Octane and IRIX question

[jamiemcl]

I am a young, available guy looking for....
Oops, wrong board:)

I am looking for information on how to successfully use the IRIX OS. I am a WINmonkey, so I don't know how the UI will treat me. For instance, when I start the computer (W2K) I press the ON button and it loads up until the login screen. There I type in my stuff, and then it loads Windows. From the 2 pages I have been able to find on IRIX all I could figure out is that 1. You turn it on, tell it what you want to do(a 1-9 option menu) and then login(for network) and then go to work. Is that correct? I will be getting a reman. Octane with 512mb RAM, 300mhz R10000, 1mb L2, 20" monitor, Keyboard and Mouse. Any help would be appreciated in this dilemma.

Jamie
MayaLover for Life

[higginba]

Depends on how it is all setup. Here the machines are left on 24-7, you would probably be best advised to do the same, these machines dont like being turned off all the time.
When it boots up, you may get a screen asking you want to do, similar to the one you get with windows, only prettier. It should then boot up to a login screen just like NT. Depending on how its set, you should get a kind of window with a number of icons, usually one called guest and any others that you have set for your user accounts.
Click on the icon or type your name and password, then voila you are in. Like windows you have a windowing system 4DWM, for managing files, desktops etc. personally I dont know anyone who uses it for managing files as its way slow (certainly on a network). I just use the shell and type in all the commands its much faster for listing and navigating directories, especially those with thousands of frames in. You may like 4DWM or not. I downloaded a version of KDE (the linux windowing system), there is a precompiled version somewhere out there for IRIX. Its great for maya as all the windows that maya generates are accessible from a pop up task bar like you have in windows. With IRIX you have to constantly minimise, raise and lower your maya windows to get at all the windows it generates, esp. with things like renderman.

Hope that helps though I am sure you will be fine by now...

[jamiemcl]

Thanks! I knew someone would help.

I appreciate knowing about the window thing beforehand. I would have been very frustrated if I hadn't known that.

If I got the KDE how would I install it? Several people on the MAX board have said that IRIX is a "type in what you want" OS. So would I type in the command for install, would I just click an exe or something and it autoloads or would I have to replace the shell like in Windows? Or is it just a simple "plugin and go to work" type file (or files)? I normally like to know everything about my opponent(HAHA) but this is ridiculous.

I don't know which version OS is on it. I suppose it's the more recent one. Do you know if there is a BIG difference between 5.5 and 6.5 like Win3.1 and Win2000? I hope it's just small.

Jamie
MayaLover for Life

[bacon]

you are starting down a long, fun, and frustrating road. i suggest you start searching the web for materials. this is a good place to start. its going to take a lot of poking and experimenting on your part. just remember not to log in as root until your comfortable.
bacon

[higginba]

Can you not just sell the octane and get a pc that will be a hundred times faster anyway!

[jamiemcl]

Well, despite the nudging towards the "dark side" I really want one. I have used a PC for god knows how many years, but I'm ready for a change.

Nobody can ever give me a straight answer about the performance. Does a R10000 at 300mhz run the same as an AMD K7 900mhz? Does it display 3d any better?

I've always wanted an IRIX system so I could run Maya on a system no one else in the town had ever heard. Everyone watches movies created by them all the time, but they're taken for granted. I wouldn't watch a movie that was done entirely on PCs because I use one, know pretty much when one is used or not, and I don't like the way they work. They're getting too easy.

I use Maya because it's more difficult to learn than MAX. I actually made several grown men cry. They said that they could do what I do. HA. Maya has made many hardcore "other 3d program" users very uncomfortable because of the way it's set up. I happen to like it that way. When I heard that Maya was on IRIX I was sold.

That's why I want one. I don't care if it takes me 3 times as long to do something(at least that's what some people say). I'll have the satisfaction of doing something only a select few ever do. I'll also have a sexy sexy green box on my desk.

Jamie
MayaLover for Life

[bacon]

the octane will render slower than the amd but the os is much more powerful and stable than winblows.

[jamiemcl]

Would I be able to hook it up to my "winblows" machine and use the proc. and RAM on it like a renderfarm?

Jamie
MayaLover for Life

[bacon]

sure, through the wonders of samba

[jb1]

In reply to:
I've always wanted an IRIX system so I could run Maya on a system no one else in the town had ever heard. Everyone watches movies created by them all the time, but they're taken for granted. I wouldn't watch a movie that was done entirely on PCs because I use one, know pretty much when one is used or not, and I don't like the way they work. They're getting too easy.

It fascinates me that you can tell if a movie is done on Maya NT or Maya SGI. You're going to have to show me how you do that.

JB
WBFA

[bacon]

-You're going to have to show me how you do that.

me too

[jamiemcl]

Oops. I thought I changed that. I never meant to say that I could tell between different ports of Maya. If I could I wouldn't have to only get an Octane. I'd have 4 Onyx2s, maybe 2000s. I wouldn't know where to put them though. I don't think my neighbors would appreciate that either:)

Jamie
MayaLover for Life

[thenexx2]

The movies you are referring to most likely used sgi's for compositing (flame, inferno) I work in a post house that has Onyx, Origin, octane 2 etc, but all for compositing never 3d, I think you will find that not many people are using sgi for 3d anymore, there is alway talk like "disney just bought 150 octanes" but they buy them to run combustion & shake not maya or softimage because it would be a total waste of money. As for wanting to do things that take 3 times longer you may want to reconsider that!
Life is way too short to sit around waiting for a computer (they are all pretty much the same just fast or slow, reliable or unreliable)