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Introduction |
| The Silicon Graphics Onyx was introduced in 1993 as SGI’s high-end graphics supercomputer. There are two different types of Onyx: the Onyx “rack”, which is about the size of a kitchen refrigerator, and the Onyx “deskside”, which is the miniature version you see here. The rack machine has more expansion slots for CPU and memory boards, and room for up to three graphics “pipelines”. The Onyx was succeeded by the Onyx2 in 1998. | | The Onyx was available with the mips R4000, R8000, and R10000 processors; with 1, 2 or 4 CPUs per processor board. The various graphics options included RealityEngine2, which was an update to the original reality engine for the Crimson and PowerSeries machines. VTX was a cost-reduced RealityEngine2 with 6 instead of 12 intel i860 geometry processors, and one raster manager with no room for expansion. InfiniteReality is the newest (1995) and most powerful graphics option for SGI Onyx, and it’s design lived on in newer machines such as the Onyx2 and Onyx3000. There are also a myriad of HIO and VME expansion options for networking, sound, advanced I/O for machine control or motion capturing, and “video” - which in the SGI universe is very different from “graphics”. | | | These machines were used by companies, universities, and governments for advanced CAD/CAE, FEA, fluid modeling, visualization, Hollywood special effects, and, of course, virtual reality. I purchased this particular Onyx from a Boeing surplus auction in 2008. After a few hours of repairs and research of the machine, it is once again in perfect operational condition and a great machine to play quake 3 on, or to tinker around with Mathematica. Let’s take it completely to bits and see what’s inside! |
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