Visual computing. Part II

By the middle of the last decade, the SGI business took on a modern look and took shape in four main areas: software, workstations and graphic data visualization systems, servers, and data storage systems. Despite the strong position in the market, the case of the Siliconists went from bad to worse - the stock price went into a steep dive, the losses multiplied every quarter. The company was frantically searching for ways to survive and in 1997 took a number of steps that really discouraged its products.

First, the SGI jewel — the OpenGL interface was licensed by Microsoft as an “add-on technology to Direct3D” as part of the development of DirectX (the Fahrenheit project). Secondly, it announced the transfer of Maya to Windows NT, which undermined IRIX’s monopoly on this, without a doubt, the best 3D package. Alias ​​| Wavefront subsidiary office of Alikos | Wavefront further realized these promises and went even further - released Windows versions of Studio and Design Studio packages. Third, the workstations themselves, built on Intel processors and running under the same NT, were announced. Perhaps one of the reasons for refusing to improve the MIPS architecture was the focus on promising Itanium processors: the Silicon Graphics 750 workstation and a number of later heavy SGI Altix servers.

To top it off, three years later, the company reorganized MIPS Technologies, most of which was spun off into an independent venture and put into free navigation. It should be noted that the production and development of processors for workstations and servers still left in SGI, sending the former daughter to punch the way for MIPS solutions in vertical consumer markets. Currently, its processors have been successfully used and are being used in Cisco routers, Avaya PBXs, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Nintendo 64 consoles. The most popular device with a MIPS processor is PlayStation Portable.
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SGI Indigo, mid-nineties workhorses

Obviously, these steps were dictated by growing competition from both Intel and the omnipresent Microsoft, which at one time made a feint with its ears, acquiring Softimage and ceasing production of the 3D package of the same name in the version for IRIX, sung by Pelevin in the book “Generation P”.

It is difficult to judge whether SGI had to make a decision to cooperate with its most dangerous competitors or they tried to expand their influence on the Wintel platform ... Nevertheless, the policy of sitting on two chairs did not justify itself. The creators of the MIPS / IRIX platform themselves began to hammer nails into its coffin, which led to a rapid "drain" from its developers and their migration primarily to Windows. For several years, the platform has lost almost all software vendors from Adobe to Discreet.

The end of the nineties in terms of technology was marked by the creation of the legendary workstations Octane and O2 (specialists called it a “toaster” for striking external similarity and comparable dimensions), which are still working successfully to this day.


This is not a futuristic fridge store,
a visualization system based on the SGI Origin2000, NASA cluster

After the legendary Cray bankruptcy, all its assets in 1996 were acquired by SGI in order to develop its own supercomputer technologies (and profitably sold four years later). Thanks to this, the heavyweights of Onyx professional graphics and Origin servers snapped up like hotcakes, supercomputers were built, many of which are still in the number of twenty-two Silicones from the prestigious Top 500 ... But at the same time, SGI computers with weak ones were already produced brains in the form of "third stumps", running Windows 2000, and heralding the imminent demise of the MIPS / IRIX platform.

It’s hard to resist and not to draw an analogy between Apple and SGI - in the mid-90s, both companies were in deep crisis, each experiencing serious pressure on its platform from the Intel / Microsoft alliance. Despite the fact that they were located in different market zones, their own architecture, OS and stable army didn’t make them related, there are no even clients - fans. It must be admitted that the Apple workers managed to get out of this battle with the least losses - yes, now Intels are completely at their computers, but still they managed to save Macintosh as a platform with their operating system. Perhaps this happened because Mac pulled out of the swamp personally the founding godfather, who had returned to the bosom of his home office, while James Clark watched the problems of his brainchild from the side. Or maybe there were other reasons for this.

MIPS / IRIX platform today

Tezro, one of the latest SGI workstations running under IRIX
Supercomputer Center, Wroclaw

Officially, the platform will cease to exist in 2013, when its support will be over. At the same time, SGI stopped selling computers based on it from December 29 of the year before last, but until the end of this year, deliveries to integrators and OEM partners will continue. The latest computers running IRIX are Tezro and Fuel.

After SGI's appeal to the US authorities in May 2005 to initiate a financial recovery and protection against creditors, some analysts linked the possible future of Silicon Graphics with Apple, which they did not know about ten years ago in difficult times for both companies. The hottest heads saw the symbolism that the declaration of bankruptcy was made three days after Steve Jobs sold Pixar to Disney. However, speculation remained speculation, and the Siliconists themselves had to get out of the debt trap. Two years ago, SGI even had to sell Google its headquarters, which the latter is currently using as its head office and which did n’t suit the Samiznaetekom. Now the most difficult times of the company are over, and in the financial tunnel they have finally seen the light.

Now for the platform is available the most diverse commercial software, but most of it is morally obsolete and not supported by manufacturers. The latest pride of the platform, the Maya package, was updated this year to version 6.5, but this caused little joy in the silicone fan camp - along with the release, the developers announced that they would stop supporting this platform and focus on developing versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Thus, the only supported 3D package on IRIX is Blender. Other players stopped supporting this OS a few years ago.


Motion designer workstation
based on SGI Tezro and Discreet Flame running the IRIX OS

The situation is similar in the market for editing and compositing software. Despite the fact that the Linux versions of the same Flame, Flint etc. still inferior in performance to previous versions for IRIX (not least thanks to the hardware and architectural features of SGI stations), there is no turning back. Of course, inertia specialists will still use IRIX in their work, but the arrival of an arrogant penguin in its place is only a matter of time.

All this does not mean the end of SGI as a computer manufacturer. General course on Linux hand in hand with Intel is a new ideology of the company that can take it out of the crisis, but does not guarantee the revival of its former greatness. Silicon is purely software-based (remember the “Graphic Engine” - Clark needed his own computers only to be able to launch it) and the innovation campaign turns into an ordinary iron vendor, albeit with a legendary past. It will take several more years, and no one will turn the language to call their products cult. Everyday things among the idols there is no place.

IRIX operating system

IRIX is a complete UNIX system based on System V Release 4. Since the mid-nineties, the system has become fully 64-bit. The file system supports files up to 9 TB and volumes up to 18 million TB. The system was initially focused on working with huge files and serious data streams both inside the machine and during their transmission over the Network. In 2000, the XFS file system was released under the GNU GPL license and was distributed in separate Linux distributions.

Work in the system can be carried out both in the standard UNIX terminal and in the graphical interface. The graphical shell of IRIX Interactive Desktop is a window interface familiar to everyone, but there are certainly differences from other operating systems. On the desktop, there is a system menu Toolchest, a distant relative of the Start button, which groups installed programs, system utilities, and frequently used functions such as emptying the trash, here called dumpster. When a media input device is connected to a computer, whether it be a camera or a microphone, corresponding icons appear on the desktop, and clicking on them opens the corresponding applications for recording audio / video.



Since there is no dock here, as in Mac OS, no taskbar, as in Windows - applications are minimized to a small square icon directly to the desktop. Unfortunately, such beauties as with the Expose function on the Mac are not provided here, and instead of the current contents, the icon of the minimized program is decorated with its icon. Separately, I would like to note that the icons in the system are fully vector, which allows them to scale without the appearance of artifacts. Trifle - but nice.

OS works great in heterogeneous networks with Samba and / or AppleTalk. Since its developers are at the same time OpenGL developers, is it necessary to say that support is implemented above all praise?

The latest version of the system is 6.5.30. As noted above, SGI stopped its development from December 29, 2006. Along with the cessation of the development of the system itself, the development of serious application software was also stopped. An exception is the unofficial project of Blender assembly enthusiasts for IRIX and other free software .

Who was behind this:

James Clark , born in 1944 .
Scientist, businessman and philanthropist. The author of the fundamental works on computer graphics, the project manager Geomethric Engine, the foundations of the future of OpenGL. Founder of Silicon Graphic's inc. (SGI), Netscape et al. Stepfather Chad Harley, co-founder of YouTube. After the sale of Netscape, Clark left the infobusiness, switched to biotechnology and financial services, acquired two hefty yachts and currently lives in a civil marriage with an Australian supermodel.