From: sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu (The SGI FAQ group) Subject: SGI misc Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi.misc,comp.answers,news.answers Followup-To: comp.sys.sgi.misc Reply-To: sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu (The SGI FAQ group) Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Organization: Visualization Lab, Texas A&M University Archive-name: sgi/faq/misc Last-modified: Mon Mar 21 13:38:19 CST 1994 SGI misc Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of: SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration SGI apps FAQ - Applications & compilers SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information SGI performer FAQ - IRIS Performer SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs Read the misc FAQ for information about the FAQs themselves. Each FAQ is posted to comp.sys.sgi.misc and to the news.answers and comp.answers newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) twice per month. If you can't find one of the FAQs with your news program, you can get it by anonymous FTP from one of these sites: rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.sys.sgi.misc/ rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/ rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.answers/sgi/faq/ viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/faq/ Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational documents, and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer here. If you can't use FTP, send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the command 'send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq' on a line by itself in the text, and it will send you a document describing how to FTP by mail. You can also read a hypertext version of the FAQs at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html The SGI FAQs are freely distributable and wide circulation is encouraged. The contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers apply. Please send additions and changes to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu. Topics covered in this FAQ: --------------------------- -1- How can I quickly find the information I want in the SGI FAQs? -2- How do the FAQs support the World Wide Web? -3- What about material which doesn't fit in the FAQs? -4- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups? -5- Are the SGI newsgroups archived? -6- What are some related newsgroups? -7- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* mailing lists? -8- What are some related mailing lists? -9- What are some related network-accessible documents? -10- What number do I call for information about SGI products? -11- What is the latest release of ... -12- What is the current release of IRIX for my machine? -13- Can I get a list of known bugs? -14- With what version(s) of IRIX do the SGI FAQs deal? -15- Wouldn't Nextstep be great on SGIs? -16- Can I run Windows NT on my Indigo or Indy? -17- Credits ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: -1- How can I quickly find the information I want in the SGI FAQs? Date: 20 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST - The FAQs follow the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and thus can be viewed easily with newsreaders that understand message digests. - Each question has a Subject: line, so you can easily step through the answers with rn's ^G command. - Each question is marked with a "dash number dash" so that you can find any answer with a simple search pattern. - Questions marked with a '+' are new this posting; those marked with a '!' have significant new content since the last posting. If there are no '+' or '!', the content has not changed significantly. Questions marked with a '-' will be removed in the next edition or so unless someone convinces us otherwise. ------------------------------ Subject: -2- How do the FAQs support the World Wide Web? Date: 20 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST Tom Fine runs a service which converts FAQs to hypertext (HTML). A list of the converted FAQs is at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html and the SGI FAQs are at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html You can view them with any World Wide Web browser, probably Mosaic (which you can get from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:/Web/), or, for text terminals, Lynx (at ftp2.cc.ukans.edu:/pub/WWW/lynx/). Some types of references in the SGI FAQs are in particular formats so they will be recognized and turned into links to other documents: - References to FTP sites are in rcp(1)-like format ('site:/path/file'). If you're not using a WWW browser, just do 'ftp site', 'cd /path' and 'get file' as usual to get a file. References which end with slashes are to directories so you know what you're getting into. References to root directories (e.g. 'ftp.uu.net:/ ') do not work; this is a known bug. Some FTP servers are not Mosaic- compatible; just use 'ftp'. - Other Internet services are in URL format ('protocol://site/path/file'). If you're reading the SGI FAQs as plain text, you can still paste URLs into your browser. - Manpages look like 'foo(1)' and Internet RFCs look like 'RFC####'. Beware: Tom Fine is a Sun person, so the manpages are for SunOS. Note also the SGI-related WWW pages below under "network-accessible documents". ------------------------------ Subject: -3- What about material which doesn't fit in the FAQs? Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST Entries in the FAQs should be relatively short and genuinely "frequently asked". Some material which is of less general interest or which is too long is archived at viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/. If information you're looking for isn't in the FAQs, look there. The FAQs may direct you there as well. You can submit material to that archive just as you can an FAQ: mail it to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu, or put it in viz.tamu.edu:/incoming/ and let us know by mail. ------------------------------ Subject: -4- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups? Date: 03 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST The active SGI newsgroups are comp.sys.sgi.announce Announcements for the SGI community. (Moderated) comp.sys.sgi.admin System administration on Silicon Graphics' Irises. comp.sys.sgi.apps Applications which run on the Iris. comp.sys.sgi.bugs Bugs found in the IRIX operating system. comp.sys.sgi.graphics Graphics packages and issues on SGI machines. comp.sys.sgi.hardware Base systems and peripherals for Iris computers. comp.sys.sgi.misc General discussion about SGI's machines. The original comp.sys.sgi newsgroup is obsolete. Please don't post to it, so the rest of us won't miss anything. To submit an article for posting in comp.sys.sgi.announce, send mail to Matthew Wicks at sgi-announce-request@dcdmjw.fnal.gov. Each of these newsgroups has a corresponding mailing-list; see below. ------------------------------ Subject: -5- Are the SGI newsgroups archived? Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST The SGI newsgroups are archived in their entirety, albeit in a difficult-to-handle form, at ftp.sgi.com:/comp.sys.sgi/. comp.sys.mips is likewise archived at ftp.sgi.com:/comp.sys.mips/. Harry Mangalam makes the same newsgroups available, and easily searchable, via WAIS. Just search the directory-of-servers for "sgi" to get all the source descriptions. Thanks to these services, just posting something goes a long way toward making it available to everyone, even after it expires. ------------------------------ Subject: -6- What are some related newsgroups? Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST comp.graphics.explorer comp.graphics.opengl comp.soft-sys.wavefront comp.sys.mips comp.windows.x and friends comp.unix.* comp.graphics.inventor has been proposed, but has not yet been created. ------------------------------ Subject: -7- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* mailing lists? Date: 03 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST The SGI newsgroups are gatewayed to mailing lists for those who can't get news (or who just prefer mail). To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to info-iris-request@brl.mil (Chuck Kennedy, aka ). Chuck is a human, not an automated mail server, so allow at least a week for your request to go through. To post an article, mail it to one or more of the following addresses: info-iris-admin@brl.mil info-iris-announce@brl.mil info-iris-apps@brl.mil info-iris-bugs@brl.mil info-iris-graphics@brl.mil info-iris-hardware@brl.mil info-iris-misc@brl.mil ------------------------------ Subject: -8- What are some related mailing lists? Date: 03 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST Unless stated otherwise, mail sent to the "Contact" address is read by a human. Iris Online SGI's monthly news magazine Contact majordomo@sgigate.sgi.com; send mail with 'subscribe nyn-emag' in the body FTP back issues from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/IRIS-On-Line/ SGI large users discussion list For discussion of SGI systems with 1000 or more users Contact Philip Smith ; please state the type of system you are using and the approximate number of users. Indigo home users mailing list For people who use Indigos, Indys, etc. at home Contact indigo-home-request@world.std.com or Tim Hall Performer mailing list Contact info-performer-request@sgi.com Iris 2000 & 3000 systems list (for old SGI models, not MIPS chips) Contact Jonathan Levine . See also below under "network-accessible documents". Biosym/Insight mailing list For users of Biosym Technologies software [many of whom use SGIs]. Contact dibug-request@comp.bioz.unibas.ch (Reinhard Doelz) ------------------------------ Subject: -9- What are some related network-accessible documents? Date: 20 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST World Wide Web pages: Silicon Surf (SGI's official WWW server) http://www.sgi.com Silicon Graphics-specific documents: SGI Anonymous FTP archives Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi, news.answers FTP from rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/anonftp/ FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/anonftp.gz Contact Bill Henderson Known SGI User Groups (SUMMARY) Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi.misc FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/usersgroups Contact Randy Carpenter Iris 2000 & 3000 systems FAQ (for old SGI models, not MIPS chips) Contact Jonathan Levine . See also above under "mailing lists". Explorer FAQ Posted ??? to comp.graphics.explorer FTP from swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/explorer/FAQ Contact explorer-request@castle.ed.ac.uk Inventor FAQ FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/faq/inventor Contact Gavin Bell Insight FAQ FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/insight-problems Contact Greg Ferguson Third-party hardware vendor list (general SGI-hip vendors) FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/3rd-party/general Third-party hardware vendor lists (disks, memory, and magneto-optical drives) FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/3rd-party/ Contact Brent L. Bates SGI's Periodic Table of the Irises FTP from sgi.com:/sgi/Periodic_Table.ps.Z FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/Periodic_Table.ps.gz Other documents of particular interest to SGI users: comp.graphics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Posted monthly to comp.graphics, news.answers Contact grieggs@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (John T. Grieggs) comp.windows.x Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Posted monthly to comp.windows.x,news.answers,alt.answers, comp.answers Contact faq%craft@uunet.uu.net (X FAQ maintenance address) comp.windows.x: Getting more performance out of X FAQ Posted monthly to comp.windows.x, news.answers Contact art@cs.ualberta.ca (Art Mulder) Motif FAQ Posted monthly to comp.windows.x.motif,news.answers Contact jan@ise.canberra.edu.au (Jan Newmarch) Unix - Frequently Asked Questions Posted monthly to comp.unix.questions, comp.unix.shell, news.answers Contact tmatimar@empress.com (Ted M A Timar) SCSI FAQ Posted ??? to comp.periphs.scsi Contact Gary Field Uninterruptable Power Source FAQ Posted ??? to comp.sys.sgi.hardware, among others FTP from navigator.jpl.nasa.gov:/pub/doc/faq/ Contact Nick Christenson Dave's List of Free Audio Goodies FTP from ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/distrib/voice/audio_goodies.txt Contact Dave Rossiter Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) lists can be FTPed from rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/, and HTML versions of some are under http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html. ------------------------------ Subject: -10- What number do I call for information about SGI products? Date: 22 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST For product information, call SGI Direct at US & Canada: 1-800-800-SGI1 (1-800-800-7441) France: 05 244 244 Germany: 0130 811 011 U.K.: 0800 440 440 or your local SGI sales office. For technical support, call 1-800-800-4SGI (1-800-800-4744) in North America or your local sales office elsewhere. ------------------------------ Subject: -11- What is the latest release of ... Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST This changes quite often. The best way to get up-to-date information about SGI products is to call SGI Direct; see above. ------------------------------ Subject: -12- What is the current release of IRIX for my machine? Date: 12 Feb 94 00:00:01 EST All machines have a "general" release, meaning the release that gets shipped with the machine if you were to buy it today. Some machines also have "bug-fix" releases that are generally available on a fix-on-fail basis. This list does *not* indicate releases only available via the beta process or "special" support agreements. Machine General release Bug-fix release ------- --------------- -------------- Personal IRIS 4.0.5A 4.0.5C Crimson (1) 4.0.5A 4.0.5C Crimson Jurassic Classic 4.0.5J none Indigo R3000 4.0.5F 4.0.5 IOP (2) Indigo R4000 4.0.5F 4.0.5 IOP RealityEngine (3) 4.0.5G none RealityEngine w. MCO (4) 4.0.5H none Indigo2 Extreme 4.0.5H none Indigo2 XL 5.1.1 5.1.1.2 Indigo2 w. Galileo 5.1.1 5.1.1.2 Onyx RealityEngine 5.1.1 5.1.1.2 Onyx VTX 5.1.1 5.1.1.2 Challenge 5.1.1 5.1.1.2 Indy 5.1.1 5.1.1.2 all others (5) 4.0.5A 4.0.5C (1) Other than Crimson RealityEngine (2) "Indigo Only Patch" (3) NOT RealityEngine2 (which comes with Onyx) (4) "Multi-Channel Option" (5) All other CPU/graphics types The September/October 1993 Pipeline has an exhaustive table of IRIXes from 3.3 to 5.0.1, and the January/February 1994 issue has a supplement covering IRIXes up to 5.1.1.2. If you don't know what release of IRIX you're running, see the SGI admin FAQ. ------------------------------ Subject: -13- Can I get a list of known bugs? Date: 15 Jun 93 00:00:01 EST Yes. In addition to known bugs that are documented in Product Release Notes, the IRIS InSight Support Library includes a collection of customer reported software, document problems, and requests for enhancements in the Software Status Update (SSU) binder. The IRIS InSight Subscription Service (SC4-INS-2.0) is an annually renewed service which can be purchased from SGI. ------------------------------ Subject: -14- With what version(s) of IRIX do the SGI FAQs deal? Date: 24 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST Unless otherwise specified, the FAQs discuss IRIX 4.0.5. Earlier versions of 4.0.x are rarely discussed because everyone should have upgraded to some version of 4.0.5 by now. IRIX 3.x is almost ignored. Several questions deal with 5.x, and they all say so. Coverage of 5.x will increase as more people get it and begin asking FAQs. ------------------------------ Subject: -15- Wouldn't Nextstep be great on SGIs? Date: 05 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST Possibly. If Next ported Nextstep to IRIX (and several SGI employees have made it clear that it is up to Next, not SGI, to do so) the question might be worth discussing. That nonwithstanding, Next zealots have flogged Nextstep around the SGI newsgroups many times. They haven't convinced the command-line diehards that the Next way is better or vice versa. Please don't try it yourself. ------------------------------ Subject: -16- Can I run Windows NT on my Indigo or Indy? Date: 18 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST No. SGI can, but only on Indigos with special hardware and software modifications and only for demos and porting. There are no known plans to provide NT on SGI workstations. Also, note that most comp.sys.sgi.* readers will answer this question "Why would you want to?". MTI, aka MIPS, an SGI subsidiary, does make NT-compatible machines. Try comp.sys.mips. ------------------------------ Subject: -17- Credits Date: 29 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST The comp.sys.sgi FAQs are the collective effort of the SGI FAQ group: Dale Chayes dale@ldeo.columbia.edu Steve Rikli steve@viz.tamu.edu Allan Schaffer aschaffe@sgi.com Dave Schweisguth dcs@neutron.chem.yale.edu Special thanks are due to Tom Davis Author of the 'zip' editor Harry Mangalam Maintainer of the comp.sys.sgi.* WAIS database Dave Olson comp.sys.sgi.*'s one-man TAC Finally, much thanks to all of the SGI employees on Usenet, who have provided gigabytes of helpful information. Credits for individual contributions are given in the answers. ------------------------------ End of sgi/faq/misc Digest ******************************