What is IRIX?

rm6990 · 10-14-2004, 05:23 PM

Hi, just wondering....what exctly is IRIX and what is it mainly used for? Is it like Solaris in that they have a license with SCO or is it a clone like Linux? Just wondering, I always hear about it

chort · 10-14-2004, 07:39 PM

IRIX is a SysV-derived OS, like AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, etc...

By the way, Linux is not a UNIX (SysV) clone, it's a Minix-derived OS and Minix was influenced by UNIX, although it was not itself built on SysV UNIX.

rm6990 · 10-15-2004, 12:23 AM

What is it used for. I mean, I heard it is good for graphics....are these the machines used to make a lot of animated movies???

chort · 10-15-2004, 02:25 PM

Well IRIX is SGI's version of UNIX, so they use it for high-performance clusters and workstations. Yes, it's often used for rendering. At least one major hosting provider used to use it for web hosting, too.

btmiller · 10-15-2004, 04:43 PM

I have an SGI machine running Irix sitting on my desk at work (next to the Linux workstation). While the graphics systems in SGI boxes are very good, as chort implied, they also can be used as generic Unix servers and workstations. In fact, a lot of the digital moviemaking has moved onto x86 Linux clusters.