[geeks] Opinions on the HP C3x00?

[Sheldon T. Hall]

On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:18:13 -0600 (CST) "Jonathan C. 
Patschke" <jp at celestrion.net> wrote:
> 
> SGIs are loud and expensive and
> power-hungry and tend to be IRIX-only,

Of course they are power-hungry; they have to produce a lot of heat.  There's
no sense in having all that fan noise if there's no heat to move around.

However, I'll question the "expensive" part, unless you're buying new ones,
which no one much seems to be doing.  I've got six of the buggers (Indy,
3xIndigo2, Challenge S, Challenge L), and my total investment wouldn't buy a
cheap PC.  Massive multi-rack Onyxes are "haul me" fodder so the owners won't
have to pay $0.35/lb to have them recycled.  Even a nice, low-mileage Octane2
isn't much money on the used market, and it can be a _very_ capable machine.

IRIX, while not exactly mainstream, is a pretty good OS.  SGI maintains it
well, and there's an active user community.

Besides, I have to heat my house somehow.

-Shel