[geeks] Disney going to HP Linux for animation

[Kurt Huhn]

> SGI really needs a good sub $5k machine.  I don't know that they need
> to try to make a sub $1500 machine like Sun did though.
> 

I personally think the market would support a sub-$5k machine from SGI. 
That price-point would place it in the same grouping as serious
workstations from Dell, HP, Compaq, etc.  Put a serious CPU in it, put
some good graphics in it using commodity hardware (think nVidia).  This
workstation might not need a crossbar, but it might as well have it to
make it homogenous among all the other workstations.  This machine
should use a lot of commodity hardware, actually.  This could keep the
price down to acceptable levels.

I find myself thinking that SGI is planning something like this, you
can't just kill the Little Blue Toaster and not have an acceptable
replacement.  I'm positive that something is in the works, though my SGI
Insider email mentioned nothing about any new products this morning.

I don't think that SGI can effectively make a sub-$1500 workstation, the
amortization isn't there unless they get out and market that thing like
a horny monkey.  However, if the Playstation 2 can use a MIPS processor
and ghave good graphics, SGI *could* make a system along the same lines
running Linux.  They'd have to use a lot of off-the-shelf hardware to
fill out the 'system' definition - they could take a page from the
Playstation 2 and integrate USB and use a USB -> IDE bridge for hard
drives.  Yuck, yes, but we're talking about a very low-endian
workstation.  It's doable, but only if SGI gets out there and *SELLS*
this thing like rabid dogs raised on the shores of the Styx.  I would
buy one if they did...
-- 
Kurt
kurt at k-huhn.com