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Iris Indigo Case Mod
James Palmer writes: "I have always been enamored with SGI's
Iris Indigo. Recently I resurrected an old Iris Indigo by
retrofitting it with an ATX motherboard
and powersupply." Lots of gruntwork here for a very impressive result.
Search google "Lego Computer Case" Lots show up...
This one for starts... http://people.netscape.com/toms/cubicle/computer/
Being called a dork on Slashdot must be like being called the retard in special ed.
I lusted after one of these and even snuck into a SGI's sales center near Detroit years ago, along with a bunch of vendors, commercial bigwigs, graphic designers, and such to see the latest Indi , software and stuff. Also, got a peek at one of the higher end systems being used for a flight simulator which would still kick some serious graphical butt. Too bad I could never scrub together the $6K just to get the basic system. I've probably still got piles of stuff on these in a box back in my parents house. Yeah, i can sympathize with James, but there's still something ...ewww... about putting anything other than an R3000 or R4000 in there...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
SGI has a log history of cool mods.
While I was working there, folks pointed out the Espressigo.
'Dem was the dayz.
The aluminum cube mentioned a day ago, however, was a case that was breathtaking. It's one thing to take a case and strip it down to what you need (or add things like lights/fans), and a completely different thing to build the case from scratch, using your own designs.
Which brings me to the question: when the hell are we going to see mainstream cases that don't resemble current towers? Are there cases that are, by default, modded in the fashion common nowadays (status lcds, excess fans, useless-yet-pretty lights)? I'd really like to see less case mods and more completely custom cases, but I don't think that would happen until the souped-up cases people do now are no longer seen as modded cases, and are instead seen as mainstream. I'm assuming the main reason people mod cases is for the "hey look at my nifty case" factor; if everyone had nifty cases, then hopefully more people would consider building a custom case from scratch in order to distinguish themselves.
Maybe then we'll finally see those dodecahedron cases that the G5 is rumored to reside in :D
Ah, those were the days. Contrast with the latest PC case I just bought. The metal was so thin that when I put my fingers into the expension slots to pull it into place under my desk, I ended up with multiple deep incisions in my fingers, like the world's worst paper cuts. Ick.
The only case I've ever seen that's more solid that an Indigo was an IBM PC from about 1985, made in Greenock, Scotland, a famous shipbuilding town. I reckon that the fab had just swapped over from making plates for ships, and decided to re-use the last few, complete with water-tight bulkheads. ;-)
But SGI's are amazingly robust (and heavy) as well. A workmate just bought an Indigo (the desktop orientation) on eBay. The seller noted that he'd package it up to his usual high standard, although there wasn't really any need. When it arrived, we saw what he meant. If the Indigo was a car, it would be a Mercedes. But not an ordinary Mercedes. It would be one of the "Diplomatic Specials", the ones that sneer at small arms, and give you a fair change against an RPG. It's that sort of construction. It's not just the thickness of the box, it's the redundant internal bracing, and that the components have multiple fixings, or are in snug caddys. You could probably go over Niagra Falls in one of these babies. ;-)
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