5/21/2014
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`SGI Indigo2 / Silicon Graphics R4400 Architecture
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`SGI R4k Indigo2 X/Z
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`Anybody who owns an Indigo2 will tell you that they have one ofthe finest graphical workstations
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`ever built. And it isn't totally obsolete yet either, as the Indigo2 can still hold it's own against more
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`modern machines, thanks to an upgradable architecture that can, in some cases, allow the machine
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`to use the powerful R1 0000 processor, the same CPU used in the much newer (and much more
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`expensive) SGI OCTANE machines, which high-end places like Pixar and Lucasfilrn still use.
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`And I still see Indigo2's in use all over, particularly during bad weather, when the local news brings
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`us to the weatherman in the "weathercenter", who is normally modeling the bad weather on this type
`machine.
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`The Indigo2 was positioned in the middle ofthe SGI lineup, between the low—priced "Indy"
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`workstations, and the much more expensive servers such as the "Onyx". As such, it needed to fill
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`the tough role ofbeing somewhere between those two extremes.
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`This was done by rmking the rmchine very expandable, so that many options could be added for a
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`variety of configurations.
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`In my opinion, though it's not as "pretty" as the original Indigo (I mean corne- on, it's big rectangular
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`box), it's an extremely capable and very powerful machine — and a worthy successor to the Indigo
`name.
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`Indigo2 Hardware Info
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`One ofthe reasons the Indigo2 is so large (18.5 inches wide, 18.5 inches deep and
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`about 5 inches tall), is the incredible expandability ofit -- seen in this first image is the
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`http://www.obso|yte.com/sg i_i ndig 02/
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`TMMI EX. 1014
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`TMMI EX. 1014
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`5/21/2014
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`—--.
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`SGI |ndigo2 / Silicon Graphics R4400 Architecture
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`1.,
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`1
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`‘
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`'-_'_"
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`‘
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`. -__-
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`.—
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`'
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`revealing
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`two bays,
`a 5.25
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`--
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`"half-
`heigh"
`.. bay
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`a CDROM drive (although I've seen some with the old 44MB Syquest drives as
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`well), and a second 3.5 inch drive bay. I say second because the first 3.5 inch drive
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`bay is BELOW the one you can see, hidden behind this front faceplate.
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`“' usually for
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`To remove the faceplate, press down on the two tabs at either end ofthe faceplate
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`So, here is the
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`faceplate
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`removed and you
`can now see the
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`lower bay, which
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`normally contains
`the boot drive.
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`The upper bay
`can be used for
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`an additional 3 .5
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`
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`inch drive, but can also be used for a floppy, floptical, DAT drive, or any 3.5 inch
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`device that might require you to access it behind the door. Also note that to the left of
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`the 5.25 bay are two round holes.
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`The larger hole is part ofthe on/ofl" switch (the rounded-edged square button in the
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`first photo). The second hole is the emergency "reset" switch should the machine
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`lockup for any reason.
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`With the faceplate ofl‘, you'll now notice two other tabs in the lower portion of either
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`end ofthe exposed area. This allows you to get the whole top "skin" ofl"the machine
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`so you may access all the internals ofthe machine.
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`Now that we've got the top off one ofthe first things that'll strike you is the angled
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`placement ofthe fin in the left-hand corner. It's that way for a very important reason.
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`By drawing air across diagonally, it dissipates heat not only from the card cage, on the
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`far left, but also fiom the CPU, which is located right underneath the 5.25 drive bay,
`in the center of the machine.
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`Combined with the second fan inside the power supply, the rmchine generates a
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`healthy internal breeze -- this may be the first machine I've ever owned where I didn't
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`SGI Indigo2 / Silicon Graphics R4400 Architecture
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`feel the need to hack in some
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`extra fans!!
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`Each peripheral that is plugged
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`into a particular drive bay must
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`use a special "drive sled" that
`I plugs it into the proprietary
`connectors for the SCSI bus.
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`_' Similar to SCA, but just a little
`" diiferent, it provides the SCSI
`_- J bus, power connection and
`_
`-
`__
`" "”"""3-"1 '|._ SCSI ID allinone single
`connection That brown plastic
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`. I
`I
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`'
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`flat ribbon is the internal SCSI cabling.
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`The one and only card currently plugged into the card cage on this machine provides
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`the X/Z (GR-3) graphics. With 4 geometry engines, it's actually very similar to Elan
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`Graphics, but with a different name. There's a link to explain how this came to be, but
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`essentially, X/Z graphics started out as 2 geometry engines (GR—2), and later, SGI
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`added 2 more for the same price as the GE's became cheaper to rmnuiacture.
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`Looking down into the cardcage now,
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`you'llsee the RAM SIMMs atthe top of I
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`this photo. Depending upon the model
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`CPU the machine is equipped with, the
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`Indigo2 can address either a maximum of
`384MB or 640MB of RAM.
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`The RAM is in three banks of 4 SIMMs
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`each. In this irmge, bank 3 is empty.
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`
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`Now, let's look a little closer at the card cage. The Indigo2 is unique among all ofthe
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`SGI machines I know ofbecause it can use two diiferent types of cards within the
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`card cage. The first are the proprietary SGI GIO slots, such as the X/Z graphics card
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`that's in there. These are the black connectors within the card cage.
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`However, there are also these brown connectors more towards the rear. These are to
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`rmke use of cheaper, more standard ISA/EISA "PC" style cards. SGI was hoping
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`that card manufictures would take advantage ofthis and write drivers for IRIX to
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`make use ofthe plethora of cards on the market for PC's. Unfortunately, I don't
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`currently even know if any such cards were ever made ot rmke use ofthe ISA slots.
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`We've now circled around to the rear ofthe machine where the business end ofthings
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`are. There are a variety of connectors for keyboard, mouse, serial, etc. Incidentally,
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`the Indigo2 can rmke use of "standard" 101-key keyboards from PC's (as long as
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`SGI |ndigo2 / Silicon Graphics R4400 Architecture
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`they use the mini-din "ps/2"
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`style connector). Similarly,
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`they can also use PC mice
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`as well, but you need to
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`find a 3 button variety to
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`really get all the features of
`Unix/X-Windows.
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`From here, you get a
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`slightly better view ofthe
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`RAM as well Bank 1 goes
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`partially underneath the
`5.25 inch bay, so to initially
`install RAM into the machine, you'll need to disassemble it more than you see here. If
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`you scroll back up to the first image with the top completely ofi, you'll see two screws
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`on either end ofthe iront ofthe 5.25 bay. Loosen and remove those screws, but
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`carefiil, they are on springs and might pop out!
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`From there, you'll need to disconnect the SCSI bus connection by moving two simple
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`spring-clips. After that, push gently back on the whole 5.25 tray and it should slide
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`backwards and the steel tabs that secured it to the chassis should come flee, allowing
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`you to remove the entire 5.25 bay.
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`So,hereitis
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`underneath the 5 .25
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`L,‘
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`; "
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`.
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`I‘
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`R4400 CPU. A couple of
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`inch bay -- the
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`'
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`_
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`damn biggest
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`heatsink you'll ever
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`see covering the
`200Mhz MIPS
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`important things to
`note lrorn this
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`irmge. The first is
`that the brown
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`SCSI ribbon is
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`detached from the
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`-u.
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`.
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`5.25 drive bay near
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`the top ofthe photo. However, after it passes through the two 3.5 inch drive bays, it
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`ends up attaching to the motherboard to the immediate right ofthe heatsink.
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`It's important to note that it's relatively easy for the connection here to become loose
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`or even detach entirely, and this could cause the machine to act "dead" and not boot.
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`5/21/2014
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`SGI Indigo2 / Silicon Graphics R4400 Architecture
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`Ifyou don't see a SCSI drive from the PROM monitor while doing the I-HNV
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`command, the SCSI bus may not be attached to the motherboard.
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`The other thing to notice in this image is that just to left ofthe speaker attached to that
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`fiont grill is space to hack in an extra fan! D'oh! I'm incorrigible!
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`cards sandwiched together.
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`My last image for this page is a
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`look down the card cage with
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`the side removed. From here,
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`"
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`you get a better look at both the
`5 G10 slots and the EISA slots
`1-‘: and you get to see that the X/Z
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`graphics card is really TWO
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`_____
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`Despite this, I still have two
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`slots flee. Because ofwhere the GIO card sits, I cannot use the closest EISA slot
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`(closest to the motherboard, that is..).
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`Those ofyou who have looked at PC motherboards that share a slot between PCI
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`and ISA know this story well. Just because the slots are there doesn't mean you can
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`actually use them all
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`Since there is some COIlfi1SlO1’1 about X/Z and "Elan" graphics cards, let me try and
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`clear up the confusion. THIS LINK should clear up the confiision.
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`Another question has been about the color -- there are two di1ferentIndigo2's, the
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`"teal" colored ones, like this one, and the Purple ones. Teal machines were either
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`R4000 or R4400 equipped with entry to X/Z graphics options available. The Purple
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`ones were the R8k and R1 0k cpus, and had the IMPACT series graphics cards
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`(Impact, Solid Impact, and Max Impact).
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`More Indigo2 Info
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`So much to say and so little space!
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`How to open up your Indigo2 - Good pics and good reference
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`The Indigo2 Specs and Product Info — Courtesy ofFutureTech Research.
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`The Indigo2 Owner's Manual - PDF file that requires Adobe Acrobat reader.
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`(approx 4.5MB)
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`A Picture of an Indigo2 Impact System These are the Purple case machines, and
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`much more desireable than the Blue-Green machines, because they are the R8000
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`and R1 0000 capable machines with the ability to run the IMPACT Graphics Boards.
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`5/21/2014
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`SGI |ndigo2 / Silicon Graphics R4400 Architecture
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`A View Inside Indjgo2 Impact System Note the R8000 card where the R4k would
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`normally plug in (photo shows the card tilted up against the 3.5 drive bays). Beware,
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`this is a large (3 14k) image.
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`Thanks For this Page
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`This part of Obso1Yte! wouldn't have been possible without the help ofthe folks at
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`Reputable and Greg Douglas in particular. Reputable donated this machine towards
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`this eifort and my sincere thanks go out to them (and him) for helping to make this
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`possible. Other thanks go out to Christian Liendo, Barry Einstein and Brad Bidnick
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`for helping me gather info for this page and getting the machine up and running.
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`Exact Specs of this Indigo2
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`200MHZ IP22 R4400 Processor.
`FPU: MIPS R--
`CPU: MIPS R--
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`000 Floating Point Coprocessor Revision: 0.0
`6.0
`400 Processor Chip Revision:
`ified instruction/data cache size:
`Secondary ur
`Data cache size:
`16 Kbytes
`Instruction cache size:
`16 Kbytes
`version A2 revision 1.1.0
`Iris Audio Processor:
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`1 Mbyte on Processor 0
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`2
`On—board serial ports:
`On—board bi—directional parallel port
`Wain memory size:
`128 Mbytes
`EISA bus:
`adapter 0
`?thernet:
`version 1
`ecO,
`Integra’
`Integra‘ SOS’
`control
`_ler 1:
`Version WD33C
`_ler 0:
`Version WD33C
`Integral SCSI controi
`controller 0
`Disk drive:
`unit 1 on SCSI
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`Graphics board: GR3-XZ
`OS:
`IRIX
`6.2
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`(X/Z Graphics)
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`933,
`933,
`(4G
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`revision D
`revision D
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`3 Seagate Hawk)
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`http://vwwv.obso|yte.com/sg i_i ndig oz
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