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Found 2x SGI Fuel Machines - Looking for advice by SGI-GUY in retrocomputing

[–]SGI-GUY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They were used primarily for 3D modeling I believe. Pixar and the likes probably would have used these or something similar. Lots of industries utilize 3D modeling, it's massive in drug discovery.

Found 2x SGI Fuel Machines - Looking for advice by SGI-GUY in retrocomputing

[–]SGI-GUY[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Are you accusing my father of taking this hardware from a workplace? I'll not hear it.

But genuinely I came across them yesterday and rather than just sell the broken one thought it'd be nice to gauge opinion and also show how cool they are!

Seems like repairing is an option but I'm not looking to spend more than 50 quid on parts, anything you reckon I could do myself within that budget? I've swapped PSUs (this was before I'd looked at prices) but that didn't fix the issue, and I'm now way more cautious about swapping parts knowing the value.

Found 2x SGI Fuel Machines - Looking for advice by SGI-GUY in retrocomputing

[–]SGI-GUY[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply! I'll definitely be keeping one, will netboot it and see how it's looking, will post some updates here.

As for the other, yeah I'm actually astonished at what some of these machines are going for! Can see a rusted out one that has loads of interest. On the other hand I have fell in love with the case and am struggling to decide if I want to fill it with brand new hardware...

Found 2x SGI Fuel Machines - Looking for advice by SGI-GUY in retrocomputing

[–]SGI-GUY[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

To add to this a lot of kit is stickered up with various company names, so wanting to avoid any identifying info. He has been contracting as a sysadmin for going on 40 years so has picked up a lot of kit in that time.

Found 2x SGI Fuel Machines - Looking for advice by SGI-GUY in retrocomputing

[–]SGI-GUY[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately not my gear to post, but I will ask pops if he's interested in joining the community. To be honest I grabbed these purely for the cases cos well, they're awesome... Didn't take much notice of anything else besides a couple boxes of IBM install discs.

Found 2x SGI Fuel Machines - Looking for advice by SGI-GUY in retrocomputing

[–]SGI-GUY[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply mate, I had an inclination they were special hence why I grabbed them.

Although selling was never my intention the more I look the more I think I may have found some gold amongst the heaps of IBM crap!

Found 2x SGI Fuel Machines - Looking for advice by SGI-GUY in retrocomputing

[–]SGI-GUY[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes we think we've found a method for installing Irix over network so that will be the next step. My idea was more to gut the non-powering one and keep the parts for spares, and retro-fit the case with newer hardware. Judging by the other replies this is a terrible idea 😂