SGI O2 R5000-200

Manufacturer	SGI
Model	O2 "Moosehead"
Available	1996/10/10 - 2002/09
CPU	150-400MHz R5000/R10000/R120000
Memory	32MB - 1GB
OS	IRIX 6.3, 6.5.x
Disk	onboard SCSI (1GB-18GB)
Network	onboard Ethernet (10/100Mbit/s)
Expansion	1x PCI (33MHz/64bit), proprietary AV
Description	The O2 is an entry level SGI workstation in the typical modular designer case. It uses a unified memory architecture (UMA), there is no separate graphics memory. 3D calculations are done in CPU, but it has special hardware for certain operations, allowing it to perform real-time audio and video processing.
Marketing	An extremely high-bandwidth memory architecture, dedicated engines for image and video processing, and a suite of digital media tools give the SGI® O2 workstation unrivaled capabilities for digital media creation and manipulation, including video and audio capture, playback, editing, compression, and decompression. This paper addresses high-level O2 system features, underlying technology, software tools, and applications related to video, audio, and compression.
Story	I bought this one at the flea market at the Vintage Computer Festival in Munich.

IBM AIX for RS/6000 Version 3

Manufacturer	IBM
OS	AIX for RS/6000 Version 3
Product Code	5756-030
Available	1990/06/01 - 1997/01/31
Description	AIX version 3 is a unix-like operating system by IBM for its RS/6000 line of workstations and servers. With features such as a logical volume manager, a journaled filesystem, HA-NFS (high-availability NFS using dual attached SCSI disks), filesystem ACLs, realtime facilities and a preemtable kernel, "modern" package and fix management, an optimizing C compiler (yes, in the base system. These were the times), an audit facility, and last but not least, a menu-driven system administration program ("smit"), it was (IMHO) way ahead of its time. Of course it featured all the common "distinguishing" unix facilities as well, including POSIX, X/OPEN XPG3, AT&T SVID, and 4.3BSD compatibility, virtual memory, TCP/IP, NFS, NIS, X11, and NLS support. It comes at a price, though. AIX is different. System administration outside of smit does not at all feel unix-like, and porting open source software to AIX can be a considerable challenge.
Marketing	AIX Version 3 for RS/6000 is a multi-tasking, demand-paged, virtual memory operating system which can operate as a single-user or multi-user system. It is derived from the AIX/RT Version 2.2.1 Operating System, which has been restructured and enhanced to support and exploit the POWER Architecture of the IBM RS/6000 hardware, and to conform to the IEEE 1003.1-1988 standard for a Portable Operating System for Computer Environments (POSIX). The AIX/RT Operating System Version 2.2.1 kernel and AIX/RT Virtual Resource Manager (VRM) Version 2.2.1 have been merged into a single unified kernel to simplify the support of advanced function and the addition of device drivers, as well as to extend real-time capabilities to the full AIX process management environment. Also included is the optimizing C compiler and a basic set of application development tools. IBM Network File System and Network Computing System support is included to enhance distributed processing capabilities.

IBM RS/6000

IBM RS/6000's (RISC System 6000) are strange beasts (compared to more approachable machines from the same era such as anything made by Sun, Digital, HP, or SGI). But actually they're just different, not hostile.

IBM RS/6000 7012-350

Manufacturer	IBM
Model	7012-350
Available	1992/02/28 - 1993/08/18
CPU	41MHz POWER
Cache	8KB I, 32KB D
Memory	32MB - 256MB
OS	AIX 3.2 - 5.1
Disk	onboard SCSI (160MB-4GB)
Network	onboard Ethernet (10Mbit/s)
Expansion	4x MCA
Description	This is a "first generation" RS/6000, in the typical IBM-grey desktop case. It has the original multi-chip power implementation, the typical backplane (IOPlanar in IBM-speak) with memory and cpu living on separate daughter-cards, a keyswitch and LED display.
Marketing	The IBM RS/6000* Model 350 is based on IBM's POWER Superscaler designed Architecture and is designed for balanced system performance providing a high-speed floating-point processor with concurrent instruction execution. The Model 350 offers a 41MHz processor, 32MB to 256MB memory, 160-MB to 4-GB internal disk, and four Micro Channel Feature Card slots. The Model 350 also offers flexibility with a wide variety of optional features and input/output devices to provide increased functionally, connectivity and price performance with the AIX* Version 3.2 for RS/6000. The IBM RS/6000 Model 350 is a powerful multi-purpose, desktop system for commercial and scientific environments. A pedestal is provided for stabilization in the vertical position and is mounted on the bottom of the system unit when in the horizontal position.
Story	This was a "classic" rescue. I got a phone call that (unnamed company) is cleaning up the warehouse and an old RS/6000 was at risk of being trashed. I was massively surprised to see that they had neatly set aside for me several RS/6000s, tons of memory still in its original packaging, various spare parts, and several sets of AIX installation tapes. Overwhelmed by the amount of stuff (I had calculated for only one machine and no extra parts, something I could easily tuck under my arm), I had to find a way to bring that stuff home (I have no car). So I called a taxi, and asked for one "with a big trunk". I couldn't take it all, so after deciding to leave the duplicates there, I ended up with this 7012-350, a 7012-340, a 7248-43P, and a few cardboard boxes with more than a hundred 64MB parity SIMMs, several memory carrier boards including memory, various MCA cards, and a dozen AIX tapes.