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http://www.reputable.com/images/ciscocam.jpg

This is nothing new... the original SpaceBall is almost 15 years old, as are Dials and Buttons: http://www.reputable.com/~skywriter/twintower/00DA NDB.jpg *Very* handy when working on 2D CAD or 3D models all day long. Too bad most modern software is only SpaceBall aware these days.

Buy an SGI keyboard from Reputable Systems or Mashek.

Nice US 101-key PS/2 keyboards with good tactile feedback, keys that are clickly but not too clicky, and no Windows keys.

Get an SGI keyboard, preferrably one of the granite ones with the "cube" logo. Though they're made by SGI, they're standard US 101-key PS/2 keyboards, and will work on anything that accepts US 101-key PS/2 keyboards, including PCs.

They have excellent tactile feedback, and are juuust clicky enough, but you don't have to bang on them.

And they don't have those annoying Windows keys.

AFAIK, they only come in the PS/2 variety (no USB).

I'd suggest not buying one directly from SGI, though. Try going to a place like Reputable Systems or Mashek, or maybe eBay.

AFAIK it's worse since it's not possible at all to get an IRIX license seperate from any hardware from any dealer (see here) and if you go to SGI directly and say "can I have IRIX 6.2 for my old Indy?" - well, good luck! (I bet they will tell you to ask your local dealer ;-)

I think I've got that beat, actually :-)

I have *one* machine holding up a table - I wish I had a picture of the actual table, but the machine is one of these beasties. The problem is that there's an 8-node beowulf (4xdual PII/333, + 2gbit myrinet) on top of the table, along with an Indigo2, 2 21" SGI monitors and a 15" Compaq p.o.s. for the KVM switch, and the table was designed to hold... say... a plate of deli meats, a salad bar, and some napkins. Maybe.

So, long story short - some genius snaps off one corner of the table by standing on it. The rest of the table bows downward a little bit, resting itself on top of the SGI 4d/310 beast. Whee, computer furniture!

Y'know... at first I didn't like the new "sgi" logo and wanted the cube back. But I'm starting to really like the new logo.

http://www.sgi.com/o2/images/hp_o2.jpg
http://www.arsc.edu/resources/hardware/images/Octa ne.jpg
VS.
http://www.reputable.com/sgipix/0.jpeg

Regardless of what other people think:

http://www.beyondboxes.net/sticker.jpg
http://www.arke.de/TC/sgi-homer.gif

If I remember correctly, it was a Connection Machine CM5 from Thinking Machines - one of the first massively parallel machines, with a (I thought) Apple Quadra running as the 'control terminal' bit - although the software it ran was SGI's fsn. It's hard to confuse a Crimson with a Quadra... (see for yourself)

My understanding of the SGI 'Jurassic Park' specials was that it was because SGI rendered the movie - the metaballs dinosaurs stuff, rather than product placement. It was a while ago though.

Best monitor I can recommend is the Sony/SGI GDM 20E21. Made by Sony (20" Trinitron) and packaged and sold by Silicon Graphics (really cool gray/granite plastics with the SGI cube logo). Dual inputs (13w3 and HD15, switchable via the on-screen display). Works great on PCs, Macs, and Sun/SGI/HP unix machines. Handles all the way up to 1800x1440@80Hz, as well as all the way back down to DOS and BIOS resolutions. Reputable Systems has used 20E21s for $250. They're not all that old and in great condition, plus Greg (owner of Reputable) is an awesome guy. I should know, I've bought 4 from him!

klick here for prices on SGI systems

I got my equipment and also highly recommend Reputable Systems. Greg Douglas is a great person to deal with and I'm a very happy customer.

You can find rather reasonable prices on old Sun hardware (IPX's, LX's, Classics, Sparc 5s, etc.) at www.gstek.com

www.reputable.com has good SGI prices and www.deepspacetech.com has good prices on NeXT hardware if you're interested in it.

As an aside, I would strongly recommend against buying on eBay or online auction places in general for older non-pc hardware, as the prices tend to be absurdly high.

misc.forsale.computers.workstation is a pretty good newsgroup for buying hardware as well.
--
Kevin Doherty
kdoherty+slashdot@jurai.net

www.SolarisCentral.org has a collection of links (under "/sparc") to used/refurbished Sun machine resellers.

good luck,
ccg