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IRIX

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IRIX
IRIX 6.5 Desktop
DeveloperSilicon Graphics
OS familyUnix(SVR3/SVR4)
Working stateHistoric as of December 2013[1]
Source modelClosed source
Initial release1988;36 years ago(1988)
Final release6.5.30 / 16 August 2006;18 years ago(2006-08-16)
Marketing targetWorkstations, servers
PlatformsMIPS
KerneltypeMonolithic kernel
UserlandPOSIX
Default
user interface		IRIX Interactive Desktop
LicenseProprietary

IRIX(/ˈaɪrɪks/EYE-ricks) is a discontinuedoperating systemdeveloped bySilicon Graphics(SGI) to run on the company's proprietaryMIPSworkstations and servers. It is based onUNIX System VwithBSDextensions. In IRIX, SGI originated theXFSfile system and the industry-standardOpenGLgraphics API.

History

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SGI originated the IRIX name in the 1988 release 3.0 of the operating system for theSGI IRIS 4Dseries of workstations and servers. Previous releases are identified only by the release number prefixed by "4D1-", such as "4D1-2.2". The "4D1-" prefix continued to be used in official documentation to prefix IRIX release numbers. Prior to the IRIS 4D, SGI bundled the GL2 operating system, based onUniSoftUniPlusSystem V Unix,and using the proprietaryMEX(Multiple EXposure)windowing system.[2][3]

IRIX 3.x is based onUNIX System VRelease 3 with4.3BSDenhancements, and incorporates the 4Sightwindowing system,based onNeWSandIRIS GL.SGI's ownExtent File System(EFS) replaces the System V filesystem.[4]

IRIX 4.0, released in 1991, replaces 4Sight with theX Window System(X11R4), the4Dwmwindow managerproviding a similar look and feel to 4Sight.[4]

IRIX 5.0, released in 1993, incorporates certain features of UNIX System V Release 4, includingELFexecutables.[5][6][7]IRIX 5.3 introduced theXFSjournaling file system.[7][8]

In 1994, IRIX 6.0 added support for the 64-bit MIPSR8000processor, but is otherwise similar to IRIX 5.2. Later 6.x releases support other members of the MIPS processor family in 64-bit mode. IRIX 6.3 was released for theSGI O2workstation only.[7]IRIX 6.4 improvedmultiprocessorscalability for theOctane,Origin 2000,andOnyx2systems. The Origin 2000 and Onyx2 IRIX 6.4 was marketed as "Cellular IRIX", although it only incorporates some features from the original Cellular IRIXdistributed operating systemproject.[9][10]

The last major version of IRIX is 6.5, released in May 1998. New minor versions of IRIX 6.5 were released every quarter until 2005, and then four minor releases.[5]Through version 6.5.22, there are two branches of each release: amaintenance release(identified by an "m" suffix) that includes only fixes to the original IRIX 6.5 code, and a feature release (with an "f" suffix) that includes improvements and enhancements. An overlay upgrade from 6.5.x to the 6.5.22 maintenance release was available as a free download, whereas versions 6.5.23 and higher required an active Silicon Graphics support contract.

A 2001Computerworldreview found IRIX in a "critical" state. SGI had been moving its efforts toLinuxand theWindows-basedSGI Visual Workstationbut MIPS and IRIX customers convinced SGI to continue to support its platform through 2006.[11]On September 6, 2006, an SGI press release announced the end of the MIPS and IRIX product lines.[12]Production ended on December 29, 2006, with final deliveries in March 2007, except by special arrangement. Support for these products ended in December 2013 and they will receive no further updates.[13]

Much of IRIX's core technology has been open sourced and ported by SGI to Linux,[14][15][16][17][18]including XFS.[19][20][21]

In 2009, SGI filed for bankruptcy and then was purchased byRackable Systems,[22][23][24]which was later purchased byHewlett Packard Enterprisein 2016.[25][26]All SGI hardware produced after 2007 is based on eitherIA-64orx86-64architecture, so it is incapable of running IRIX and is instead intended forRed Hat Enterprise LinuxorSUSE Linux Enterprise Server.[27][28][29][30][31]HPE has not stated any plans for IRIX development or source code release.

Features

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IRIX 6.5 is compliant withUNIX System VRelease 4,UNIX 95,andPOSIX(including 1e/2c draft 15ACLsand Capabilities).[5]

In the early 1990s, IRIX was a leader inSymmetric Multi-Processing (SMP),scalable from 1 to more than 1,024 processors with a single system image. IRIX has strong support for real-time disk and graphics I/O. IRIX was widely used for the 1990s and 2000s in thecomputer animationandscientific visualizationindustries, due to its large application base and high performance. It still is relevant in a few legacy applications.

IRIX is one of the first Unix versions to feature agraphical user interfacefor the main desktop environment.IRIX Interactive Desktopuses the4DwmX window managerwith a custom look designed using theMotif widget toolkit.[32]IRIX is the originator of the industry standardOpenGLfor graphics chips and image processing libraries.[16][33][34][35][36]

IRIX uses theMIPSProcompiler for both its front end and back end. The compiler, also known in earlier versions as IDO (IRIS Development Option), was released in many versions, many of which are coupled to the OS version. The last version was 7.4.4m, designed for 6.5.19 or later. The compiler is designed to support parallelPOSIXprogramming in C/C++, Fortran 77/90, and Ada. The Workshop GUI IDE is used for development. Other tools include Speedshop for performance tuning, andPerformance Co-Pilot.[37]

4Dwm

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4Dwmis thewindow managercomponent of theIRIX Interactive Desktopnormally used onSilicon Graphicsworkstations running IRIX. 4Dwm is derived from the olderMotif Window Managerand uses theMotifwidget toolkiton top of theX Window Systemfound on mostUnixsystems.[32][38][39]4Dwm on IRIX was one of the first defaultgraphical user interfacedesktops to be standard on a Unix computer system. 4Dwm refers to "Fourth dimensionwindow manager "and has no relation todwm.

OtherX window managersthat mimic the 4Dwmlook and feelexist, such as 4Dwm theme forIceWMand5Dwm[32]which is aclone/compatible implementation of 4Dwm based onOpenMotif.5Dwm support both the classicSGIlook and a modern/polished look and feel withanti-aliased fontsandUTF-8support.

Features

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See also

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References

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  1. ^"SGI Support of MIPS IRIX Products Continues to December 2013".Silicon Graphics.Archived fromthe originalon January 21, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 15,2022.
  2. ^Ryan Thoryk (October 7, 2021)."History of IRIX".RetrievedDecember 25,2021.
  3. ^"IRIS Programming Tutorial V1.0"(PDF).Bitsavers.SGI. 1986.RetrievedDecember 25,2021.
  4. ^ab"History of IRIX".RetrievedNovember 18,2022.
  5. ^abc"IRIX Operating System (Unix)".operating-system.org.
  6. ^64-bit ELF Object File Specification(Silicon Graphics)
  7. ^abc"SGIstuff: Software: Irix Versions".RetrievedNovember 2,2007.
  8. ^"xFS: The Extension of EFS -" x "for To-be-Determined (but the Name Stuck)".XFS.org.Archived fromthe originalon July 14, 2014.
  9. ^S. Whitney; J. McCalpin; N. Bitar; J. L. Richardson; L. Stevens (February 1997)."The SGI Origin software environment and application performance".Proceedings IEEE COMPCON 97 Digest of Papers.ieeexplore.ieee.org.San Jose, CA, USA. p. 165-170.doi:10.1109/CMPCON.1997.584691.
  10. ^Silicon Graphics(1998)."Irix(TM) 6.4".sgi.com.Archived fromthe originalon February 3, 1998.
  11. ^Tom Yager (November 19, 2001)."Vital Signs for Unix".Computerworld.RetrievedNovember 18,2022.
  12. ^"SGI - Services & Support: End of General Availability for MIPS IRIX Products".Archived fromthe originalon October 19, 2007.RetrievedNovember 2,2007.
  13. ^"SGI Support of MIPS® IRIX® Products Changes December 2013".RetrievedMarch 3,2014.
  14. ^George Koharchik (January 31, 2001)."Porting from IRIX to Linux".Linux Journal.Archived fromthe originalon December 26, 2004.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  15. ^Silicon Graphics(2001)."Load Sharing Facility".sgi.com.Archived fromthe originalon December 11, 2001.
  16. ^abSeddon, Chris (2005)."History of OpenGL".OpenGL Game Development.Wordware. p. 43.ISBN1-55622-989-5.
  17. ^"SGI – OpenGL Overview".Archivedfrom the original on October 31, 2004.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  18. ^"OpenGL ARB to Pass Control of OpenGL Specification to Khronos Group".The Khronos Group.July 31, 2006.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  19. ^"Porting XFS to Linux".Olstrans.SourceForge.net.July 21, 2000.Archivedfrom the original on February 25, 2013.RetrievedAugust 19,2024.
  20. ^"Linux kernel 2.4.25 changelog".kernel.org.February 18, 2004.Archivedfrom the original on August 19, 2014.RetrievedAugust 19,2024.
  21. ^Daniel Robbins (January 1, 2002)."Common threads: Advanced filesystem implementor's guide, Part 9, Introducing XFS".Developer Works.IBM. Archived fromthe originalon September 4, 2015.RetrievedAugust 19,2024.
  22. ^"Rackable Systems Announces Agreement to Acquire Silicon Graphics Inc"(Press release). Silicon Graphics. April 1, 2009.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  23. ^"Rackable Systems Completes Acquisition of Silicon Graphics Assets"(Press release).Rackable Systems.May 11, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon May 11, 2009.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  24. ^"Rackable Systems Receives Court Approval to Purchase Silicon Graphics Assets"(Press release).Rackable Systems.April 30, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon May 14, 2009.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  25. ^"Hewlett Packard Enterprise to Acquire SGI to Extend Leadership in High-Growth Big Data Analytics and High-Performance Computing"(Press release). Hewlett Packard Enterprise. August 11, 2016. Archived fromthe originalon September 11, 2016.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  26. ^"Hewlett Packard Enterprise Completes Acquisition of SGI"(Press release). Hewlett Packard Enterprise. November 1, 2016. Archived fromthe originalon November 3, 2016.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  27. ^"New Deskside Silicon Graphics Prism System Offers Double the Memory of IBM and HP Systems".News release.April 26, 2005. Archived fromthe originalon April 27, 2005.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  28. ^Silicon Graphics, Inc.(14 November 2005).SGI Launches New Flagship Altix 4000 Platform.(Press release).
  29. ^"End of General Availability for MIPS IRIX Products".Silicon Graphics. Archived fromthe originalon April 26, 2009.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  30. ^"Back to the Future: SGI Returns to Visualization".HPCwire.April 11, 2008.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  31. ^"SGI Unveils Altix UV, the World's Fastest Supercomputer".www.sgi.com.Silicon Graphics International.November 16, 2009.Archivedfrom the original on November 21, 2009.RetrievedAugust 20,2024.
  32. ^abc5Dwm, The Window Manager
  33. ^Kilgard, Mark (2008)."OpenGL Prehistory: IRIS GL (slide from SIGGRAPH talk)".www.slideshare.net.
  34. ^"SGI – OpenGL Overview".Archivedfrom the original on October 31, 2004.RetrievedAugust 19,2024.
  35. ^Peddie, Jon (July 2012)."Who's the Fairest of Them All?".Computer Graphics World.RetrievedAugust 19,2024.
  36. ^"OpenGL ARB to Pass Control of OpenGL Specification to Khronos Group".The Khronos Group.July 31, 2006.RetrievedAugust 19,2024.
  37. ^"Performance Co-Pilot IRIX® Base Software Administrator's Guide"(PDF).irix7.com.Silicon Graphics, Inc.
  38. ^IRIX Interactive Desktop Integration guide(Silicon Graphics, 1998)
  39. ^Motif 2.1 Porting Guide(Silicon Graphics, 1998)
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