IRIX: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

| family = [[Unix]] (SVR3.2/SVR4)

| working_state = Retired (supported until December 2013)<ref>[http://www.sgi.com/services/support/irix_mips_support.html SGI Support of MIPS IRIX Products Continues to December 2013] SGI Services & Support</ref>

'''IRIX''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ai|ɹ|ɪ|k|s}} {{respell|EYE|ricks}}) is a discontinued [[operating system]] developed by [[Silicon Graphics]] (SGI) to run on the company's proprietary [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]] workstations and servers. It is a variety of [[UNIX System V]] with [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]] extensions. In IRIX, SGI originated the [[XFS]] file system and the universally adopted industry-standard [[OpenGL]] graphics system.

The last major version of IRIX is IRIX 6.5, which was released in May 1998. New minor versions of IRIX 6.5 were released every quarter until 2005; since then there have been four further minor releases. Through version 6.5.22, there are two branches of each release: a [[maintenance release]] (identified by an ''m'' suffix to the version number) 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.

SGI first used the IRIX name from the 1988 release 3.0 of the operating system for the [[SGI IRIS 4D]] series of workstations and servers. Previous releases are identified only by the release number prefixed by "4D1-", e.g. "4D1-2.2". The 4D1- prefix continued to be used in official documentation to prefix IRIX release numbers.

|url=http://ryan.tliquest.net/sgi/irix_versions.html

|title=History of IRIX

|access-date=2 November 2007

}}</ref>

|access-date=2November 2007

}}</ref> IRIX 6.4 improved [[multiprocessor]] scalability for the [[SGI Octane|Octane]], [[SGI Origin 2000|Origin 2000]], and [[SGI Onyx2|Onyx2]] systems. The Origin 2000 and Onyx2 IRIX 6.4 was marketed as "Cellular IRIX", although it only incorporates some features from the original Cellular IRIX [[distributed operating system]] project. IRIX development stabilized with IRIX 6.5, released in 1998. The last version of IRIX is 6.5.30, released in August 2006.

A 2001 ''[[Computerworld]]'' review found IRIX in a "critical" state. SGI had been moving its efforts to [[Linux]] and the [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]-based [[SGI Visual Workstation]] but MIPS and IRIX customers convinced SGI to continue to support its platform through 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2584450/operating-systems/vital-signs-for-unix.html|title=Vital Signs for Unix|author=Tom Yager|newspaper=[[Computerworld]]|date=19 November 2001|access-date=6 June 2015}}</ref> On 6 September 2001, an SGI press release announced the end of the MIPS and IRIX product lines.<ref>{{cite web

|access-date=2November 2007

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071019230510/http://www.sgi.com/support/mips_irix.html |archive-date =19 October 2007}}</ref> Production ended on29 December 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.<ref>{{cite web

|access-date=3March 2014}}

{{As of|2016}}, due to the bankruptcy of Silicon Graphics in 2009 and its subsequent purchase by Rackable Systems, which was later purchased by [[HP Enterprise]] in 2016, no SGI-badged hardware produced after 2007 is capable of running IRIX, instead designed to run [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]] or [[SUSE Linux Enterprise Server]], based on either [[IA-64]] or [[x86-64]] architecture. HPE has not stated any public plans for IRIX development or source code release.

In the early 1990s, IRIX was a leader in [[Symmetric multiprocessing|Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP)]], scalable from 1 to more than 1024 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 the [[computer animation]] and [[scientific visualization]] industries 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 a [[graphical user interface]] for the main desktop environment. [[IRIX Interactive Desktop]] uses the [[4Dwm]] [[X window manager]] with a custom look designed using the [[Motif (software)|Motif widget toolkit]]. IRIX is the originator of the industry standard [[OpenGL]] for graphics chips and Image processing libraries.

IRIX uses the [[Open64|MIPSPro]] Compiler 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 parallel [[POSIX]] programming in C/C++, Fortran 77/90, and Ada. The Workshop GUI IDE is used for development. Other tools include Speedshop for performance tuning, and [[Performance Co-Pilot]].<ref>[http://docs.cray.com/books/S-6504-631/html-S-6504-631/platforms/SGI.html docs.cray.com, SGI IRIX 6.x MIPS]</ref>

==Hobbyist use==

IRIX has attracted a small but dedicated fanbase of Silicon Graphics hardware enthusiasts who are attracted to various aspects of the operating system and corresponding hardware. This includes the operating system itself, especially its 3D graphics software such as Alias Maya/PowerAnimator and SoftImage, and the HPC elements of the hardware. This hobbyist community is notable for preserving the source code of various in-development versions of Acclaim Entertainment games from a lot discovered in 2017<ref>[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8q87z3/turok-source-code-ebay, 'Turok' Source Code Will Be Sold on eBay Soon, Thanks to Lucky Warehouse Find]</ref> including ''Turok'' and ''NBA Jam''.

It is possible to run IRIX version 5.3 through 6.5.22 under emulated [[SGI Indigo² and Challenge M|Indigo2]] and [[SGI Indy|Indy]] hardware using [[MAME]], being able to emulate the [[R4000|MIPS R4000]] CPU, 8 and 24-bit colour depth graphics display and [[Ethernet]] card.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Console Protocols - SGI Emulation|url=https://sites.google.com/site/consoleprotocols/home/sgi/sgi-emulation|access-date=2021-04-18|website=sites.google.com|language=en-US}}</ref> Reported performance is near 30% the original hardware using mid-end x86-64 CPU.<ref name=":0" />

* [[Cray]]

* [[SGI O2]]

* [[SGI Indy]]

* [http://techpubs.jurassic.nl/ Technical Publications Mirror]

* [http://www.siliconbunny.com/ Silicon Bunny - IRIX software and information]

* [http://irixnet.org/ Irix Network - IRIX software, information, forums, and archive]