SGI Visual Workstation
Encyclopedia
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
, Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. The Visual Workstations are notable for their use of Intel
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
Pentium II
Pentium II
The Pentium II brand refers to Intel's sixth-generation microarchitecture and x86-compatible microprocessors introduced on May 7, 1997. Containing 7.5 million transistors, the Pentium II featured an improved version of the first P6-generation core of the Pentium Pro, which contained 5.5 million...
and Pentium III
Pentium III
The Pentium III brand refers to Intel's 32-bit x86 desktop and mobile microprocessors based on the sixth-generation P6 microarchitecture introduced on February 26, 1999. The brand's initial processors were very similar to the earlier Pentium II-branded microprocessors...
processors (rather than the 64-bit MIPS
MIPS architecture
MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...
RISC architecture usually used in SGI computer products). The 320 and 540 models were notable for their departure from the standard IBM AT-derived architecture which the great majority of Intel 386-based computers use. For example, unlike virtually all other Pentium-class systems, these two Visual Workstations did not include a BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
(often criticized as hackish and obsolete), in favor of a port of the same powerful ARCS firmware
Firmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...
system used in all other contemporary SGI workstations.
Computer architecture
There were really two series of the Visual Workstations. All were based on Intel processors; the first series (320 and 540) used SGI's ARCloader PROM and Cobalt video chipset, the remainder were essentially standard PC's.The 320 and 540 used a Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) memory system. This shared the video and system memory and ran them at the same speed, and allowed for up to 80 percent of the system ram to be applied to video memory. The allocation was static, however, and was adjusted via a profile. The 320 and 540 also used the on board Cobalt video adapter, which was SGI's proprietary graphics chipset. The firmware the systems used was a PROM that enabled booting into a graphical subsystem before the OS was loaded. In this regard they resembled the Irix/MIPS line of SGI computers such as the SGI O2
SGI O2
The O2 is an entry-level Unix workstation introduced in 1996 by Silicon Graphics, Inc. to replace their earlier Indy series. Like the Indy, the O2 used a single MIPS microprocessor and was intended to be used mainly for multimedia. Its larger counterpart was the SGI Octane...
.
The 320 and 540 also stood out for having Firewire (IEEE 1394) ports, on board composite/s-video capture, and USB keyboards and mice. They differed from each other in the 320 was dual Pentium II/III capable with 1GB maximum system RAM, while the 540 was quad Pentium III Xeon capable with 2GB maximum system RAM. Both computers used a proprietary DIMM module that was essentially the same as ECC SDRAM PC-100, but in a package one half normal size. The maximum memory per module was 96MB, and the SGI 320 had twelve memory slots. It is important to note that the Firewire ports that were built into the 320 never functioned. SGI distributed Orange Micro Firewire cards about a year after production started in lieu of fixing the Firewire ports.
Both the 320 and 540 were further limited by having PCI slots (albeit two 66 MHz and one 33 MHz slot) that operated at 3.3V, out of step with the 5v slots used by most manufacturers at the time. This limited the number of accessories that could be added.
The other Visual Workstations were built to compete with the new Intel processor based workstations that were considerably cheaper than SGI's line of MIPS workstations. They were little more than standard PCs, and used many parts that were also available in the aftermarket. They were criticized for using very cheap components, such as motherboards based on the VIA Apollo chipset for the SGI 230.
At the time it used the via apollo PRO 133A chipset which along with a CPU that had an FSB of 133Mhz and Ram that also ran at 133, made for a system that could deliver data incredibly fast. The key part of the workstation was the I/O you could send your data to a render station very quickly, with no bottlenecks.
Operating system
The 320 and 540 Visual Workstations shipped originally with MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...
. Due to the ARCloader PROM, a custom Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for Windows was necessary. Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
was the last release which included the required SGI-specific HAL. Because of that, and because SGI ceased supporting the Visual Workstation series, installation of future Windows versions such as XP is unsupported.
The 230, 330, and 550 also supported Windows NT and 2000. In addition, SGI offered these systems preconfigured with release 6.2 of the Red Hat Linux
Red Hat Linux
Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994...
distribution. These systems have the letter "L" appended to their model numbers.
Because of the various SGI enhancements, in particular for the 320 and 540, Visual Workstations often out-performed Intel PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s of similar configuration in graphically-intensive or memory bound applications. However due to the hefty upgrade costs for the non-standard components it was more cost effective to purchase an entire new higher-specced non-SGI PC rather than purchase upgrades to a Visual Workstation.
Displays and Matching Monitor
All the Visual Workstations supported conventional CRT monitors and had VGA display connectors. As the 230 330, and 550 models used Nvidia Quadro cards they also supported DVI. The SGI 320 and 540 models shipped with the groundbreaking and stylistically matched 1600SWSGI 1600SW
The 1600SW is a widescreen flat panel video monitor from Silicon Graphics introduced in 1998. It won many awards after release and sold 54,000 units...
LCD display, using an OpenLDI
OpenLDI
OpenLDI is a high-bandwidth digital interface standard for connecting flat panel LCD monitors to computers. While it is virtually unknown in standalone displays, it has a strong basis in the interconnect for internal displays, as in laptops. OpenLDI is based on the de-facto FPD-Link specification...
display connector that required an accessory flat panel adapter. The SGI O2 also supported the 1600SW with an adapter.
Models and configurations
The model numbers of the Visual Workstations:- Visual Workstation 320 - Dual processor Pentium II/III (Slot1)
- Visual Workstation 540 - Quad processor Pentium II/III Xeon (Slot2)
- Visual Workstation 230/230L - Single processor Pentium III (FCPGA Socket370) **
- Visual Workstation 330/330L - Dual processor Pentium II/III (FCPGA Socket370) **
- Visual Workstation 550/550L - Dual processor Pentium III Xeon (Slot2) **
Visual Workstations were initially equipped with either a single Pentium II
Pentium II
The Pentium II brand refers to Intel's sixth-generation microarchitecture and x86-compatible microprocessors introduced on May 7, 1997. Containing 7.5 million transistors, the Pentium II featured an improved version of the first P6-generation core of the Pentium Pro, which contained 5.5 million...
or Pentium III
Pentium III
The Pentium III brand refers to Intel's 32-bit x86 desktop and mobile microprocessors based on the sixth-generation P6 microarchitecture introduced on February 26, 1999. The brand's initial processors were very similar to the earlier Pentium II-branded microprocessors...
processor or dual (SMP
Symmetric multiprocessing
In computing, symmetric multiprocessing involves a multiprocessor computer hardware architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared main memory and are controlled by a single OS instance. Most common multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture...
) Pentium III processors. The 540 and 550 models supported the Xeon
Xeon
The Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...
implementation of the Pentium series, and could support up to four Xeons in an SMP configuration (only two for the 550). Although no SGI Visual Workstation was ever released with a CPU running higher than 700 MHz, some hobbyists have been able to run faster processors.
For the SGI 320 the limit is dual 1 GHz Pentium III processors or a single 1.4 GHz celeron.
Dual 1 GHz processors required a specific model of CPU, which was intended for Intel servers. Further, the voltage regulator, PROM, and revision of the motherboard also have to be correct for the setup to work.
With single processors the Powerleap Pl-iP3T "slocket" adapter and a Tualatin 1.4 GHz celeron processor is the limit, and is a straight bolt in installation. The Tualatin core gives a more modern processor, and the Powerleap adapter handles the voltage regulation to the CPU.
The SGI 540 has been reported to handle up to 900 MHz quad Xeon processors. These are the fastest Pentium 3 Xeons with the 100 MHz front side bus speed of the 540.
The 230, 330, and 550 models were essentially standard PCs and had the same capabilities and upgrade limits as other PCs of the time. The 230 and 330 were based on VIA
VIA Technologies
VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group. It is the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets...
chipsets, used socket 370 processors, and conventional SDRAM. The 550 used Slot 2 Xeon processors, the Intel 840 chipset, and RDRAM.
These three models had a generic PC BIOS, generic PC memory, and other non-differentiated parts. The video cards these systems used were Nvidia AGP cards based on the Quadro 2 chipset, and differed from aftermarket Quadros in their drivers.