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From: John2005 on 8 Jun 2007 23:15
Hi everyone,

I would like to ask if anyone could please help me with the following
problem.

I want to use a free program that seems to be compiled for an SGI IRIS
OS. The source files are available here...

http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/ftp/rmsl/usycams/

Is there a free OS that I can install on Microsoft Virtual PC so that
I can use this program on a XP host machine? Alternatively, is there
any type of software emulator I can install that would allow me to use
this program on a windows XP machine ? Is it difficult or even
possible to compile the source to run on windows XP or a UNIX based OS
that I can install on Microsoft virtual PC ?

I also have the Solaris 10 OS that I could install on Virtual PC if
that would work.

I would appreciate any suggestions or advice.

Thanks
John

From: Torfinn Ingolfsen on 9 Jun 2007 17:32
John2005 wrote:
> I want to use a free program that seems to be compiled for an SGI IRIS

Are you talking about SGI IRIX[1]?

> OS. The source files are available here...

If you have the source files, you can port[2] the program to another os
with a certain amount of effort.
It is easier to port to an os that is similar to the one which the
program was written for.
Ie., it is easier to port a program for Irix to another unix-like os
(*BSD, Solaris, etc) that to Windows.
It is nearly impossible to sau how much work it will take - the person
doing the porting will have to find out-.


1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irix
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porting
--
Torfinn Ingolfsen,
Norway
From: John2005 on 9 Jun 2007 21:24
Thanks for your repy Torfinn,

Yes, I guess I should have said IRIX.

Perhaps it could be ported to BSD or Solaris and I could use Microsoft
Virtual PC to run the BSD or Solaris OS as a guest on my host XP
machine.

The source code is available at the link I gave, but I'm not a
programmer and don't know how to port or what someone might charge to
do it.

If an old IRIX machine could be found and purchased perhaps that would
be cheaper, but it sure would be nice to find a way to run it on my
current machine.

Thanks again,
John

From: Robert Bonomi on 10 Jun 2007 00:21
It looks like this is a 3-d rendering program of some sort. -- guessing
is is a raytrace renderer.


There is _no_hope_ of running the SGI executable in an emulator inside
Microsoft virtual PC and getting anything remotely approaching 'acceptable'
performance.


Unix programs -- if written with a little care -- are generally fairly
portable to other _Unix_ platforms 'X' is the standard unix graphical
display environment.

This program *might* compile on windows, with 'cygwin' and 'cygwin/X'
installed and used as the environment to compile/execute in.

It will depend on whether or not it relies on any of the SGI proprietary
graphics libraries that came with SGI boxes. If it does, you are *S*O*L*
without suitable SGI hardware and an appropriate installation of IRIX.

If you don't know how to do programming, you will need to find someone who
does, on the relevant Unix-derived platforms *and* the PC. Prepare to spend
non-trivial amounts of money.



In article <1181358941.655778.142460(a)n4g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
John2005 <johnjmechanical(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>Hi everyone,
>
>I would like to ask if anyone could please help me with the following
>problem.
>
>I want to use a free program that seems to be compiled for an SGI IRIS
>OS. The source files are available here...
>
>http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/ftp/rmsl/usycams/
>
>Is there a free OS that I can install on Microsoft Virtual PC so that
>I can use this program on a XP host machine? Alternatively, is there
>any type of software emulator I can install that would allow me to use
>this program on a windows XP machine ? Is it difficult or even
>possible to compile the source to run on windows XP or a UNIX based OS
>that I can install on Microsoft virtual PC ?
>
>I also have the Solaris 10 OS that I could install on Virtual PC if
>that would work.
>
>I would appreciate any suggestions or advice.
>
>Thanks
>John
>


From: Pete Fenelon on 10 Jun 2007 05:03
John2005 <johnjmechanical(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> If an old IRIX machine could be found and purchased perhaps that would
> be cheaper, but it sure would be nice to find a way to run it on my
> current machine.
>

Given that I could pick up an SGI Octane off Ebay for less than ?100, my
inclination would be to buy an old machine, connect it to your LAN, run the
software on that and either keep it in a corner or throw it away
depending on whether you ever need the program again!

All of the other routes will take a lot more of your time - I'm assuming
this is commercial rather than personal!

pete
--
pete(a)fenelon.com "how many clever men have called the sun a fool?"
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