The SGI port of OpenBSD has been moved to officially supported status bringing the number of officially supported platforms to 15.
OpenBSD Platforms Update – SGI port official
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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hmm… how many people out there will use SGI hardware (which are rare) to run OpenBSD????
…that arise after a new platform is ‘officially’ supported. The concern shouldn’t be whether it is needed. Developers, who no doubt have access to SGI hardware, are donating their time and want to work on this. It is little to no skin off of an x86 users back when they are installing OpenBSD… why does everyone care? In the past, new platforms have generated new code for all platforms. Bugs have also been found in this way.
Considering performance, I am not sure what you are talking about. My 3.6 firewalls and email servers are running quite wonderfully. Although I think it is important to remember, security and convienence do not go hand in hand.
Take a peek at http://www.seekingfire.com/projects/e3hardware/index.html#laz . I currently run NetBSD on an SGI O2 and I have an Indigo2 that I’m not currently using for anything. Having another operating system option for them is great. A friend of mine (Hi Brad!) has an O2, and Indigo2 and an Indy.
These aren’t rare machines, and they’re a cheap way to get into 64-bit RISC hardware (I got my Indigo2 for Can$40, for example).
I’ve got an O2 and an Octane sitting in my closet right now. They are cool and all, but running an up-to-date and secure version of IRIX is very difficult to do. This should replace my current X86 firewall, and it would really cool in the process. I’d hate to say R.I.P. to IRIX, but SGI doesn’t seem to care too much about their OS anymore.
Are these SGI machines still usable as a workstation these days? I’m looking for an affordable, non-i386 desktop machine.
Yes, you can use an SGI as a desktop machine, but I don’t think you’ll have much luck with XFree86/X.org in most cases (at least not on my Idigo2). Irix is a better option, and is actuall quite nice. However, SGI isn’t very friendly towards hobbyists, so you’ll have problems finding installable media.
my Indy is slow. it’s a R4600 133Mhz w/ 192MB ram. and my old Pentium MMX 100Mhz with 32MB ram don’t stand behind in speed unles i’m using the 3D hardware…
My firewall now is the pentium since it has 2 NICs. An extra nic for the indy would takes some months just to find it in ebay, and another to get the money
It’s uptime is now around 14months with 3 powerlosses before (it would be 2yr not for those power outc.)
Now, why i think that port interesting?
remember the gnu servers break down? a root kit instaled itself in the machines. the only one not infected was an old sun that the root kit had no binary compatibility. and the machine had no compilers
That’s the only reason i’m looking forward to get another NIC for the indy. all hail incompatibility 😉
you can get SGI’s with linux.
SGI even sell you a device running netbsd:
http://www.sgi.co.jp/solutions/security/pdfs/viewranger_english.pdf
from: http://rfhs8012.fh-regensburg.de/~feyrer/NetBSD/blog.html
An extra nic for the indy would takes some months just to find it in ebay, and another to get the money […] That’s the only reason i’m looking forward to get another NIC for the indy. all hail incompatibility
Thats obscurity and perhaps a challenge for both you as well as the intruder but uhm… you’re aware that Indy NIC (Phobos G130) _does_not_work_ on Linux or *BSD (including OpenBSD)? It’ll only work with IRIX 6.5.16 or later (for which IPF is available). Here’s a reference: http://lists.debian.org/debian-mips/2004/02/msg00063.html
I guess you’re better off with a low-power OpenBSD+PF+frontend solution or similar (such as the Kurobox), if you insist on low-end SGI, the Indigo2 with 3c597 ISA NIC (which is ~ the same as the Phobos G160; you can hack that firmware) costs a fraction of a 2nd hand Phobos NIC. I’m not sure if the G160 or 3c597 will run on Linux/*BSD though. One thing to keep in mind is that G130 is GIO32, whereas G160 and 3c597 use GIO64.
See Ian Mapleson’s Futuretech for more info about the Phobos NICs: http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/sgi.html