An old dream come true: Iris Indigo!

[Joshua Alexander Dersch]

Alexandre Souza writes: 

> 
>    Well, seems that now is my time... 
> 
>   I have the oportunity of - at least - putting my dirty hands into a SGI 
> indigo! :oD 
> 
>    My questions:
>    - How fast is it?
>    - What can I run on that?
>    - Does it use any kind of special memory?
>    - Can I use a PC mouse/keyboard with that?
>    - Are the monitor frequencies suitable for a modern PC monitor? 
> 
>    Thanks
>    Alexandre
>    (yes, in Brazil these are R A R E !)  
> 
> 

Depending on the model, it's either a 33Mhz R3000, a 100Mhz R4000, or a 
150Mhz R4400.  You should be able to run IRIX up to 6.2 on an R3000, or 6.5 
on the R4k models.  There are likely Linux & NetBSD ports that will run, but 
those are no fun to run on an SGI :). 

You'll need a special Indigo Keyboard & Mouse.  The connector looks like 
PS/2, but it's not, unfortunately.  It's possible to buy an adapter (for 
about $40) which will likely be easier to find than the real thing.  See: 
http://ckcomputersystems.com/ckcs/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=87&os 
Csid=64f39e3c9aced887b829c8bd540f36be 


R3000-based Indigos use proprietary (hard to find) memory, but the 
R4x000-based ones take standard 72-pin, fast-page ECC SIMMS. 

Any decent PC monitor that supports Sync-On-Green should be able to work 
with the Indigo without problems. 

Good luck!
 - Josh