SGI Indigo
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The Indigo, introduced as the IRIS Indigo, is a line of workstation computers developed and manufactured by Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI). SGI first announced the system in July 1991.[1]
The Indigo is one of the most capable graphics workstations of its era, and was essentially peerless in the realm of hardware-accelerated three-dimensional graphics rendering. For use as a graphics workstation, the Indigo was equipped with a two-dimensional
The Indigo's design is based on a simple cube motif in indigo hue. Graphics and other peripheral expansions are accomplished via the GIO32 expansion bus.
The Indigo was superseded generally by the
Technical specifications
The first Indigo model (code-named Hollywood) was introduced on July 22, 1991. It is based on the IP12 processor board, which contains a 32-bit
The later version (code-named Blackjack) is based on the IP20 processor board, which has a removable processor module (PM1 or PM2) containing a 64-bit MIPS
A
Much of the hardware design can be traced back to the
Graphics options
Entry graphics
For entry graphics, the 8-bit color frame buffer[2] comes in three versions. One version uses the system's GIO expansion bus. Another uses the main backplane like the XS, XZ, and Elan graphics options. The final is the same, but adds a second video output, giving the computer the ability to have two "heads", or monitors.
XS Graphics
The Indigo's XS Graphics option has a single GE7 Geometry Engine (GE), a RE3 Raster engine, a HQ2 Command engine, VC1, XMAP5. It is ideal for low-cost wireframe operations, compared to more powerful, and expensive options for textured graphics.[2] Part of SGI's Express line of graphics, four XS graphics options were produced for the Indigo: the XS-8 offers 8-bit color, with one VM2 video RAM module; the XS-Z adds the ZB-4 Z buffer; the XS-24 adds two VM2 modules and offers 24 color bits and 32 bits including brightness; and the XS-24Z adds a Z buffer.
XZ Graphics
The XZ graphics option is also a member of SGI's Express graphics line. It is similar to the XS-24z, but it includes a second GE7 Geometry Engine ASIC, doubling its geometry performance.
Elan Graphics
The highest performance graphics option offered for the Indigo, it is a member of SGI's Express graphics line. It is like the XS-24z and XZ, but has 4 GE7 Geometry Engine ASICs, giving it twice the performance of the XZ option.
Operating system
The Indigo was designed to run IRIX, SGI's version of Unix. The Indigos with R3000 processors are supported up to IRIX version 5.3, and Indigo equipped with an R4000 or R4400 processor can run up to IRIX 6.5.22.
Additionally, the free Unix-like operating system NetBSD has support for both the IP12 and IP20 Indigos as part of the sgimips port.[3]
SGI timeline
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/efm0jkgiyhed49bzgmoa9dwnt6lw3rr.png)
Popular Culture
The Indigo was featured in Jurassic Park as the rendering system for Samuel L. Jackson's character Arnold and his station to render graphics for Park Control Systems. It was paired to a Macintosh Quadra 700.[4]
References
- ^ "sgistuff.net : Hardware : Systems : Indigo". www.sgistuff.net. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2014-09-20.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "NetBSD/sgimips". wiki.netbsd.org. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ https://www.starringthecomputer.com/feature.html?f=11