Forgive my intrusion...I usually just lurk on this list.

I've followed most of the SGI/Irix news I've seen, and
I just cannot jump to the apparent conclusion most 
people are reaching.

SGI is definitely moving in a pro-Linux direction.  Of that
there is no doubt.  They are, or are preparing to, market
Linux based machines....I haven't heard if they'll be MIPS
or x86 based.

What I don't see, is the move AWAY from Irix.  SGI 
_OWNS_ the supercomputer market, with both its
Cray and Origin2k (MIPS) lines.  The fully-loaded O2k
(if memory serves...) has 512 processors; the Linux
kernel is nowhere NEAR ready to approach that scalability.
Whether it be SMP or clustering or whatever.
(yes, Unicos is the Cray OS)

Also, I read some time ago that SGI is working on 16k
processor arrays...

So perhaps on the desktop Irix will dwindle or vanish 
altogether.  Unless I've missed something, I do not see
SGI abandoning Irix any more than I see them abandoning
Unicos.  Plus, there is still plenty of life left in MIPS.

This wasn't intended as a flame, so I hope it isn't construed
as such.  I had the same discussion/posts on slashdot
when the Linux fanatics began to claim SGI would be selling
SMP x86 boxes right after the firesale of their high-end Origin and
Cray lines.  Ugh.

On an aside, many of our clients want/need a robust distributed
filesystem.  It would be exciting to see this grow into the choice
for WAN and high-availability filesharing.  I think its worth noting
that most of the clients who want it use high-end HP, Sun and
IBM servers.  (HP-UX, Solaris and AIX respectively.)  In fortune-500
companies, Linux only plays a small role, and would never be
used when 24/7 support and high-availability are the primary
concern.  

I personally would prefer to see a diverse number of platforms
supported...we need CODA services in our lab, which has 13
different UNIX machines (and 98/NT) of which Linux is only one.
The bosses won't front the $$ for AFS so I guess we're SOL.

Well...anyway - thanks for reading this :-)
Andrew
<lurk>

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Peter J. Braam [SMTP:braam_at_cs.cmu.edu]
> Sent:	Wednesday, September 01, 1999 11:05 AM
> To:	codalist_at_TELEMANN.coda.cs.cmu.edu
> Cc:	Jan Harkes
> Subject:	RE: Coda on Irix
> 
> hi,
> 
> I think it is very unlikely that we will have time to do this. Given the
> dwindling support from SGI for IRIX I question the wisdom of doing this.
> 
> - Peter Braam -
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Angus Robertson [mailto:angus_at_gactr.uga.edu]
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 1:32 PM
> > To: codalist_at_TELEMANN.CODA.CS.CMU.EDU
> > Subject: Coda on Irix
> >
> >
> >
> > Is there any planned support for Coda on SGI/Irix? We're
> > currently planning
> > on implementing AFS in January.
> >