O2 Hardware Aggregator

This is a list of hardware that works on the SGI Octane and SGI Octane2. This has been pulled from the archive.org backup of Nekochan.org.

SCSI HardDisks

Any 1′ SCA-2 HD [Take a look @ FAQ #1 & #6 down the list]. Below are two 15k drives that will work.

• Fujitsu MAS3367NC
• 146GB Maxtor 15K II

• SCSI PCI Cards:

• Adaptec AHA-2940UW
• Adaptec AHA-2944UW HVD [via this hack]
• Adaptec AHA-3940UW [via this hack]

• Fibre Channel Cards:

• QLogic QLA2200: 1Gb Fibre Channel Adapter Copper/HSSDC Interface
• QLogic QLA2200/66: 1Gb Fibre Channel Adapter Copper/HSSDC Interface
• QLogic QLA2200F/66 1Gb Fibre Channel Adapter Optical LC connector, confirmed by magellan
• QLogic QLA2212: 2 x 1Gb FC-AL Interfaces [Everyone thank Dr.Dave for his guide/tests/efforts]
• QLogic QLA2342: dual-port 2GB optical FC, confirmed by mapesdhs

• FireWire (IEEE-1394) Cards:

• Adaptec FireConnect 4300B RED PCBs. [Take a look @ FAQ #5 down the list]

• Network Cards:

• FORE PCA-200E ATM Adapter Card
• Phobos P1000 Gigabit PCI card, confirmed by Ian Mapleson but “the SGI OEM’d “tg” and “eg” gigabit cards will *not* work in the O2″

• CD-ROM Drives:

• DEC RRD46 12X, confirmed by Ian Mapleson.
• NEC 1910A 32X, confirmed by mapesdhs
• NEC 3010A (40x)
• Plextor PX-12CSe 12X
• Plextor PX-20TSe 20X
• Plextor PX-32TSi, confirmed by twix. Eject button does not align with the o2’s plastics.
• Plextor PX-40TS 1.12, Firmware info
• TEAC 532S (32x)
• Toshiba XM-3801B, confirmed by Arabski
• Toshiba XM-4101B
• Toshiba XM-5401B
• Toshiba XM-5401TA
• Toshiba XM-6201B 32X, confirmed by mapesdhs
• Toshiba XM-6401B

• CD-RW Drives:

• HP 9600 SCSI CDRW, confirmed by Ian Mapleson.
• Pioneer DR-466 (12x SCSI), confirmed by gaku but “…the plastics won’t align with the O2 case”
• Plextor CD-R PX-R412C 1.04
• Teac CD-R 56 S4 1.0F
• Yamaha CRW4416SXZ [8x4x24]
• Yamaha [8x8x24], confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• Yamaha CRW2100SZ [16x10x40]

• DVD-ROM Drives:

• Toshiba SD-M1401 [more info on using it internally here or externally here and there]
• Toshiba SD-M1711, confirmed by hamei [Note: There have been both positive and negative reports on the use of non-SGI variants of the Toshiba SD-M1711 with an O2. The issue is possibly firmware related, if you attach an SD-M1711 to an O2 please post if you were successful or not, the firmware revision of the SD-M1711, and the PROM/IRIX revison of the O2.]

• DVD-R/RW:

• Pioneer DVR-S303 [Professional model, released only in Japan]

• DVD-RAM Drives:

• Matshita/Panasonic LF-201
• Matshita/Panasonic LF-291

Details on firmware updates and software to allow use of non-cartridge disks is in this thread.

• DAT/DDS:

• Archive Python 4324RP
• HP StorageWorks DAT 40 SCSI DAT (DDS4 20GB)

• 3.5″ Floppy Drives:

• Teac FD-235 HS

• Removable Drives:

• Imation LS-120 [SCSI]
• Iomega Jazz [SCSI]
• Iomega Zip 100 [SCSI]
• Iomega Zip 100 Plus [SCSI/Parallel]

• Magneto-Optical (MO) Drives:

• Fujitsu MCM3064SS
• Fujitsu MCM3130SS
• Fujitsu MCJ3230SS

A detailed bilingual guide by Diego A. De Giorgio [Generatrix] can be found here: The MOD/M.O.D. (Magneto Optical Drive) IRIX FAQ

• Scanners / Printers:

• Hewlett Packard ScanJet 5P
• Epson Perfection 636 [SCSI]
• Umax Astra 1220S Flatbed Scanner [with the proper cabling to get to a DB25 SCSI connector]
• Zebra/Eltron P310C PVC card printer, confirmed by zahal

• Tablets/Mice/Spaceballs:

• WACOM ArtPad II [Model KT-0405-R]
• WACOM Intuos [Serial]
• WACOM Intuos 2 [Serial]
• Spaceball 4000FLX, confirmed by zahal “MD 1.8.6 works on my O2 (it uses libsball)”

• PCMCIA Card readers:

• Adtron SDDS PC Card Drive [Caveat: You need to set the speed on the SCSI ID you’re using to 5Mb]

• Monitors

– SoG tolerant:

• AOC G2260VWQ6, Confirmed by Str1kernaut
• Acer AL1916W LCD (1440×900), confirmed by Dr. Dave
• Acer X203H, Confirmed by Str1kernaut
• CMV CT-720D 17″ LCD, confirmed by strandedinnz
• Compaq P1220 22″, Confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• Cornea MP704 , (17″ 1280×1024 VGA only LCD), confirmed by tillin9
• Dell 1800FP 18.1″ SXGA LCD (S-IPS true 24-bit), confirmed by MisterDNA
• Dell 1901FP, confrimred by ramq
• Dell 1908FPc, confirmed by theodric, but: “When I factory-reset the monitor, I got fuzzing @ 60Hz– then I picked 72Hz and all was clear. Also works well @ 50Hz”
• Dell 1908WFP, confirmed by theodric at 1440×900@56Hz using his custom vfo.
• Dell 2001FP 20.1″ UXGA LCD (S-IPS true 24-bit), confirmed by MisterDNA
• Dell 2005FPW, confirmed by lewis
• Dell 2405FPW, confirmed by dangermouse
• Dell 2407wfp, (24″ 1920×1200 DVI/VGA), confirmed by tillin9
• Dell 2408wfp, confirmed by Lucanis
• Dell U2414M, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• Dell P1130 21″, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• Eizo FlexScan S1910, confirmed by Arabski
• Elements EN-LM500/ Envision EN5100e 15″ TFT, confirmed by tillin9 but: “(same panel marketed under at least those two names), only supports 1024×768 max resolution VGA”.
• Fujitsu Siemens X140f (@1024×768), confirmed by ramq
• Fujitsu Siemens SCALEOVIEW L22W-3 (@1440×900 – native res is 1680×1050) confirmed by [[C|-|E]]
• Gateway VX900 18″ CRT, confirmed by akimmet
• Hanns-G HW191A 19″ 1440×900 LCD, confirmed by theodric
• HP 2035, confirmed by Arabski. “native 1600×1200. Nice feature is “Custom Scaling” which allows to map pixels 1:1, so any resolution looks good (black frame around image).”
• HP F1703 17″ SXGA LCD (dithered 18-bit) (several versions made), confirmed by MisterDNA
• HP L2335, confirmed by tikiroa but “good 1920×1200-16@60, 1920×1080-16@60, 1680×1050-16@60, at 32 bit large black boxes in the lower part of the screen; standard resolutions good”
• HP P1130 21″, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• HP P1230 21″, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• HP LP2475W, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• IBM P70 17″ CRT
• IC Power 17′ & 19′ LCDs, confirmed by zizban.
• Iiyama Vision Master Pro 17 17″ CRT (both on HD15 and BNC inputs)
• LaCie 19” & 22” ElectronBlue IV, confirmed by fu. (LaCie CRTs are re-badged Mitsubishi Diamondtrons).
• LG Flatron L1732TQ, confirmed by bidD.
• LG Flatron L1952H, confirmed by cicero
• LG Flatron F900P 19″ CRT. (needs to select SoG in the menu, has BNC connectors), confirmed by Str1kernaut
• Mitsubishi Diamondtron RDF225WG 22″, (same as LaCie’s ElectronBlue CRTs, specs)
• Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• NEC MultiSync FP1370 (22” CRT), confirmed by gaku
• NEC MultiSync FP1375X 22″, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• NEC Multisync LCD 1830, confirmed by loonvf
• NEC 1860NX (18″ TFT) – 1280×1024, DVI/VGA, confirmed by tillin9
• Philips 150S4, (15″ 1024×768 VGA only LCD), confirmed by tillin9
• Philips 150S6FG/00 (15″ TFT), confirmed by xc8
• Samsung 153T 15″ LCD (dithered 18-bit), confirmed by MisterDNA
• Samsung 172x, confirmed by phrosty-boi
• Samsung SyncMaster 226BW, confirmed by Glock
• Samsung SyncMaster 710V, confirmed by Indyboy
• Samsung 740N, confirmed by hamei
• Samsung 913N Syncmaster, confirmed by Skysearcher
• Samsung 940BW and Samsung 940BF, confirmed by tesla.
• Samsung 950p, confirmed by zafunk, –>needs SOG activation
• Sony G530, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• Sony G550, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• Sony GDM-400PS 19″, confirmed by gborce
• Sony W700 24″ CRT, confirmed by dion_b
• ViewSonic G810, confirmed by Ian Mapleson
• ViewSonic P220F, confirmed by Ian Mapleson

– Non SoG capable but hackable (YMMV):

• Eizo FlexScan L567, hacked by cicero: “…Colors are okay, some vertical regions of the displayed image are a little blurred. You probably notice this effect when working in the shell.”
• NEC Multisync LCD 1770 NX, hacked by cicero: “…you have to use a customized VGA cable (pin 11 – 15 removed) in order to force the display to use the SOG signal”.
• Nokia Multigraph 449M (15” CRT), hacked by gaku: “…”almost” looking normal with an gamma-patch” applied as suggested by -> hindu <-“.

—

O2 Hardware FAQs:

1a. Can the O2 be upgraded to permit faster SCSI transfer speeds or am I stuck with the inbuilt SCSI only?

colin wrote:40 MB/sec UW SCSI should be plenty fast for even a new drive. Honest. Find a good deal on a recent 18 GB 10K RPM drive. The original 4 and 9 GB drives are 7 or 8 years old now and are SLOW.

If you want something faster, stripe 3 new drives: one on the internal bus, one on the external bus, and one on an Adaptec 2940WU PCI card. You should be able to hit 90+ MB/sec sustained with 3 modern drives.

1b. Some useful SCSI tips:

traktopel wrote:The O2 scsi HBA is Single Ended (SE) SCSI and IBM drives are LVD. It might be not only a SYNC or NEGO issue but due to LVD to SE conversion .
I have heard that the Adaptec chip and IBM DDYS drives might have troubles in some cases.
I know I should not say that be if you have a PC with an Adaptec 2940 you can test the same config and might not work as well…

Check if drives have a “Force SE mode” jumper….

ShadeOfBlue wrote:Be sure to enable parity on any drive that you intend to use in an SGI. Most drives have a jumper and some can do it by themselves

LoWeN wrote:Be aware that U320 harddrives are not compatible below UW.So it will workwith octane/O2/O200…

hamei wrote:A reference point for people worried about heat – just swapped a 10k rpm IBM DDYS drive out for a 15k rpm Maxtor Atlas (not even Atlas II) and the newer faster drive runs cooler than the older slower one.

zahal wrote: Upgraded my O2’s 36GB 10k.6 to a 72GB 15k.4 drive 2 days ago. Works great, there’s a hum that I don’t recall with the 10k (seems like the O2’s plastic case is resonating with the 15k)… Gimp and Fireflop now startup quite faster….boot time is also reduced.
I recomend O2 owners to upgrade to a 15k.4 if possible (or any good 15k drive)….any speed boost on the bloo toaster is appreciated

2. Hey! My CD/CD-RW/DVD/DVD-RW drive reads media just fine, boots IRIX CDs just fine too. I can install, copy, stretch + flex stuff around but I can’t play an Audio CD! WTF?

Tough cookies: audio-over-scsi is realy idiosyncratic and so far only known to work with Toshiba drives

radrob wrote:Ga53n wrote:foetz wrote:i used a plextor 40x with r5k and r10k o2s. always worked like a charm.

Is it possible to mount a Plextor 40x CD-Rom in an O2 case, and will the O2 boot from it?

yes of course, i changed my broken original toshiba witha plextor 5 yrs ago you can boot from and do all you want..except audio-over-scsi
for that you need a toshibas

3. Can I dress my O2 with a DVD-ROM? Can I play a DVD movie on my O2?

unixmuseum wrote:What kind of DVD movie? If it’s a regular, off the shelf movie bought at a store, then no, you can’t read that on IRIX as there is no decoder to my knowledge… If it is a non-encrypted movie, then mplayer would do a terrific job. I would go with the DVD that sgi used in their later O2 models, i.e. Toshiba S-DM1401 as it is also perfectly IRIX bootable and fits nicely in the O2 case…
vegac wrote:I’m going to wager that you will most likely NOT be able to watch DVD movies… mplayer would be able to play non-encrypted DVDs, but the super-high bitrates just makes them very choppy.
Work in progress for the software that’s gonna make your hardware ready to tango here: MPlayer

4. What about SCSI-IDE Bridges?

1. LG GSA-4081B Super-Multi – DVD±RW / DVD-RAM in O2
2. SCSI->ATA Bridge Questions
3. AEC-7720UW Ultra Wide SCSI-to-IDE Bridge, confirmed by Arti77

5. Is FireWire really working? What is supported so far?

Tough cookies (again): most people had no luck, some got storage devices (HDs, CD/DVDs) working but not DV/MiniDV transfers. Hear here and here…

6. Yeah right, internal HDs are fine but I want big+fast scratch disks. What about external storage options?

1. Most nekochaners agree that Fibre Channel is the best bang for your buck, a lot of (aggregated) info is here: External Storage Options for O2.

2. Chris Kalisiak [The Keeper], has writen a Fibre Channel FAQ for SGI users, can provide you with custom FC solutions and answer your questions on all things FC.

3. Chris Pirazzi’s Lurker’s Guide to Video has a wealth of video-related information for SGI machines (including sections dedicated to disk requirements for video, O2-specific info etc). Just a quoted excerpt here (as a starting point), reading his pages is (more than) recommended.

Lurker’s Guide to Video wrote:O2 systems come with two single-ended ultra SCSI busses. The internal bus serves the CD-ROM and two internal 3.5″ drive bays with SCA connectors (one bay on the R10k O2). The external bus is available on a “68-pin high density” connector. O2 also has a half-size PCI slot which you can use for an additional ultra SCSI or other interface card.

Several SGI developers and customers have successfully recorded and played back VL_PACKING_YVYU_422_8active-region uncompressed video in the 4 major video timings (17-22 MB/sec) using only the O2’s external ultra SCSI bus.

An official SGI-supported disk solution for uncompressed video is to chain together four SGI 4GB or 9GB disks and plug them into your external SCSI connector. Here are the SGI part numbers:

We have found this combination to work reliably.

7. What about the PSU fun? Is it safe to disconnect it to silence my o2?

Everyone thank Harry (deBug) for taking the time to run some tests and come up with an answer for this vfaq:

deBug wrote:Note about power consumption:
I tested my power consumption on my O2 to be able to determine how much cooling was needed. Here are the results:

My computer had 8x64MB Kingston memory for a total of 512MB.
They seem to generate their faire share of heat.

O2 300MHz R5200 with 10k RPM hard drive, No camera
84Watt hard drive and CPU working max
79Watt CPU max, disk idle
74Watt CPU and disk idle

Same computer with 600MHz CPU
O2 600MHz R7000 with 10k RPM hard drive, No camera
83Watt hard drive and CPU working max
78Watt CPU max, disk idle
73Watt CPU and disk idle

+5Watt if camera plugged in.
9Watt at Standby.

So it seems running with out the power supply fan is not possible. 80 W needs to be ventilated.
I have installed a fan controller and lowered to about half the original RPM.