🖥️ Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI), was a pioneering company in the field of computer graphics and high-performance computing. Founded in 1981, SGI's innovative work in visualization and 3D graphics technology revolutionized various industries, including entertainment🎬 and scientific research.
The Indy was SGI's entry-level 3D workstation for CAD and 3D animations in 1993. This beautiful computer was actually the first shipped with a webcam and had video I/O ports built-in.
Since 2023 isn't over yet, there are a few days left to celebrate IT's 30th Anniversary and to realize that @Blender was developed on one of them.
🟪🟩 Silicon Graphics - SGI once reigned supreme in the realm of the most powerful graphics workstations and servers.
💸 In the museum, we preserve many of these systems, which when new could cost more than $10,000 and even $100,000, along with some of their high-end monitors and peripherals:
@muzej Had a lowest of the low-end Indys waiting on my desk when I arrived as webmaster at a Fortune 100 company in 1995. Apparently it was bundled with the #SGI Challenge S (rebadged Indy stripped of graphics hardware) as a “#SiliconGraphics WebFORCE” package, along with #Netscape server and browser software.
🦖🌪️ Silicon Graphics graphic workstations were once synonymous with high performance - they even appeared in movies like Jurassic Park, Twister, and Congo. In the museum, we have a lot of interesting peripherals for them, including several SGI IndyCam cameras.
💡 #TIL that, aside from fancy #CGI and #3D workstations and servers, legendary manufacturer #SiliconGraphics also sold an #espressomaker for ca. 190 DM in Germany.
I love this brittle beast I found on Ebay and impulsively bid on. The seller hand-delivered it within a day or two! I'm grateful for that because I doubt it would have survived shipping... the aged plastic case is extremely brittle and delicate. I've already broken (and repaired) two clips (one clip immediately broke again!).
@sassageflare
My point is that entire racks full of interconnected cages full of storage, accelerators, NICs, etc. is quite common in #HPC, and #SGI basically made HPC solutions for CAD & VFX...
Ok, the thing with the passwords of the #sgi#o2 has been done for now. After removal, the plate no longer started up. Even though I treated it like a red egg. Maybe I'll find an identical one in the bay for a repair try. But the fresh installed #Irix 6.5.22 from 11/2003 is still running fine on another hdd. #RetroComputing#SiliconGraphics