SGI Personal Iris Stuff

At an affordable $25,000 back in 1990, the Personal Iris can still be found in many companies in use as servers. Because they're not Y2K compliant, more and more are emerging for sale. The following description, I took from a rare, old SGI Info Sheet about the 4D/25S Server. I scanned the Data Station picture below from a rare, old SGI Info sheet for the 4d/25S Data Station Server.
I have an SGI 4D/30 Personal Iris system at work that we got from a client. It took a bit of tweaking before it was able to connect to the network. This old system was used as a server. I formatted the 250mb drive when we got the system and reinstalled Irix 5.3 on it. All I have left to do to it is somehow get Netscape installed. It's missing "gzip" which is preventing me from installing Netscape 4.08. The Personal Iris is sometimes called P.I. for short. I've named the system that I'm working on as "Magnum". Get it?!? Magnum P.I. after the show from the 80's starring Tom Selleck. Twas a stroke of genius on my part to come up with that name for the P.I.

The 4D/25S Data Station Server - High-end Performance at a low-end price.
The 4D/25S Data Station, a compact, low-cost file and computer server, outperforms most other vendors' high-end computer system offerings. And like all Silicon Graphics computer systems, it is completely binary-code compatible up and down the product line.
Whether users need a powerful, compact server for diskless workstations or a computer system for integration into multi-user environments, the 4D/25S Data Station Server can meet their technical computing needs. Applications range from file access to such intense technical analysis as finite element analysis, animation and more.
Data Station key features

High Performance
For its price range, the 4D/25S Data Station provides unbeatable performance, delivering 16 VAX MIPS and 1.6 Double Precision Linpack MFLOPS of sustained performance.
Powerful IRIX operating system
Like all Silicon Graphics computer systems, the 4D/25S Data Station runs the powerful IRIX operating system -- our enhanced implementation of System V.3 UNIX.®
Compact packaging
The Data Station server fits easily under a desk, with disk and tape storage integrated into the same package.
Broad compatibility and flexibility
The Data Station provides an entry into the broadest, most comprehensive family of servers in the industry. From 16 to 160 MIPS, all of these servers are completely binary compatible with the entire Silicon Graphics products line.

Powerful computing; flexible configuration
The 4D/25S Data Station is based on a 20 megahertz 32-bit RISC CPU. The processor board contains a MIPS R3000 CPU and a MIPS R3010 floating point coprocessor, along with 32 KBytes of data cache and 64 KBytes of instruction cache.
The base configuration comes with a standard 8MBytes of memory and an integrated 170 MByte SCSI system disk. Memory can be expanded to a total of 32 MBytes in four or 16 MBytes increments. An optional 380 MB system disk is available, and the package supports one additional full-height 5.25" disk or tape drive, or two half-height disk drives. Up to three additional 380 MByte disks can be added in the compact Personal File disk subsystem.
Software development on the 4D/25S Data Station
The 4D/25S Data Station runs the IRIX operating system, Silicon Graphics' enhanced implementation of UNIX. IRIX is based on System V.3 with enhancements from Berkeley BSD 4.3.
To ensure that applications take full advantage of the 4D/25S Data Station's compute performance, Silicon Graphics supports compilers for C, VMS-compatible FORTRAN, C++, Ada, Pascal and PL/1.
Users' investments are protected through binary-code compatibility throughout the entire Silicon Graphics product line. Programs developed on one machine will run on any other machine, whether multiprocessor or uniprocessor.
Integrating the 4D/25S Data Station into multi-vendor environments
Fitting into a multi-vendor computer environment is easy with networking and software products from Silicon Graphics. Networking connections include Ethernet™ TCP/IP, Network File System (NFS™), X-Window,™ DECnet,™ Hyperchannel,™ and SNA.™
Data Station Servers from Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics offers the broadest range of binary compatible servers available today. The Data Station provides a powerful, low-cost entry into that family.

Other 4D Sites

This Old SGI
SGI IRIS 2000/3000 FAQ
Ian's Personal Iris Stuff
Silicon Graphics Personal Iris 4D/20
Lost Personal Iris PROM/ROOT password by Jodeman.

Pictures of different SGI Systems.

SGI System Summary
Marcus Herbert's http://www.schrotthal.de/sgi/

© 1998 Jodeman. All rights reserved.
All trademarks, logos, product names & pictures mentioned or displayed herein are the property of their respective holders.


At an affordable $25,000 back in 1990, the Personal Iris can still be found in many companies in use as servers. Because they're not Y2K compliant, more and more are emerging for sale. The following description, I took from a rare, old SGI Info Sheet about the 4D/25S Server. I scanned the Data Station picture below from a rare, old SGI Info sheet for the 4d/25S Data Station Server. I have an SGI 4D/30 Personal Iris system at work that we got from a client. It took a bit of tweaking before it was able to connect to the network. This old system was used as a server. I formatted the 250mb drive when we got the system and reinstalled Irix 5.3 on it. All I have left to do to it is somehow get Netscape installed. It's missing "gzip" which is preventing me from installing Netscape 4.08. The Personal Iris is sometimes called P.I. for short. I've named the system that I'm working on as "Magnum". Get it?!? Magnum P.I. after the show from the 80's starring Tom Selleck. Twas a stroke of genius on my part to come up with that name for the P.I. The 4D/25S Data Station Server - High-end Performance at a low-end price. The 4D/25S Data Station, a compact, low-cost file and computer server, outperforms most other vendors' high-end computer system offerings. And like all Silicon Graphics computer systems, it is completely binary-code compatible up and down the product line. Whether users need a powerful, compact server for diskless workstations or a computer system for integration into multi-user environments, the 4D/25S Data Station Server can meet their technical computing needs. Applications range from file access to such intense technical analysis as finite element analysis, animation and more. Data Station key features High Performance For its price range, the 4D/25S Data Station provides unbeatable performance, delivering 16 VAX MIPS and 1.6 Double Precision Linpack MFLOPS of sustained performance. Powerful IRIX operating system Like all Silicon Graphics computer systems, the 4D/25S Data Station runs the powerful IRIX operating system -- our enhanced implementation of System V.3 UNIX.® Compact packaging The Data Station server fits easily under a desk, with disk and tape storage integrated into the same package. Broad compatibility and flexibility The Data Station provides an entry into the broadest, most comprehensive family of servers in the industry. From 16 to 160 MIPS, all of these servers are completely binary compatible with the entire Silicon Graphics products line. Powerful computing; flexible configuration The 4D/25S Data Station is based on a 20 megahertz 32-bit RISC CPU. The processor board contains a MIPS R3000 CPU and a MIPS R3010 floating point coprocessor, along with 32 KBytes of data cache and 64 KBytes of instruction cache. The base configuration comes with a standard 8MBytes of memory and an integrated 170 MByte SCSI system disk. Memory can be expanded to a total of 32 MBytes in four or 16 MBytes increments. An optional 380 MB system disk is available, and the package supports one additional full-height 5.25" disk or tape drive, or two half-height disk drives. Up to three additional 380 MByte disks can be added in the compact Personal File disk subsystem. Software development on the 4D/25S Data Station The 4D/25S Data Station runs the IRIX operating system, Silicon Graphics' enhanced implementation of UNIX. IRIX is based on System V.3 with enhancements from Berkeley BSD 4.3. To ensure that applications take full advantage of the 4D/25S Data Station's compute performance, Silicon Graphics supports compilers for C, VMS-compatible FORTRAN, C++, Ada, Pascal and PL/1. Users' investments are protected through binary-code compatibility throughout the entire Silicon Graphics product line. Programs developed on one machine will run on any other machine, whether multiprocessor or uniprocessor. Integrating the 4D/25S Data Station into multi-vendor environments Fitting into a multi-vendor computer environment is easy with networking and software products from Silicon Graphics. Networking connections include Ethernet™ TCP/IP, Network File System (NFS™), X-Window,™ DECnet,™ Hyperchannel,™ and SNA.™ Data Station Servers from Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics offers the broadest range of binary compatible servers available today. The Data Station provides a powerful, low-cost entry into that family.
Other 4D Sites This Old SGI SGI IRIS 2000/3000 FAQ Ian's Personal Iris Stuff Silicon Graphics Personal Iris 4D/20 Lost Personal Iris PROM/ROOT password by Jodeman. Pictures of different SGI Systems. SGI System Summary Marcus Herbert's http://www.schrotthal.de/sgi/