Greg’s Blog » SiliconGraphics Iris Indigo R4000 Elan

Jan 28

SiliconGraphics Iris Indigo R4000 Elan

I have a new toy! Here it is:

This is an unusual computer. SiliconGraphics (now SGI) made the Iris Indigo workstations, which run IRIX (SGI's UNIX), around 1992. At the time, SiliconGraphics was the leader in 3D graphics. Today, it isn't quite as impressive, but that doesn't mean I won't find a use for it (never say no to a free computer!). I can't use it yet, however, because I don't have the necessary adaptors (I ordered them today).

Some interesting facts:

This computer has a MIPS R4000 processor running at 100MHz. Around that time, Intel released the 486DX2 processor which ran at 66MHz (and was not a RISC processor). The Pentium came out a year later.

This machine can have a maximum of 384MB of memory (that's a lot for 1992). It has 12 RAM slots: 3 banks of 4. Each bank must contain matching SIMMs.

There were several graphics options for the Indigo. My machine has the Elan card (well, it's more of a board, really). That card is the top of the line for the Indigo workstations, allowing for real-time 3D graphics. It could have anywhere from one to four "Geometry Engines".(OK, I don't really know all that much about it)

SiliconGraphics workstations were expensive. I've read several things, but considering the high-end graphics options in this machine, it probably originally sold for something like $30,000. I got it for free.

My workstation was manufactured April 27, 1992.

I hope that it works when I get all the necessary parts scraped together. I think it would be pretty cool to see this thing running. Now if I could just think of a name...

EDIT: Not more than two hours after I posted this, I found this article on Tom's Hardware. Not really about the Indigo, but they do mention SiliconGraphics.

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