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Silicon Graphics' IRIX and Magic Desktop Return as Linux Desktop

posted by martyb on Tuesday June 06 2017, @01:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the time-before-there-was-AGP dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Those of you yearning for the experience of running a 1990s-vintage graphics workstation are about to have a good day: a developer named Eric Masson has resurrected the IRIX Interactive Desktop that shipped on Silicon Graphics Workstations and now offers it as a Linux desktop alternative.

Silicon Graphics (SGI) had a crack at the workstation business in the early 1990s, when it dominated the then-rather-limited world of computer graphics and decided it would try to parlay that experience into the CAD and desktop publishing markets. Apple's early Macintoshes led those market, but their 68xxx CPUs had obvious limits. SGI threw MIPS silicon at the problem, brought IRIX out of servers onto the desktop and cooked up a nice windowing system to match the Mac and hit the market.

SGI did okay for a while but proprietary workstations became an oddity once Windows came along and Microsoft encouraged makers of graphics-centric apps to bring their wares to Win32. SGI added a Wintel workstation line, but then had to compete with PCs-at-scale outfits like Compaq and Dell. The company kept making MIPS-powered workstation well into the 2000s, but eventually succumbed.

Masson has tried to bring back some of that heritage in the form of the Maxx Interactive Desktop, which aims to offer "an evolution of SGI's IRIX Interactive Desktop."

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by aiwarrior on Tuesday June 06 2017, @05:45PM (2 children)

    by aiwarrior (1812) on Tuesday June 06 2017, @05:45PM (#521460) Journal

    How about me saying that I make my leaving while using GNOME 3 and I like it. Sorry for not entering your group masturbation with old UI, I am actually caring about things that matter.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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       Troll=1, Interesting=1, Total=2
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    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by aiwarrior on Tuesday June 06 2017, @06:24PM (1 child)

    by aiwarrior (1812) on Tuesday June 06 2017, @06:24PM (#521479) Journal

    I get modded troll because I call out on joking about people who like GNOME 3 with a joke. Nice mod, yay for freedom of expression.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 06 2017, @07:59PM

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday June 06 2017, @07:59PM (#521534) Journal

      yay for freedom of expression

      Your post hasn't been censored, so yay, freedom of expression!

      It sounds like flamebait rather than a "joke" but maybe your jokes are like overcooked steak: Dry and hard to chew.

      Disclaimer: I didn't mod you down.

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