Iris Indigo Case Mod 252
James Palmer writes: "I have always been enamored with SGI's
Iris Indigo. Recently I resurrected an old Iris Indigo by
retrofitting it with an ATX motherboard
and powersupply." Lots of gruntwork here for a very impressive result.
Resurrected? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I *like* my SGI. (Score:2, Insightful)
Ok ok.. (Score:2)
WHY?
I must be getting old...
Jason
Re:Ok ok.. (Score:2)
> WHY?
Because it's there...
Re:Ok ok.. (Score:1)
As opposed to the cry of the coder who's asked "Why?"
Because it wasn't there!
graspee
Re:Ok ok.. (Score:1)
What are we here for? Some might say it's to breed, others to invent, others to expand our "empire." I'd argue that we're here simply to be and to do. Who cares what we do in the long run? Especially if it doesn't hurt anyone else (and don't give me any crap about the EMF this thing gives off, that'll get modded down for being redundant just as quick as this will be for being off topic).
Just let the guy have his fun -- there are much worse ways that he could spend his time/money/expertise (take your pick[s]).
Case mods...off topic (Score:5, Insightful)
Just a suggestion.
-teldak
Re:Case mods...off topic (Score:1)
Re:Case mods...off topic (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, 99% of the casemods, radical overclockings, unique PC hacks I read come from slashdot. Why not make a 'Hardware Hacks' (Suggestion: Hacksaw Icon) area that deals with things like this and then keep the Hardware area pure for people who are interested in reading about new kinds of hardware, or the recent 'Intel likes DDR Ram' stories we've been seeing.
Re:Case mods...off topic (Score:1)
Ground rules??? (Score:2)
http://www.bit-tech.com/ and http://www.virtual-hideout.net/ have some AMAZING tricks.
Esp. the windowed HD - OMG...
Following Tough Acts (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Following Tough Acts (Score:3, Funny)
that Frozen case earlier today makes this one look like my ass.
Your ass has USB? That's ain't no USB port, bro.. ;-)
Re:Following Tough Acts (Score:2)
Whats next... Lego? (Score:1, Redundant)
Thats what I want to see. All these case mods going around, why hasn't anybody made a lego pc case yet? Seems a natural fit. That would be really cool, if somebody else did it
LEGO pc cases (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Whats next... Lego? (Score:2, Interesting)
Search google "Lego Computer Case" Lots show up...
This one for starts... http://people.netscape.com/toms/cubicle/computer/
Re:Whats next... Lego? (Score:1)
Re:Whats next... Lego? (Score:1)
This isn't that odd... (Score:2, Insightful)
D
Case Mod Stories (Score:1, Redundant)
I mean, if someone turned an old Volkswagon Beetle into a modded case, I'd be impressed. Beyond that, it's all just pretty bells and whistles to me.
Re:Case Mod Stories (Score:1)
Re:Case Mod Stories (Score:1)
Imagine a Beowulf cluster...on wheels!
Re:Case Mod Stories (Score:2)
Blah... (Score:1)
uh, why? (Score:1, Troll)
please feel the need to give me a Troll rating.
Re:uh, why? (Score:1, Redundant)
It's not that slow a news day!
Re:uh, why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:uh, why? (Score:2)
Re:uh, why? (Score:2)
Unfortunately, technology news has got an awful lot of show'n'tell type stuff going on and that might eventually become an overcrowded topic itself...
"Thursday Intel stated 'hey look, we've just built a 3GHz processor - come and see for yourself at www.intel.com'."
The indigo's case seems pretty vanilla (Score:2)
What I'd really like to see is a case mod with an O2 [sgi.com] case. There's lot of low end, sub 200Mhz ones that are salvageable from dotcom auctions.
Re:The indigo's case seems pretty vanilla (Score:1)
I think I'll go hunt down a Cray X-MP, gut it, and stick my 486 mobo into it. With that things cooling capacity, I should be able to overlock that puppy up to a gig or so.
Re:The indigo's case seems pretty vanilla (Score:2)
Enough sillyness, back on topic:
I once saw an article about a guy who turned an old VAX into a mini-bar (well, as far as you can call a VAX mini). Now _that_ was a cool 'case mod'! If only I could remember the URI...
Re:The indigo's case seems pretty vanilla (Score:1)
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~vance/www/vaxbar.html [arizona.edu]
Re:The indigo's case seems pretty vanilla (Score:1)
I thought we _were_ on topic
Yes, I saw the VAX mini-bar as well. I must admit that I personally hate to see stuff like this happening. I think the old stuff should be left alone since there are plenty of people out there who would love to have them and I think they're worth "more" (not in monetary terms) used as is, vs being mod'ed into whatever, no matter how "cool".
Not so sexy (Score:2)
This is more in the realm of "too much time on my hands" -- it reminds me of that time in college when we slapped together a machine using an empty case from Leinenkugals (we got to drink the beer, too, which was a hefty side benefit).
One question... (Score:4, Funny)
Do tell.
Ask a stupid question (Score:1, Funny)
in a dumpster.
Re:One question... (Score:2)
Re:One question... (Score:2)
Change your name to Taco and post a story to
Re:One question... (Score:2, Informative)
We're out there you just got to turn the computer OFF once in awile to find us.
:)
Re:One question... (Score:2)
flaming cases.... (Score:1)
Would just putting an Athlon in without a heat-sink work?
USB CD??? (Score:1)
Re:USB CD??? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:USB CD??? (Score:2)
Re:USB CD??? (Score:2)
Site Statistics? (Score:2)
Hrmmm... Should I butcher my 4M? (Score:1)
Don't forget the Espressigo (Score:5, Interesting)
SGI has a log history of cool mods.
While I was working there, folks pointed out the Espressigo [mesa-sys.com].
'Dem was the dayz.
Re:Don't forget the Espressigo (Score:2)
Re:Don't forget the Espressigo (Score:1)
I had to say it.
grounded? (Score:1)
maybe i'm wrong... but wouldn't it be very bad to mount a motherboard on a piece of plexiglass?
No metal superstructure. No RF shielding! (Score:1)
He no longer has any RF shielding...
I did this, read on... (Score:1)
Doug
Bah... (Score:1)
Cool, but... (Score:1)
Mods are cool and all, but I can get more than I care for here [hardforum.com], among other [caseetc.com] places [casejunkiez.com].
Much prefer my friends Treasure Chest computer... (Score:2)
http://home.nexvs.net/~ggeros/captainchest.htm
To me this is better than gutting "just another case" and plopping an x86 in it.
Making the computer not look like THE COMPUTER is a much more worth use of time.
Re:Much prefer my friends Treasure Chest computer. (Score:2)
I bet the FCC could tell. (Score:3, Funny)
With all the metal removed and a plexiglass frame replacing it the FCC could probably tell its not a real Indigo from the EMF radiation.
I think though that I might be inspired to do a case mod now using a Sun 411 enclosure. Given the past two days bigger cases seem to be better, perhaps I can mount my Handspring inside it.
Re:I bet the FCC could tell. (Score:2)
Well that was good... (Score:1)
the cute girl case-mod (Score:2, Funny)
Latest News (Score:1)
"This isn't a case mod, sure he had to cut some holes and stuff, but basically he just ruined a perfectly good iMac. Shouldn't he be shot?" said one reader.
Another reader pointed out that throwing a 350 Chev into a Ford is not really modifying the look of the Ford. He did say however, "It would shock the pants of people when it actually displays some grunt, that is until the suspension goes."
One up... (Score:1)
Can anyone say "wow, imagine a beowulf cluster of these things!"... (ba-da-bing)
But seriously, I guess it would be pretty neat to make a self-contained cluster computer inside a 400lb (that's where the AS/400 comes from) slick black case... I'll have to get out the torch and give it a try someday.
Unless someone wants the thing... U-haul/pay shipping of course
Re:One up... (Score:2)
Re:One up... (Score:1)
But I am serious about giving the thing away...
Re:One up... (Score:2)
Damn, but I would love to have the thing!
Jeez.. "Unremarkable hardware" (Score:3, Funny)
Jeez. I wish I could say things like that. (/me pats his p166 fondly)
Looks a bit like some newer server cases... (Score:1)
By the way, YeongYang is not the only manufacturer of this type of cases: I know Chenbro has a similar line.
RF leakage (Score:1, Insightful)
nerd colorblindness (Score:1)
now would be a good time (Score:2)
Before (Score:1)
I did something similar... (Score:1)
Re:I did something similar... (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd trust an old Sparc running something like OpenBSD FAR more than I'd ever trust PC hardware for something "critical to your network" like a firewall/router box. I used to use a complete Sparc IPX for exactly that, and am now doing the same with a SPARCstation 5. They work beautifully. The hardware is high-quality, rock-solid stable, and won't ever fail me. It's the kind of machine I don't have to worry about, because I know it'll run forever.
More case mods! (Score:2)
Indigos weren't designed to have internal CDROM?? (Score:2, Funny)
and replacing with a PC?
Maybe if the case was bigger, then you could squeeze a CDROM in.
-don
With apologies (Score:2, Funny)
*ducks*
any cool non-boxy case mods out there? (Score:2)
Anybody seen any nice cases that aren't just boxes? ie, spheres, disks, pyramids, that sort of thing. Non-parallel sides. Art school stuff. Stuff inspired by cool architecture like Le Corbusier (sp) and Frank Gehry, etc?
Just curious as the boxen with radioactive green on black or aluminum with blue LEDs is a little old. They all look like electrified trash compactors.
Also I agree with others: if /. is going to start showing hardware hacks all the time it needs its own category!
Why not do it the the other way around (Score:2, Funny)
I've seen a Sun Ultra being put in an old XT case. Now pointing to this XT case and saying 'well, this is our server' was much cooler IMHO
Yet another mod (Score:2, Interesting)
The aluminum cube mentioned a day ago, however, was a case that was breathtaking. It's one thing to take a case and strip it down to what you need (or add things like lights/fans), and a completely different thing to build the case from scratch, using your own designs.
Which brings me to the question: when the hell are we going to see mainstream cases that don't resemble current towers? Are there cases that are, by default, modded in the fashion common nowadays (status lcds, excess fans, useless-yet-pretty lights)? I'd really like to see less case mods and more completely custom cases, but I don't think that would happen until the souped-up cases people do now are no longer seen as modded cases, and are instead seen as mainstream. I'm assuming the main reason people mod cases is for the "hey look at my nifty case" factor; if everyone had nifty cases, then hopefully more people would consider building a custom case from scratch in order to distinguish themselves.
Maybe then we'll finally see those dodecahedron cases that the G5 is rumored to reside in :D
This is cool....and inspiring (Score:2)
Not kidding about how solid these things are (Score:3, Interesting)
Ah, those were the days. Contrast with the latest PC case I just bought. The metal was so thin that when I put my fingers into the expension slots to pull it into place under my desk, I ended up with multiple deep incisions in my fingers, like the world's worst paper cuts. Ick.
The only case I've ever seen that's more solid that an Indigo was an IBM PC from about 1985, made in Greenock, Scotland, a famous shipbuilding town. I reckon that the fab had just swapped over from making plates for ships, and decided to re-use the last few, complete with water-tight bulkheads. ;-)
But SGI's are amazingly robust (and heavy) as well. A workmate just bought an Indigo (the desktop orientation) on eBay. The seller noted that he'd package it up to his usual high standard, although there wasn't really any need. When it arrived, we saw what he meant. If the Indigo was a car, it would be a Mercedes. But not an ordinary Mercedes. It would be one of the "Diplomatic Specials", the ones that sneer at small arms, and give you a fair change against an RPG. It's that sort of construction. It's not just the thickness of the box, it's the redundant internal bracing, and that the components have multiple fixings, or are in snug caddys. You could probably go over Niagra Falls in one of these babies. ;-)
Beautiful, but a shame (Score:2)
like overclocking is for people... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:like overclocking is for people... (Score:2, Funny)
A friend of mine did that. He removed the carpet and had sprayed on undercoat inside his car, but it wasnt drying fast enough, so he tried to speed up the process with an electric fan heater.
Bad Move.
He compleatly burnt out the inside of his own car. Fortunatly he managed to put it out before it set fire to his garage and house.
He earned himself the nickname Torch that day.
Yes this is Off Topic.
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2)
there was a stack SGIs in one of the labs here. I already took the only good thing, the Indy, it can still make a decent webbrowser/workstation. I suppose one could turn the Indigos into little webserver/printserver/nameserver boxes, but any old 386/486/pentium or 68k-mac will do just as good with OpenBSD on 'em.
Indigo 2s, on the other hand, are i think better than the Indys.
Still it _IS_ dman sexy to have an SGI on your desktop!
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2, Informative)
It's not true that they've "mostly" got R3k cpus. R3k models do take weird memory though. And all Indigos have proprietary keyboard and mouse ports. While R4k Indigos with enough memory (at least 64MB) can run Irix 6.5 just fine, R3k models can only run up to Irix 5.3. Despite what you're implying, 5.3 is also a "good" version of Irix, if older than 6.5. But come on, with the free development files from SGI, you can compile anything you want with gcc. It IS unix after all.
I actually hate to see people doing things like this to such a remarkable system. I would rather they sell them to resellers so that afficionados can get their hands on them. They DID play a role in the making of Jurassic Park after all.
As to Indigo2s being better than Indys.... well, it depends. The indy does have a built-in port for an IndyCam and it is a LOT quieter and smaller and sucks up less power. The Indigo2 is newer though, and can support r10k cpus and hardware texturing.
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2)
It's kind of sad- I don't have time to play with the Indigo, and an Indigo2 is my main desktop but is slow enough that I don't use it for much either. My boss has a pair of r3k Indigos that are just sitting on a bookshelf full of old computers. They weren't spectacular to begin with, but they're so much better designed than any PC that I'm depressed to see them gathering dust.
Unfortunately, the biggest problem with these is that it's impossible to get SGI compilers at a worthwhile price, or to get commercial software that will run on them. I'd love it if someone would come up with a "secure" hobbyist license- nodelocked software at a hugely reduced price with if you send them your sysid for an obsolete system.
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2)
It's even more sexier with multiple SGIs [darkside.no] on the desktop. :)
Seriously, I use my Indigo2 as primary workstation at home, ircing and writing software. It also runs the webserver [darkside.no]. When I get myself a larger harddrive for the Challenge S I'll move the webserver to that one and maybe use the O2 as main workstation instead.
The SGIs are rock solid (and noisy) machines. But I like really them.
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:1)
I have to admit, it is a cool use of and old case - and why not, everyone obviously likes cool looking cases (see all those mods [thinkgeek.com] they sell at ThinkGeek [thinkgeek.com]?).
RonB
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2)
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:1)
That night, I came back with my future wife and one of my good friends to see what could be salvaged. The boxes themselves, had been stripped of anything of value - hard drives, memory, etc. But as I stood in the dumpster, I knew what I must do. I have to use one of these boxes for a PC case. We pulled out several cases that were still in good condition as well as some other hardware that had been discarded.
All the internals have been stripped off. There's nothing left to "ruin".
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2)
I think that we were slobbering over a 40-60MZ processor back then. Even with decent hardware graphics support (and some of the lower end indigos had rather cheap (8 bit!) graphics), many people would find the former speed-demon Indigos pig slow compared to what we can do today.
While I agree that it is a bit of a step back to put an Intel CPU Inside of an Indigo case, at least he's running a Unix on it. If nothing else, it gives one the nostalga trip of feeling like you've finally managed to get an SGI box onto your home desktop.
Re:The Indigo was a nice machine... (Score:2)
Re:If you had read the article..... (Score:1)
Re:What is with this CaseMod crap? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)