Two Decades Late: Mainline Linux Kernel Getting Keyboard / Mouse Driver For SGI Octane

[andrewjoy]

Is this a joke? by now do we even need this in the kernel at all? Is there anyone actually using this specific 2 decade old keyboard?

I use that keyboard , its converted to USB , but i use one .

[onicsis]

This hardware died long ago because of price and proprietary software running only on SGI workstations.

[squash]

This is great news. The Octanes were sweet machines in their day and the MIPS r10k series packed a punch in their day. i'd say the big down side is that they never really got to be cheap on the used market, people who buy them largely buy them to replace broken ones and continue running whatever workload they've been running for the last 20 years. Being less popular than gear from Sun or DEC, you're probably paying a premium for an Octane that you won't pay for comparable horsepower in a Sparc or Alpha system.

I worked at a shop in the 90s that (absurdly) built their entire server infrastructure on Octane and Indigo, within a few years we had replaced nearly all of it with linux x86 (AMD K6-3 for single cpu systems, Pentium 2 for dual cpu systems) that delivered more performance for a fraction of the price. We ended up with literal stacks of octane and indigo that couldn't run anything we needed to run and eventually went to the dumpster.

[skeevy420]

Is this a joke? by now do we even need this in the kernel at all? Is there anyone actually using this specific 2 decade old keyboard?

It looks like the kind of keyboard that I'd want to use if I didn't know about Das Keyboard or WASD or Ducky or even my current cheapo Redragon.


Yeah, they went full-retard with the LEDs and effects and it's awesome. I have mine set to do a fast rainbow wave as I hit keys.

Square keycaps feel weird now

[starshipeleven]

Is this a joke? by now do we even need this in the kernel at all? Is there anyone actually using this specific 2 decade old keyboard?

It's just a kernel module so 99% of distros will never even compile this at all. There is so much stuff in the kernel that is very specific and enabled only for niche use cases.

[starshipeleven]

It looks like the kind of keyboard that I'd want to use if I didn't know about Das Keyboard or WASD or Ducky or even my current cheapo Redragon.

Yeah, they went full-retard with the LEDs and effects and it's awesome. I have mine set to do a fast rainbow wave as I hit keys.

Square keycaps feel weird now

I wouldn't mind going full retard RGB myself, is that keyboard available in other layouts than US?

[edwaleni]

Hmm....shelving IA-32 binaries because its outdated. But adding stuff for 20+ year old hardware that maybe 5 or 6 people still own or use. I get the relevance.

[wizard69]

IMHO - Not Bloat.

It kinda is.

People scratching their itches and getting their skills up is not a bad thing. Hardware enablement is always a good thing.

This is true. However why bloat the mainline kernel with this work? This might interest a dozen people worldwide ansd that is if they can even find one of these workstations.

It might also lead to more restoration efforts for this bit of kit if it is easy to get working.

I’m not sure I see the point. I can go to the Henry Ford to look at machine from the dawn of the Industrial Age and maybe even see one in action. Such machinery is very visual and dramatically different than today’s hardware. Contrast this to a computer, an abstract box that differs little from recent hardware. Further what is there to watch if the computer is running?

we need museums for our tech heritage but it is hard to see why a running computer makes a difference. This especially if the operating system is a recent Linux build. It is only an Otsne in name if it is running Linux.

[strtj]

I can't believe there are no IRIX capable MIPS emulators around.

MAME is getting there. There are somewhat working Indy and Indigo2 emulators. Basic functionality is present, you can install IRIX and boot it to a desktop, etc., just no sound or advanced video acceleration.

[glwillia]

It's interesting, but I can't imagine why anyone would run Linux on one of these. People do use these (the SGI retrocomputing scene is very active, and MIPS/IRIX machines still command a fair bit of money), but the whole point is to run IRIX and vintage applications. If you just want a Linux machine you can do that a lot faster and cheaper buying a 10-year-old amd64 box.