi #unix
miod.online.fr/software/ope...

OpenBSD on SGI: a rollercoaster story, as told by miod@

OpenBSD on SGI: a rollercoaster story, as told by miod@ undeadly.org/cgi?action=a... #openbsd #sgi #silicongraphics #development #hacking #freesoftware #libresoftware

OpenBSD on SGI: a rollercoaster story, as told by miod@

OpenBSD on SGI: a rollercoaster story, as told by miod@ undeadly.org/cgi #openbsd #sgi #silicongraphics #development #hacking #freesoftware #libresoftware

National Sleep Foundation and Tempur-Pedic Announce New Research Collaboration National Sleep Foundation and Tempur-Pedic (SGI) announced a research collaboration to combine NSF's nationally representative survey data with Tempur-Pedic's SleepTracker-AI® objective sleep data.The study aims to identify what is disrupting Americans' sleep and will coincide with Tempur-Pedic's Gold sponsorship of NSF's Sleep Awareness Week (March 8-14, 2026).

#SGI National Sleep Foundation and Tempur-Pedic Announce New Research Collaboration

www.stocktitan.net/news/SGI/national-sleep-...

SGI O2 CPU PROM emulator – sdz-mods.com

SDZ-Mods just published an SGI O2 CPU PROM emulator, a drop-in replacement for the original PROM that lets you tweak CPU configs (R5k/RM7k etc.) over USB instead of burning/desoldering chips every time. 🔥

#SGI #SGIO2 #MIPS #RetroComputing

Original post on mas.to

This was a delightful read, tech is still cool from time to time, if you know where to look and no money is involved.

Which is another way of saying, if you have some spare time you could also spend your evening reading a blog post about decompiling Silicon Graphics' PROMs. This is fedi's bread […]

A screenshot of an IRIX desktop playing SimCity

A maybe slightly more reasonable thing to be doing on my #sgi #indigo2

#retrocomputing #unix #simcity

A picture of an Indigo2, it is a very pretty machine.

#Apple has nothing on #SGI from 1995.

#retrocomputing #unix #irix

A screenshot of the default IRIX desktop. IT is very teal, and also majestic. You had to be there.

The majesty of 4dwm.

#sgi #irix #retrocomputing

The first time login screen of IRIX 6.5 There are several users root EZsetup demos guest It looks super cool and retro futuristic

Now we're getting to the good part of #irix

After the just unacceptably and inexplicably bad install process.

#unix #sgi #retrocomputing

The IRIX installer at 83%, installing the MIPS Pro compiler.

Progress!

#irix #sgi #retrocomputing

A screenshot of the SGI installer. Copying Installation Tools to Disk

Heck yeah!

#irix #sgi #retrocomputing

The same screenshot as above, but now the progress bar is almost at 90%

So close...

#irix #sgi #retrocomputing

A screenshot of SGI's SASH running the partitioner preparing for an IRIX install. ``` Command Monitor. Type "exit" or click on "done" to return to the menu. >> hinv System: IP22 Processor: 200 Mhz R4400, with FPU Primary I-cache size: 16 Kbytes Primary D-cache size: 16 Kbytes Secondary cache size: 2048 Kbytes Memory size: 384 Mbytes Graphics: GU1-Extreme SCSI Disk: scsi(0)disk(2) SCSI CDROM: scsi(0)cdrom(4) Audio: Iris Audio Processor: version A2 revision 1.1.0 >> boot -f dksc(0,4,8)sashARCS dksc(0,4,7)stand/fx.ARCS --x 136336+22752+3248+341792+49344d+4620+6880 entry: 0x97fa5ee0 SGI Version 6.5 ARCS BE Oct 6, 2003 fx: "device-name" = (dksc) fx: ctlr# = (0) fx: drive# = (1) 2 ...opening dksc(0,2,0) dks0d2s10: volume header not valid ...drive selftest...OK fx: Warning: invalid label from disk driver, ignored Scsi drive type == QUANTUM ATLAS5-9LVD HP04 ...creating default bootinfo ...created default partitions, use /repartition menu to change ...creating default volume directory ----- please choose one (? for help, .. to quit this menu)----- [exi]t [d]ebug/ [l]abel/ [a]uto [b]adblock/ [exe]rcise/ [r]epartition/ fx> a ```

If you've been following my latest #unix shenanigans you might have noticed that I've talked about #solaris, #aix, and #hpux but what about #irix ?!

Well today it is #sgi day. Irix is the only proprietary Unix I've ever actually used day to day, I'm […]

[Original post on mastodon.tmm.cx]

Soka Gakkai History: The Founding of SGI The

(2/2)
Speaking at the conference, President Ikeda emphasized Buddhism’s core philosophy of respect for the dignity of life and made a declaration of his lifelong commitment to the pursuit of lasting peace.

www.sokaglobal.org/resources/st...

#SokaGakkai #BuddhisminAction #SGI

🌏January 26 is SGI Day, commemorating the founding of the Soka Gakkai International at the First World Peace Conference in Guam in 1975. This marked the beginning of Soka Gakkai’s development into a global Buddhist network dedicated to peace, culture and education.(1/2)
#BuddhisminAction #SGI