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Archive-name: sgi/faq/misc
Last-modified: Thu Oct  6  1:00:05 CDT 1994

    SGI misc Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of:

    SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration
    SGI apps FAQ - Applications and miscellaneous programming
    SGI audio FAQ - Audio applications and programming
    SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization
    SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware
    SGI Impressario FAQ - IRIS Impressario
    SGI Inventor FAQ - IRIS Inventor
    SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information
    SGI movie FAQ - Movies
    SGI Performer FAQ - IRIS Performer
    SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs

Read the misc FAQ for information about the FAQs themselves.  Each FAQ
is posted to comp.sys.sgi.misc and to the news.answers and comp.answers
newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) twice per month.  If you
can't find one of the FAQs with your news program, you can get it by
anonymous FTP from one of these sites:

    rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.sys.sgi.misc/
    rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/
    rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.answers/sgi/faq/
    viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/faq/

Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational
documents, and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer
here. If you can't use FTP, send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with
the command 'send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq' on a line by itself
in the text, and it will send you a document describing how to FTP by
mail. You can also read a hypertext version of the FAQs at

    http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html

The SGI FAQs are freely distributable and we encourage wide circulation.
The contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers
apply. Please send additions and changes to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu.

Topics covered in this FAQ:
---------------------------
   -1- How can I quickly find the information I want in the SGI FAQs?
   -2- How do the FAQs support the World Wide Web?
   -3- With what version(s) of IRIX do the SGI FAQs deal?
   -4- What about material which doesn't fit in the FAQs?
   -5- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups?
   -6- Are the SGI newsgroups archived?
   -7- What are some related newsgroups?
   -8- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* mailing lists?
!  -9- What are some related mailing lists?
! -10- What are some related WWW pages?
! -11- What are some related network-accessible documents?
  -12- What number do I call for information about SGI products?
  -13- What number do I call for technical support from SGI?
  -14- What about SGI-related publications?
  -15- What is the latest release of ...
  -16- What is the current release of IRIX for my machine?
  -17- Can I get a list of known bugs?
  -18- What's the best newsgroup in which to complain to SGI?
  -19- Wouldn't Nextstep be great on SGIs?
  -20- Can I run Windows NT on my Indigo or Indy?
  -21- Credits

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:    -1- How can I quickly find the information I want in the SGI
                FAQs?
Date: 20 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST

- The FAQs follow the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and
  thus can be viewed easily with newsreaders that understand message
  digests.

- Each question has a Subject: line, so you can easily step through the
  answers with rn's ^G command.

- Each question is marked with a "dash number dash" so that you can
  find any answer with a simple search pattern.

- Questions marked with a '+' are new this posting; those marked with a
  '!' have significant new content since the last posting. If there are
  no '+' or '!', the content has not changed significantly. Questions
  marked with a '-' will be removed in the next edition or so unless
  someone convinces us otherwise.

------------------------------

Subject:    -2- How do the FAQs support the World Wide Web?
Date: 05 May 94 00:00:01 EST

Tom Fine <fine@cis.ohio-state.edu> runs a service which converts FAQs
to hypertext (HTML). A list of the converted FAQs is at

  http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html

and the SGI FAQs are at

  http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html

You can view them with any World Wide Web browser, probably Mosaic
(which you can get from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:/Web/), or, for text terminals,
Lynx (at ftp2.cc.ukans.edu:/pub/WWW/lynx/).

Some types of references in the SGI FAQs are in particular formats so
they will be recognized and turned into links to other documents:

- References to FTP sites are in rcp(1)-like format
  ('site:/path/file'). If you're not using a WWW browser, just do 'ftp
  site', 'cd /path' and 'get file' as usual to get a file.  References
  to directories end with slashes so you know what you're getting into.
  References to root directories (e.g. 'ftp.uu.net:/ ') do not work;
  this is a known bug.  Some FTP servers are not Mosaic-compatible;
  just use 'ftp'.

- Other Internet services are in URL format
  ('protocol://site/path/file'). If you're reading the SGI FAQs as
  plain text, you can still paste URLs into your browser.

- Manpages look like 'foo(1)' and Internet RFCs look like 'RFC####'.
  Beware: Tom Fine is a Sun person, so the manpages are for SunOS.

Note also the SGI-related WWW pages below and in Bill Henderson's
anonymous FTP list.

------------------------------

Subject:    -3- With what version(s) of IRIX do the SGI FAQs deal?
Date: 24 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST

Unless otherwise specified, the FAQs discuss IRIX 4.0.5. Earlier
versions of 4.0.x are rarely discussed because everyone should have
upgraded to some version of 4.0.5 by now. Several questions deal with
5.x, and they all say so. Coverage of 5.x will increase as more people
get it and begin asking FAQs.

------------------------------

Subject:    -4- What about material which doesn't fit in the FAQs?
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST

Entries in the FAQs should be relatively short and genuinely
"frequently asked". Some material which is of less general interest or
which is too long is archived at viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/. If information
you're looking for isn't in the FAQs, look there.  The FAQs may direct
you there as well.  You can submit material to that archive just as you
can an FAQ: mail it to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu, or put it in
viz.tamu.edu:/incoming/ and let us know by mail.

------------------------------

Subject:    -5- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

The active SGI newsgroups are

  comp.sys.sgi.announce  Announcements for the SGI community.
			 (Moderated)
  comp.sys.sgi.admin     System administration on Silicon Graphics'
			 Irises.
  comp.sys.sgi.apps      Applications which run on the Iris.
  comp.sys.sgi.audio     Audio on SGI systems.
  comp.sys.sgi.bugs      Bugs found in the IRIX operating system.
  comp.sys.sgi.graphics  Graphics packages and issues on SGI machines.
  comp.sys.sgi.hardware  Base systems and peripherals for Iris
		         computers.
  comp.sys.sgi.misc      General discussion about SGI's machines.

The original comp.sys.sgi newsgroup is obsolete. Please don't post to
it, so the rest of us won't miss anything.

To submit an article for posting in comp.sys.sgi.announce, send mail to
Matthew Wicks at sgi-announce-request@dcdmjw.fnal.gov.

Each of these newsgroups has a corresponding mailing-list; see below.

------------------------------

Subject:    -6- Are the SGI newsgroups archived?
Date: 04 Jun 94 00:00:01 EST

The SGI newsgroups are archived in their entirety, albeit in a
difficult-to-handle form, in ftp.sgi.com:/comp.sys.sgi/.  comp.sys.mips
is likewise archived in ftp.sgi.com:/comp.sys.mips/.

Harry Mangalam <mangalam@uci.edu> makes the same newsgroups available,
and easily searchable, via WAIS.  There is a separate WAIS source for
each of the current SGI newsgroups and comp.sys.mips as well as the
defunct newsgroup comp.sys.sgi. If you're familiar with WAIS, just
search the directory-of-servers for "sgi" or "mips" to get all the
source descriptions. If you use Mosaic, open the URL
'wais://hornet.mmg.uci.edu/comp.sys.sgi.misc' to search
comp.sys.sgi.misc, and similarly for the other archived newsgroups.

Thanks to these services, just posting something goes a long way
toward making it available to everyone, even after it expires. Another
good reason to summarize the answers to your question for the group!

------------------------------

Subject:    -7- What are some related newsgroups?
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST

comp.graphics.explorer
comp.graphics.opengl
comp.soft-sys.wavefront
comp.sys.mips
comp.windows.x and friends
comp.unix.*

comp.graphics.inventor has been proposed, but has not yet been created.

------------------------------

Subject:    -8- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* mailing lists?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

The SGI newsgroups are gatewayed to mailing lists for those who can't
get news (or who just prefer mail). To subscribe or unsubscribe, send
mail to info-iris-request@brl.mil (Chuck Kennedy, aka
<kermit@brl.mil>). Chuck is a human, not an automated mail server, so
allow at least a week for your request to go through. To post an
article, mail it to one or more of the following addresses:

    info-iris-admin@brl.mil
    info-iris-announce@brl.mil
    info-iris-apps@brl.mil
    info-iris-audio@brl.mil
    info-iris-bugs@brl.mil
    info-iris-graphics@brl.mil
    info-iris-hardware@brl.mil
    info-iris-misc@brl.mil

------------------------------

Subject: !  -9- What are some related mailing lists?
Date: 01 Oct 94 00:00:01 EST

"Contact" addresses are humans. If a list has instructions on how "To
subscribe", please use them instead of bothering the human.

Iris Online
SGI's monthly news magazine
To subscribe, send mail to majordomo@sgigate.sgi.com containing only
  the line 'subscribe nyn-emag' in the body
FTP back issues from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/IRIS-On-Line/

SGI large users discussion list
For discussion of SGI systems with 1000 or more users
Contact Philip Smith <owner-sgilarge@uwindsor.ca>; please state the
  type of system you are using and the approximate number of users.

Indigo home users mailing list
For people who use Indigos, Indys, etc. at home
Contact indigo-home-request@world.std.com or Tim Hall
  <tjh@world.std.com>

Performer mailing list
Contact info-performer-request@sgi.com

Iris 2000 & 3000 systems list (for old SGI models, not MIPS chips)
Contact Jonathan Levine <jonathan@canuck.com>.
See also below under "network-accessible documents".

Biosym/Insight mailing list
For users of Biosym Technologies software [many of whom use SGIs].
Contact dibug-request@comp.bioz.unibas.ch (Reinhard Doelz)

FlexFAX mailing list
For users of the free FlexFAX fax software
To subscribe, send mail to Majordomo@whizzer.wpd.sgi.com containing only
  the line 'subscribe flexfax' in the body
Contact Sam Leffler <sam@sgi.com>
FTP back issues from sgi.com:/sgi/fax/archives/

ImageVision Library users' group mailing list
To subscribe, send mail to mail ilug-request@sgi.com containing only
  the line 'subscribe' in the body
Contact SGI's TAC by phone, 1-800-800-4744

Alias software users' group mailing list
To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@uga.cc.uga.edu containing only the
  line 'subscribe alias-l' in the body.
Contact Steve Follin <sfollin@VISEF.UCNS.UGA.EDU>

------------------------------

Subject: ! -10- What are some related WWW pages?
Date: 01 Oct 94 00:00:01 EST

Silicon Surf (SGI's official WWW server)
http://www.sgi.com/

MIPS Technologies, Inc. Home Page
http://www.mips.com/

Center for Landscape Research (including image editing and processing
software for SGIs)
http://www.clr.toronto.edu:1080/

Center for Visual Creation (an SGI International Training Center)
http://www.erc.msstate.edu/CVC/

Impediment (third-party memory and peripherals vendor)
http://www.impediment.com/

IRIS Explorer Center
http://www.nag.co.uk:70/1h/Welcome_IEC

NATPIX software demos
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/natpix/html/natpix.html

Wavefront Technologies
http://wavefront.wti.com/

HTML version of Bill Henderson's SGI FTP site list
http://mambo.ucsc.edu/psl/sgiftp.html

Scientific Visualization Software Packages
http://www.msi.umn.edu/SciVis/Packages/packages.html

Silicon Graphics User Groups
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Randy.Carpenter/sgiusers.html

US Army Research Laboratory (ARL, formerly BRL) FTP site
http://ftp.arl.mil/

Blix (an IndiZone game contest winner)
http://rugmd4.chem.rug.nl/hoesel/blix.html

securscan README (documentation for an IRIX security checker)
ftp://ftp.vis.colostate.edu/pub/irix/security/securscan.html

SGI DOOM FAQ
http://cornelius.ucsf.edu/~troyer/sgidoomfaq.html

Bill Henderson's FTP site list also lists some WWW sites.

------------------------------

Subject: ! -11- What are some related network-accessible documents?
Date: 01 Oct 94 00:00:01 EST

Silicon Graphics-specific documents:

  SGI Anonymous FTP and WWW archives
  Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi, news.answers
  FTP from rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/anonftp/
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/anonftp.gz
  Contact Bill Henderson <billh@hampton.sgi.com>
  See also above under "WWW pages".

  Known SGI User Groups (SUMMARY)
  Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi.misc
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/usersgroups
  Contact Randy Carpenter <syscrc@gsusgi1.gsu.edu>
  See also above under "WWW pages".

  Iris 2000 & 3000 systems FAQ (for old SGI models, not MIPS chips)
  Contact Jonathan Levine <jonathan@canuck.com>.
  See also above under "mailing lists".

  Explorer FAQ
  Posted ??? to comp.graphics.explorer
  FTP from swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/explorer/FAQ
  Contact explorer-request@castle.ed.ac.uk

  Insight FAQ
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/insight-problems
  Contact Greg Ferguson <gferg@hoop.timonium.sgi.com>

  Third-party hardware vendor list (general SGI-hip vendors)    
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/3rd-party/general

  Third-party hardware vendor lists (disks, memory, and magneto-optical
    drives)
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/3rd-party/
  Contact Brent L. Bates <blbates@aero36.larc.nasa.gov>

  SGI's Periodic Table of the Irises
  FTP from sgi.com:/sgi/Periodic_Table.ps.Z
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/Periodic_Table.ps.gz

  SGI DOOM FAQ
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/doom/sgidoomfaq.txt
  See also above under "WWW pages".

  Audio Applications for Silicon Graphics Systems
  Posted ??? to comp.sys.sgi.audio
  FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/audio-apps
  Contact Doug Cook <cook@sgi.com>

Other documents of particular interest to SGI users:

  OpenGL FAQ
  Posted semiweekly to comp.graphics.opengl, comp.answers, news.answers
  Contact Mason Woo <woo@kicksave.asd.sgi.com>

  comp.graphics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
  Posted monthly to comp.graphics, news.answers
  Contact grieggs@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (John T. Grieggs)

  comp.windows.x Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
  Posted monthly to comp.windows.x,news.answers,alt.answers,
    comp.answers
  Contact faq%craft@uunet.uu.net (X FAQ maintenance address)

  comp.windows.x: Getting more performance out of X FAQ
  Posted monthly to comp.windows.x, news.answers
  Contact art@cs.ualberta.ca (Art Mulder)

  Motif FAQ
  Posted monthly to comp.windows.x.motif,news.answers
  Contact jan@ise.canberra.edu.au (Jan Newmarch)

  Unix - Frequently Asked Questions
  Posted monthly to comp.unix.questions, comp.unix.shell, news.answers
  Contact tmatimar@empress.com (Ted M A Timar)

  SCSI FAQ
  Posted ??? to comp.periphs.scsi
  Contact Gary Field <garyf@wiis.wang.com>

  Uninterruptable Power Source (UPS) FAQ
  Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi.hardware, among others
  FTP from navigator.jpl.nasa.gov:/pub/doc/faq/
  Contact Nick Christenson <npc@minotaur.jpl.nasa.gov>

  Dave's List of Free Audio Goodies
  FTP from ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/users/elec10/voice/audio_goodies.txt
  Contact Dave Rossiter <dpr@ohm.york.ac.uk>

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) lists can be FTPed from
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/, and HTML versions of some are under
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html.

------------------------------

Subject:   -12- What number do I call for information about SGI
                products?
Date: 22 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST

For product information, call SGI Direct at

	US & Canada:	1-800-800-SGI1 (1-800-800-7441)
	France:		05 244 244
	Germany:	0130 811 011
	U.K.:		0800 440 440

or your local SGI sales office.

------------------------------

Subject:   -13- What number do I call for technical support from SGI?
Date: 29 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

To reach SGI's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) in North America, call
1-800-800-4SGI (1-800-800-4744). Elsewhere, call your local sales office
(see the previous question).

------------------------------

Subject:   -14- What about SGI-related publications?
Date: 02 May 94 00:00:01 EST

SGI publishes several periodicals. Every SGI owner should get Iris
Universe (glossy and general) for free; if you don't, call SGI Direct.
Everyone on a support contract should get Pipeline (very useful
technical notes); Pipeline's address is pipeline@sgi.com.  Registered
developers get another set of publications; ask devprogram@sgi.com
about getting registered.

There is one independent SGI-related publication, Silicon Graphics
World. Contact

    PCI Publishing
    12416 Hymeadow Drive
    Austin, TX 78750-1896 USA
    512-250-9023 (voice)
    512-331-3900 (fax)
    sgi@pcinews.lonestar.org

Subscription rates are $45/year in the US and $75 elsewhere.  SG World
is a monthly tabloid. It has articles, product reviews and lots of SGI-
specific advertising. It isn't a technical publication.

------------------------------

Subject:   -15- What is the latest release of ...
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

This changes quite often. The best way to get up-to-date information
about SGI products is to call SGI Direct; see above.

------------------------------

Subject:   -16- What is the current release of IRIX for my machine?
Date: 04 Jun 94 00:00:01 EST

IRIX 5.2.

The September/October 1993 Pipeline has an exhaustive table of IRIXes
from 3.3 to 5.0.1, and the January/February 1994 issue has a supplement
covering IRIXes up to 5.1.1.2.

If you don't know what release of IRIX you're running, see the SGI
admin FAQ.

------------------------------

Subject:   -17- Can I get a list of known bugs?
Date: 15 Jun 93 00:00:01 EST

Yes.  In addition to known bugs that are documented in Product Release
Notes, the IRIS InSight Support Library includes a collection of
customer reported software, document problems, and requests for
enhancements in the Software Status Update (SSU) binder.  The IRIS
InSight Subscription Service (SC4-INS-2.0) is an annually renewed
service which can be purchased from SGI.

------------------------------

Subject:   -18- What's the best newsgroup in which to complain to SGI?
Date: 04 Jun 94 00:00:01 EST

It depends on what you're complaining about. Most of the SGI employees
who read the SGI newsgroups are engineers and similar useful people,
not evil marketing policy-setters. If you feel, for example, that NFS
or Documenter's Workbench should be a standard part of IRIX, don't
post; call your sales rep and yell at them.

However, software bugs are better newsgroup material: an SGI person
may well see your message and fix the bug then and there. Nonetheless,
don't depend on it. Call the TAC and tell them too.

------------------------------

Subject:   -19- Wouldn't Nextstep be great on SGIs?
Date: 05 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST

Possibly. If Next ported Nextstep to IRIX (and several SGI employees
have made it clear that it is up to Next, not SGI, to do so) the
question might be worth discussing. That nonwithstanding, Next zealots
have flogged Nextstep around the SGI newsgroups many times. They
haven't convinced the command-line diehards that the Next way is better
or vice versa. Please don't try it yourself.

------------------------------

Subject:   -20- Can I run Windows NT on my Indigo or Indy?
Date: 18 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST

No. SGI can, but only on Indigos with special hardware and software
modifications and only for demos and porting. There are no known plans
to provide NT on SGI workstations. Also, note that most comp.sys.sgi.*
readers will answer this question "Why would you want to?".

MTI, aka MIPS, an SGI subsidiary, does make NT-compatible machines.
Try comp.sys.mips.

------------------------------

Subject:   -21- Credits
Date: 21 Sep 94 00:00:01 EST

The comp.sys.sgi FAQs are the collective effort of the SGI FAQ group:

    Dale Chayes		dale@ldeo.columbia.edu
    Steve Rikli		sr@sgi.com
    Allan Schaffer	aschaffe@sgi.com
    Dave Schweisguth	dcs@proton.chem.yale.edu
    Gavin Bell		gavin@sgi.com              SGI Inventor FAQ
    Michael Portuesi	portuesi@sgi.com	   SGI movie FAQ
    Dave Story		story@sgi.com		   SGI Impressario FAQ
    Bryan James		bryanj@spiff.esd.sgi.com   SGI audio FAQ

Special thanks are due to

    Tom Davis		Author of the 'zip' editor
    Harry Mangalam      Maintainer of the comp.sys.sgi.* WAIS database
    Dave Olson		comp.sys.sgi.*'s one-man TAC

Finally, much thanks to all of the SGI employees on Usenet, who have
provided gigabytes of helpful information.

Credits for individual contributions are given in the answers.

------------------------------

End of sgi/faq/misc Digest
******************************
-- 
The SGI FAQ group                                sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu
Finger us for info on the SGI FAQs, or look in viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi.