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SGI Visual Workstation Linux HOWTO posted 51

Posted by CmdrTaco from the for-those-with-cash-to-spare dept.
Steve Phillips sent us a link to the SGI Visual Workstation HOWTO. It is what it sounds like. Some notes about what makes the new machine different (and more expensive) than many x86 boxes. It's interesting, but probably more so if you actually have one of those boxes. Wish I did... if only for that screen. Yum yum.
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SGI Visual Workstation Linux HOWTO posted More

SGI Visual Workstation Linux HOWTO posted

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  • Heh.

    "If your idea of "support" is posting questions (and answers!) to the linux kernel mailing list..."

    Okay, sure.. I could do that ;-)

    "Note that this kernel is hardwired to look for /dev/hdb1 as root, and that RAM size is hardwired to 64Mb..."

    Hah! Reminds me of stories I've heard from the pre-1.0 days of Linux (no, I didn't run it back then..) Back before LILO...

    Ahh.. Well, I imagine I might want to learn kernel hacking, if I had the money for a Visual Workstation, the time, and a tad bit more experience ;-)

    Naw, on second thought -- the only restriction is the money.. I'm ready for an adventure...
  • "Regarding OpenGL, the coming 3D-UI push by MS will probably push ..."

    What are you referring to here? Is there any URL on MS' efforts at creating 3D GUI's? I wasn't aware they were doing anything in this regard, but I guess I'm either a) clueless or b) misinterpreting what you mean.

    I'd love to solve both a) and b) ...

  • Quit being a whiny prick.

    Did you read the How-To? They're *working* on it.

    They released the kernel as it currently stands in the *spirit* of open development. Clearly, SGI recognizes that the best way to get Linux running on these boxes is to get a de-facto grass roots project started up and let people at it...

    Sorta like a few other projects you may, or may *not*, be familiar with.

    Sheesh.
  • Thanks ...

    *THWAP*!

    Rob says that so that companies that read his reviews might be swung towards *actually* sending him stuff ...

    Not a bad strategy, for one who tirelessly puts everything into SlashDot and gets very little out of it.

    After all, what with Rob turning the ol' /. effect on a few sites, he deserves it.
  • Posted by Mike Huang:

    I've heard the 1600x1024 res on the SGI flat screen for a while now, but I still haven't found out if that is a locked resolution -- that is, if I go to 640x480 (a common game resolution) and go full screen, will 640x480 look like a postage stamp?
  • Posted by Mike Huang:

    While I don't have a SGI LCD, I do use an IBM LCD (T55A, for those that are interested) at work.

    One of the things that is great about the LCD is that it's flicker free. Although there's not so much pixel blurring on a CRT, it doesn't matter how high you drive the monitor's refresh, you can still see the flicker.

    Now to be fair, I do notice some pixel blurring, but not much. I can definitely notice it when I scroll down a webpage quickly, but for looking at video clips or playing games, I don't really notice the pixel blurring at all.

    I rather like my LCD monitor, but it does lack two things -- the same clarity that I get on a CRT at a smaller resolution (640x480 looks blurred on the LCD, while on a CRT, it's still quite clear) and Height adjustment. Most LCDs do not have a way of adjusting the height, just the view angle (that takes it's cue from the CRT monitor market -- how many CRTs have height adjustment?) Thankfully, some LCD companies are beginning to see the light and add height adjustment.

    One other minor caveat is that due to the manufacturing process of LCDs, you'll have to live with some dead pixels.

  • (really - couldn't they at least have produced a version of X that takes advantage of the neat graphics hardware? I know it would mean not releasing Linux support the day after the machine comes out, but support without keyboards isn't really support).

    They, who? The kernel people probably aren't too interested in writing X servers. Releasing support the day after the machine comes out is just fine - people who find the lack of keyboard support galling can wait until later. But if releasing support for keyboards delays kernel support, that only hurts people who don't care about keyboards. And since keyboard support is so important to you, I'll look for your name in the CREDITS file.
  • I think the page makes it pretty clear that this is a preliminary thing.

    And just how are we supposed to get X support if we can't even boot a kernel?

    This is just a first step, it may not be all you want, but it's incredibly important to getting the stuff you want developed in a timely fashion.

    Anyway, there is a cool factor involved in it. Just like the completely useless PalmPilot/Linux port. It was cool, but useless. But unlike the Palm/Linux thing, this is a VERY necessary stepping stone to more support.
  • Oh great, another member of the thought police, telling someone else how they should act.

    Rob's put a lot of time into /., trying to attract an audience with which to share the things he enjoys or thinks are important, and this is your response?

    Some people just have no respect for someone else's work.
  • What's the point of any new port when it first comes up? You can't work on getting X or the USB ports working until you have a working machine to bang on. Patience!

    Once it IS up and running correctly will be the time to judge whether the price/performance is worthy or not.
  • Maybe you're X setup is misconfigured. I don't notice much of a difference between X and windows fonts at 800x600 on my laptop, and at the 1280x1024 resolution on my desktop I can use big 100dpi fonts that look great.
  • Newsgroups are hot on this topic. Here is a link to some Selected Postings about X on the new SGI [current.nu] for anyone who may be interested.

    They aren't my posts, but I thought they were interesting, so I decided to share them with you ;-)


  • I don't know how far along those berliners are, but let me tell your from personal experience that OpenGL is not optimized for 2D graphics, period. I suppose if you shut off depth-buffering, alpha-blending, lighting, and a few other things, then it *can* be fast, but then it's not 3D anymore, hence defeating the original purpose of using OpenGL.

    On top of that, OGL has no native support for fonts, printing, serialization, and probably a few other things that may be important for a windowing system. One of OpenGL's original design principles was to be window-system agnostic (unlike IRIS-GL), so it's kind of ironic that it's being used to create a window system.

    Although I salute their effort, I think OpenGL is the wrong tool for the job. It'll probably be a decade before computers are fast enough to handle a truly 3D windowing system. Right now, I'm guessing that anything short of an Onyx won't even come close.
  • Anyone care to benchmark cpu-bound, memory-bound, and disk-bound applications under Linux on one of these, so we can all see what we are getting for the money? :-)
  • I can't remember what it's called, but it's scheduled for about 3 or 4 years' time, i.e. the successor to the successor to Win2000. I think the name may be GDI, but I'm probably wrong.

    Chrome is the codename for special web effects that were due to appear in IE 5.
  • Today I visited the local computer show, and they had one of those kick ass SGI monitors, it was $2,300 and came with a 32 meg video card! The bastards had to keep it in the box though... Guess they were afraid of the riots...

    /orion

  • I can't help but think that if SGI marketed this box correctly, it could be a shining star in the Linux world. The technical effort required to get Linux running well on SGI's Intel boxes would be minimal - basically, just good drivers for XFree86 and any other special hardware in the box.

    They could then market it as "SGI's Linux-based workstation" and as "SGI's Windows NT workstation." Linux users would be thrilled to have Linux running on such high-profile hardware. SGI would attract more business; perhaps some of those graphics apps which ran so well on the Indy could be ported to Linux, and they'd keep the hardware business. Everyone would be happy (except Microsoft).

    By the way, whoever was asking about TrueType fonts: XFree86 v4.0 is going to support TrueType 'out of the box' without the need to add any font servers.

  • > You mean YOU think KDE sucks.

    ...

    > Bottom line is, don't print pseudostatistics
    > like that - they don't mean anything. If YOU
    > think KDE sucks - fine, you're entitled to
    > your opinion. Some of us happen to think its
    > one of the best things to happen to Linux on
    > the Desktop for a long time.

    All that is required to satisfy his statement is that there exist, somewhere, anywhere, at least 9 people that consider that KDE "sucks". You woud then provide the tenth person to satisfy the "nine out of ten people agree that KDE sucks!". Simple, no? There's no requirement for the ratio to be generally applied, just for it to be true in at least one case.
  • Can anybody tell me - will the next version of
    X windows support nice looking fonts. It is just terrible now.
    And OpenGL acceleration. Got no Voodoo, just ATI but want to play some games.
    Any progress in that direction - of making standard graphic extensions for Linux's X windows?
  • I was not talking about MS as a credible competitor. Overall it sucks. Just my eyes somehow prefer NT, which I boot when I do typing/reading. I can only stand fixed font under X - in Emacs. Somehow X manages to screw up the look of TT fonts beyond my toleration limit. ;( (I use KDE) and WWW browsing is just horrible, whatever tweaking you do with the Netscape. too bad...

  • ..did a search and found their web site. Great. Hope it will be done soon. Really great.
  • my system is very, very decent. upgraded very good 17" trinitron to a better 19" latest Hitachi tube. 16Mb card. Same at home.
    Maybe I just see the defects better? I also have too sensitive eyes :(
    Also I just gave up tuning Netscape under Linux so it uses nice sized fonts. On some pages it will always screw up. ;(
    Somebody - please, write an improvment to current X system.
    peace.
  • I found it is the font size problem. For some reason the range of sizes becomes too big on a single page - I do not see that with NT version of Netscape.
    I have installed all fonts for X I could find, including Type1 an TT.
    Even with a right font - I find the rendering to be shitty under X. Probably its my personal perception...
    Bring back display PostScript. My old Next box was rather decent in this regard.
  • lighten up. Part of being a true nerd is being flat broke and always wishing you had the latest and greatest technology and being pissed off that your clueless friend/neighboor/co-worker has said toy and uses it for word processing.
  • Actually, Chrome has now been un-cancelled.

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