My Dads SGI (as close as I can recall)


Feb, 2010, 


My father was not one of those people that you would call 'technology 
literate".  Even the new TV and satallite system my folks bought was 
too much for him at times.  Many a time I would get a call
at 1:00AM with an angry father on the other end of the line... 
"God damnit! I want you to come fix this damn TV before I throw it out 
the window!".  I would go up and help him with it of course and nearly always
it was a case of using the wrong remote, turning something off 
accidentally or just poor eyesight and not paying attention.  
He did the best he could however and for the most part he got by.  In his later
years he even got a cell phone!  It was around the same time that he 
decided he would like to give this 'internet thing' a try.

Going years back, people that know me well know that I have all SORTS of 
interests.  It was sometime around 1998 or maybe even 1999 when I was 
getting pretty heavy into 3D computer animation.  At the time, the 
FASTEST hardware money could buy for this sort of task was the ultra high end 
workstations from Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI). I ended up buying a 
pair of midrange SGI O2 systems from ebay.  One for me and another 
for a friend of mine. I used the SGI for quite a while doing 3D animation 
and other video and graphics related work.  Eventually PC graphics hardware 
was starting to close the gap in performance and I ended up 
starting to just do my 3D work on my PC.  For a while after that, the 
SGI was used as a render box or a second machine for company to use 
for web browsing, etc.  When I moved back to my hometown to help my 
folks in their old age and also because of my own failing health 
I ended up not using the SGI at all.  It went into storage 
for quite a while.


Moving forward to Dad wanting to try the internet, one day he asked me "I 
want to try this internet thing, can you set something up for me?".  
I told him I would and because the SGI machines are deadly reliable,
small, easy on power and easy to use, it was a logical choice.  I set him 
up with one of the SGI O2's, a 19" CRT and mouse and keyboard and hooked 
him up to the network.  He was off and running and now connected to
the internet.

Somehow, I got the feeling that dad had figured that the whole internet 
experience was going to be like watching TV where you just hit a button 
and it does something  entertaining.  Since he had never even 
SEEN a webpage before, he had no idea what to use the thing for.  I showed 
him some interesting sites for news, sports, etc, and wrote them all down 
for him and showed him the ropes of how to use the web
browser to visit the sites and so on.  He eventually got to the point 
where he could enter a URL and get a page he was looking for but the whole 
experience didnt seem to really be all that useful for him.
He finally quit using the thing, but I left it there for him anyway just 
in case.


It turns out that the whole experience DID give him some status amongst 
his coffee shop and lounge friends. One day the conversation between him 
and his buddies had turned to computers and everyone was giving
their two cents to the conversation.  Dad sort of casually mentioned that 
his son had given him an SGI machine to use.  Most of the people just stared 
blankly as they had no idea what he was even talking about.  One of the people 
turned out to be an oil company employee and had actually worked with some
SGI hardware before.  This is how the conversation apparently went.

Oil Guy: "BS, just because someone calls it an SGI doesn't mean it IS one!".  

Dad: "It is SO an SGI, it says so right on the front and besides my son 
      TOLD me it was an SGI"

Oil Guy: "So, you're telling me that you use a $25,000 workstation to 
          browse the web?"

Dad: "Thats EXACTLY what im telling you! And yes, it IS worth 25 grand."

Oil Guy: "Okay then, whats it look like?"

Dad: "It's a bit smaller than a breadbox, it's blue and has a funny symbol 
      on the front.  My son tells me that it was VERY expensive and what 
      did he call it?? a high end something or other? I forget."

Oil Guy: "Wow! that sure SOUNDS like an SGI then... you're one hell of a 
          lucky guy.  Most people have never even heard of SGI let alone 
          have one to browse the web with.  Your son must be pretty sharp
          and must REALLY like you to give you something like that!"

Dad: *beaming smile* "I know! and hes a damn good kid too!"


From that day foreward, all of his coffee shop and lounge buddies had one 
heck of a lot more respect for him.  If it hadn't been for the oil company 
guy having been there, no one would have even known what dad was talking 
about, but it turned out that his presence helped to hammer home dad's point about 
how special it really was.


-C.G. Fraser