A Silicon Graphics Octane2 workstation is quite nearby you, in California, for a pretty good starting bid! I thought, I’d share it with you.
Congratulations, you won! Welcome to the club of SGI owners. 
Let’s see what I can do with this thing!
Awesome, I can’t wait!
Haven’t had a chance to pop open the box yet. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Damn that sucker is heavy! And one of the clips in the back got pulled off. I’ll need to post some pictures.
I now realize that it didn’t include any cables, so I’ll have to begin the hunt for those.
First of all, congratulations! Yes, they’re on the heavy side, but very nicely constructed (good, solid, materials); underneath the plastic exterior, there’s a metal cage. Also, the boards and compartments are also largely shielded off, adding to the weight.
And one of the clips in the back got pulled off.
Which one? (It’s probably best to make a picture, as you suggested below.)
I’ll need to post some pictures.
That would be great!
I now realize that it didn’t include any cables, so I’ll have to begin the hunt for those.
Do you have a serial/null-modem cable? You could use it ‘headless’ until you find a 13W3 (HD13W3) to VGA (HD15) cable. By the way, make sure ― when you hunt one down on, say, eBay ― to get one specifically for SGI 13W3. There are several 13W3 standards, Sun’s (for example) differs and won’t likely work. Also, keep in mind (if you have a few monitors around) that the monitor has to support sync-on-green operation. Rest assured, all my monitors always worked for me and very few people ever ran into problems ever in this regard. But, just in case.
If you should ever find a VPro graphics (XIO) board set, something like V12, V10, V8 or even V6, you might have one with DVI output (DVI-D most likely, although DVI-I ought to work as well; more than one maybe, too, depending on whether there’s a DCD daughterboard). That would obviously make things even easier, then it would just be a matter of DVI to DVI, VGA or HDMI, like on many contemporary monitors. Say, which graphics type is in there at present?
Octanes featured in a few videos I found, in case you may find it interesting and motivating.
Here’s one, promoting the then relatively new Maya software. (It was primarily the successor of PowerAnimator, by Alias.)
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Back when Alias|Wavefront was still of SGI, see also the URLs in the video. I remember visiting that site, sadly as a Maya NT user…
Here’s another video. This one isn’t a show/demo reel or anything, but simply made by a private individual and another happy SGI user! (Lower the volume, the audio went bad during recording; the uploader of the video also warns for it.)
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//youtu.be/NP0AoMeP3-0
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There are many other videos on YouTube.
Did you find time to look at it recently? I’m very eager to see it!
I went to Fry’s last night and forgot to grab a USB->Serial cable. I actually walked right by them and remembered that I should grab one but completely spaced. So I bought one online today and it should arrive Friday. I will post up some pictures though. Some pieces broke off but it should be fine (I hope).
BIG PICTURE 
If you’d lived nearby me, I could’ve loaned or given you one. I have several!
I actually walked right by them and remembered that I should grab one but completely spaced. So I bought one online today and it should arrive Friday. I will post up some pictures though. Some pieces broke off but it should be fine (I hope).
Sounds good, can’t wait!
BIG PICTURE
[…]
That’s amazing, apart from the broken knob, great physical condition! These are some of the better pictures I’ve ever seen taken of an Octane/Octane2; very nice work there, very clear.
I see that the front bezel door was removed, is one of the hinges broken? I hope you can, somehow, snap it back on. Either way, it looks great! If you need help with anything, with regard to IRIX, don’t hestitate to ask.
I completely spaced when I ordered my cables. I need a female-female serial adapter now. I’ll try to pick one up if I can. I did plug the sucker in and it started up the fans, which is a good sign. Do you have any tips/tricks on where I should get started? Can I do anything over ethernet right now?
Don’t worry, that can happen to the best of us! It usually doesn’t help that on many sites of resellers (and even manufacturers) they don’t offer clear descriptions, often not even a picture or two.
I need a female-female serial adapter now. I’ll try to pick one up if I can.
What you could also consider is a gender changer. (Instead of getting another cable.)
I did plug the sucker in and it started up the fans, which is a good sign.
I’d definitely think so, too! Did the ‘lightbar’ also light up?
Do you have any tips/tricks on where I should get started?
Yes, sure! You can also contact me via Skype, if you wish.
Can I do anything over ethernet right now?
That depends whether the PROM variable “[FONT=Courier New]console[/FONT]” was set to “[FONT=Courier New]d[/FONT]” (for ‘headless’/console-operation). If set to “[FONT=Courier New]g[/FONT]” (or “[FONT=Courier New]G[/FONT]”, as in capital /G/), it would demand a monitor to be connected. If the former should be the case, there might be a chance an SSH server is installed and running. If super-user SSH access is allowed (and possibly without password or blank password, depending on whether the “[FONT=Courier New]root[/FONT]” password was reset), then you might even log onto the system via SSH and maybe even with X forwarding. (That is, after you figure out what ― or perhaps enforce, via DHCP ― the configured IP address is. But that goes without saying.)
Best is, of course, to use the serial console at first.