This chapter tells you how to install:
internal drives
external SCSI drives
serial devices
audio devices
To install a peripheral, you'll first install the hardware, then bring up the system software so that the system can recognize the peripheral.
This section tells you how to install internal drives in the Indigo2 workstation. Internal drives include the system disk drive, a secondary hard disk drive, a floppy drive, a CD-ROM, a tape drive, and a DAT drive.
 | Caution: Drives can be easily damaged. Handle your drive carefully. Do not drop it or otherwise abuse it. |
To shut down and power off the system, follow these steps:
Open the front cover.
Press and release the power switch on the front of the system to shut down the software and power off the system.
The system powers off automatically.
Press the monitor power switch to turn off your monitor.
Disconnect the power cable from back of the Indigo2.
To remove the front bezel, follow these steps:
Press down on the tabs on each side of the bezel, as shown in Figure 5-1.
Pull the bezel away from the chassis.
To install a drive, follow these steps:
Choose a slot in which to install the drive. The slots are shown in Figure 5-2.
Caution: Install only the system disk in the bottom slot. Install a hard disk, floppy drive, or a DAT drive in the 3-1/2" drive slot above the system drive slot.
Install a hard disk, CD-ROM, or QIC tape drive in the 5 1/4" drive slot on the left. Do not use 3-1/2" drives with removable media (such as floppy or DAT) in this slot, or the system cooling may not work correctly.
 | Note: If you are upgrading drives from the Indigo R3000® or Indigo R4000™ workstation to the Indigo2 workstation, 1.2 gigabyte drives with the following part numbers will not fit on the Indigo2 drive sled: SD3-S12-4.05, SD3-S12X-4.05, SD7-S12-4.05, SD7-S12X-4.05, P3-D12S, and P7-D12S. |
Install the drive, as shown in Figure 5-3.
Pick up the drive so that the lever is facing you and is on the bottom of the drive.
Slide the drive into the slot, making sure that the guides underneath the drive line up with the guides in the Indigo2 chassis. As you slide the drive in, the lever moves to the right.
Push the drive in firmly until you feel solid resistance.
Push the lever all the way to the right. This locks the drive in place. The lever should be flush with the front of the drive.
To replace the cover, follow these steps:
Remove the blanking panel from the front bezel.
This allows you to insert media into the drive without removing the bezel.
Push the blanking panel out from the back of the bezel. The panel falls out. Save the panel in case you ever remove and do not replace your drive.
Replace the top cover.
Place the prongs on the underside of the cover into the slots under the top ridge of the backplane of the chassis, as shown in Figure 5-4.
Lower the cover onto the chassis until it snaps into place.
Replace the front bezel.
Placing the tabs on the bottom of the bezel in the grooves in the front of the chassis, as shown in Figure 5-5.
Tip the bezel up until it snaps into place.
Press and release the power switch on the front of the Indigo2 chassis.
When you see the login screen, you are ready to log in. Go to the next section.
The system automatically sets up the system software for most internal devices you install and places an icon on the desktop.
Once you install the drive, follow these steps to check that the system recognizes the new drive.
Log in to your account. For more information on logging in, refer to “Logging In to the Workstation”.
If the device is installed correctly, you should see an icon for it on the desktop. Double-click the icon to set up the drive.
You can also use the System Manager to check that the drive is shown correctly.
From the System toolchest, select “System Manager.” You see a window showing Hardware and Shared Resources.
Pull down the Hardware menu and select “Disks.” You see a list of installed drives.
If the drive you installed does not appear, power down the system and make sure the drive is installed all the way in the slot. Then restart the system and check the System Manager listing again.
If other users are going to access your CD-ROM drive, refer to the online Personal System Administration Guide for special instructions. Select “Online Books” from the Help Toolchest. Then select the Personal System Administration Guide, and search for “Setting Up SCSI Peripherals.”
If you are using the drive as an IRIX device, follow these steps to format a floppy or floptical disk, if necessary:
Choose “Disk Manager” from the System toolchest.
You see a photo of the drive with a labeled button underneath it.
Click the button beneath the photo of your floppy or floptical drive.
You see the “Disk Information” window.
Click the “Initialize” button.
Floppy disks take about 2 minutes to format; floptical disks take about 10 minutes.
For more information on formatting disks, select “Online Books” from the Help toolchest and search for “Formatting Floppy and Floptical Disks” in the Personal System Administration Guide.
You are finished formatting the floppy or floptical disk.
The software automatically recognizes any tape drives you install. The tape drive is ready to use.
For information on backing up data onto a tape, select “Online Books” from the Help toolchest. Then select the Personal System Administration Guide, and search for “Backing Up and Restoring Files.”
If you use your DAT drive frequently, magnetic dust or debris can collect on the heads of the drive. This can make your DAT tapes unreadable or unwritable.
If the green LED on the front of the DAT drive flashes at about 5-second intervals, you should clean the DAT drive heads. You should clean your DAT drive after about every 30 hours of use.
Follow these steps to clean your DAT drive:
Insert a Datagrad cleaning DAT tape.
Note: Be sure to use a data cleaning tape only. An audio cleaning tape does not work. Use a cleaning DAT tape authorized by the DAT drive manufacturer. The drive loads the tape and starts cleaning the heads.
After about 10 seconds, the drive ejects the tape.
| Note: If the LED on the front of the DAT drive still flashes after you have cleaned the drive heads, you may have a worn out cleaning DAT tape. Try using a new cleaning DAT tape. |
For instructions on removing internal drives, go to “Replacing Internal Drives”.
If you remove a secondary hard drive or floppy drive and do not intend to replace it, you need to inform the system that the drive is no longer there. For more information, select “Online Books” from the Help toolchest, and search for “Removing a Disk” in the Personal System Administration Guide.
This section explains how to connect external SCSI devices to the Indigo2 workstation. External devices include a QIC tape drive, CD-ROM drive, SCSI scanners, or other external SCSI devices.
Follow the steps below to connect an external SCSI device to your Indigo2.
Before shutting down your system and installing an external device, you need to assign an address to the device.
If you currently do not have any extra internal devices or external devices attached to your system, you can assign any number from 1 to 7 to the new device. Do not use address 0, as this is the system SCSI ID. Skip to “Setting the SCSI Address on the External Device.”
If you have at least one or more internal or external devices attached to your system and you are adding another device, you must check which addresses are assigned to the existing external devices and then choose a number between 1 and 7 that has not already been assigned.
To check available addresses for external devices, follow these steps:
If the Indigo2 is powered off, turn on the system power.
Open the front cover by snapping it away from the top edge of the chassis and tipping it down.
Press and release the power switch to turn on the system.
Log in to your account. For more information on logging in, refer to “Logging In to the Workstation”.
When the system comes up, select “System Manager” from the System toolchest.
Pull down the Hardware menu and select “Summary.”
You see a listing of your system's hardware devices and their address numbers.
Choose a number from 1 to 7 that is not assigned to your current devices and then go to the next section,“Setting the SCSI Address on the External Device.”
Now you must manually set the address you chose in step 5 above on the external device.
This is done in a number of ways, depending on the device. Most SCSI devices have a push-button switch, dial, or jumpers that you set to determine the SCSI address.
If the device has a switch or dial on the back, follow the steps below. If there is no switch or dial on the device, see the instructions included with the device.
Take the device out of its box and locate the push-button switch or address dial. It may be on the rear or bottom of the device.
Use a small screwdriver or pencil tip to set the dial or push the buttons to assign the address number you chose in step 5.
Caution: Do not assign number 0! This number is reserved for the SCSI controller.
You can attach one or more external devices to the SCSI port on the back of your workstation. Connecting more than one device is called daisy chaining. The devices are connected together in a chain, with the first device attached to the SCSI port on the workstation. If any of the external devices are FAST SCSI-2, do not daisy-chain more than two devices.
If one or more of the devices you are attaching to your workstation is a FAST SCSI-2 device, then the maximum combined cable length of all SCSI cables should not exceed 3 meters. If you are not attaching any FAST SCSI-2 devices, then the maximum combined cable length of all SCSI cables should not exceed 6 meters.
Additionally, if any of the external devices are FAST SCSI-2, it is extremely important that you use a cable of controlled impedance, and with impedance-matched connectors. Not all cables with the correct connector will work. This is particularly important if you have more than one external device.
| Note: Use the cables and active terminator that came with the FAST SCSI-2 device, or purchase an active terminator, if necessary. You must use an active terminator. (The terminator provided with the system is an active terminator.)Using other types of cables or terminators can result in data loss. If you have a device that you want to attach to your system, but you do not have the appropriate cables, you can order them by contacting your service provider. |
To attach an external device, follow these steps:
Shut down and power off the system.
Open the front cover.
Press and release the power switch on the front of the system to shut down the software and power off the system.
The system powers off automatically.
Press the monitor power switch to turn off your monitor.
Remove the active SCSI terminator from the workstation or from the last external device attached to your workstation.
If you are attaching the device to the workstation, remove the terminator from the SCSI connector on the Indigo2 chassis by squeezing the clips on both sides of the terminator and pulling it off. (See Figure 5-6.) Save the terminator. You must reattach it to the SCSI connector if you remove and do not replace the external device.
If you are daisy-chaining a device to another device, remove the terminator from the connector on the last device in the chain by squeezing the clips on both sides of the terminator and pulling it off. (See Figure 5-7.)
Attach the appropriate SCSI cable. Silicon Graphics devices ship with two cables; one with identical connectors at each end, and one with different connectors at each end.
If you are attaching the device to the workstation, use the cable that has a different connector on each end. Attach the flat, smaller end of the cable to the SCSI port on the workstation, as shown in Figure 5-8.
Connect the other end of the SCSI cable to one of the SCSI connectors on the back of the device and secure the clips on each side of the connector.
If you are daisy-chaining a Silicon Graphics device to another Silicon Graphics device, use the cable that has identical connectors at each end. (The connectors on the cable must match the connectors on the devices you are attaching.)
Connect one end of the cable to the open connector on the first device, as shown in Figure 5-9.
Attach the other end to one of the connectors on the device you are adding.
Gently place the terminator you received with the device onto the open SCSI connector on the back of the last device on the daisy-chain, as shown in Figure 5-10, and secure the clips on each side of the terminator.
The SCSI connector is designed so that you can put the terminator on only one way, if not forced.
Connect one end of the power cable that came with your device to the power connector on the back of the device, as shown in Figure 5-11.
Plug the other end of the power cable into a grounded three-pronged electrical outlet.
| Note: Remember to turn on the external devices first and then your system to make sure the devices are recognized. |
You are now ready to power up your system and check to make sure that the device is recognized.
After you've attached the device to your system, check to make sure your system recognizes the device.
The system automatically sets up the system software for most external devices you install and places an icon on the desktop.
To check the system configuration, follow these steps:
Turn on the external device first. External devices can be turned on in any order, as long as you turn them on before the system. The power switch is on the back of the device.
Tip: Always turn on the external device before the system; otherwise, the system does not recognize the device. If the Indigo2 is powered off, turn on the system power.
Open the front cover by snapping it away from the top edge of the chassis and tipping it down.
Press and release the power switch to turn on the system.
After a few moments, the system starts up.
When you see the login screen, log in to your account. For more information on logging in, go to “Logging In to the Workstation”.
If the device is installed correctly, you see an icon for it on the desktop. Figure 5-12 shows the icon for a CD-ROM drive.
You can also use the System Manager to check that the drive is shown correctly.
From the System toolchest, select “System Manager.” You see a window showing Hardware and Shared Resources.
Look for the device you installed under Shared Resources.
If the device you installed does not appear, do the following:
Power down the system.
Check that you've connected the correct SCSI cable to the drive.
If the drive is the last SCSI device on the daisy-chain, make sure it has a terminator installed on it.
Restart the system and check the System Manager listing again
If you are using the drive as an IRIX device, see “If You Installed a Floppy or Floptical Disk Drive” for instructions on formatting and ejecting a floppy disk.
The software automatically recognizes any CD-ROM drives you install.If other users are going to access your CD-ROM drive, refer to the online Personal System Administration Guide for special instructions. Select “Online Books” from the Help Toolchest. Then select the Personal System Administration Guide, and search for “Setting Up SCSI Peripherals.”
The software automatically recognizes any tape drives you install. The tape drive is ready to use.
For information on cleaning DAT drives, see “If You Installed a Tape Drive”.
For information on backing up data onto a tape, select “Online Books” from the Help toolchest. Select the Personal System Administration Guide, and search for “Backing Up and Restoring Files.”
If you installed a printer, select “Printer Manager” from the System toolchest, and set up the printer. For more information on setting up the printer, select “Online Books” from the Help toolchest. Select the Personal System Administration Guide, and search for “Setting Up Network, Peripheral, and Printer Connections.”
This section tells you how to install serial devices. Serial devices include:
To install a serial device, follow these steps:
Unpack the serial device and cables.
Locate the serial ports on the back of the Indigo2 chassis, as shown in Figure 5-13.
The serial ports are labeled 1 and 2 and are MINIDIN 8 connectors.
Plug in the serial cable.
If you are attaching a console terminal, attach it to serial connector 1 only. If you are attaching any other device, you can attach it to either connector.
Plug one end of the serial cable into the connector on the back of the serial device.
See the instructions that came with the serial device for detailed instructions on how to connect the cable to the device.
Plug the other end of the cable to the serial connector on the back of the Indigo2 chassis, as shown in Figure 5-14.
Plug in the serial device's power cable, (if any).
Once the device is connected to the workstation, you need to configure it. Select “Online Books” from the Help toolchest. Select the Personal System Administration Guide, and search for “Setting up Serial Peripherals.”
You may want to connect other serial devices to your Indigo2. Below you'll find information on which serial cables you can use with your Indigo2.
To use serial printers and dumb terminals, use a 3-wire standard Macintosh® (Plus, SE, or II) to ImageWriter® I cable. (The ImageWriter II cable does not work.) The cable connector pinout assignments for this cable are shown in Table 5-1.
Table 5-1. Cable Connector Pinout Assignments for Printer/Dumb Terminal Serial Cable
Signal Description | Pin Number | Pin Number |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | N/C |
| 2 | N/C |
TXD | 3 | 3 |
GND | 4 | 7 |
RXD | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | N/C |
| 7 | N/C |
GND | 8 | 7 |
| Note: For a 3-wire cable and no hardware flow control modem, you must use the /dev/ttyd* command devices in the configuration files. For more detailed information, see the serial man page. To access the man page, place the cursor in the console window and type |
man serial
Use a full-handshake (includes RTS and CTS) serial cable for a modem with RTS/CTS flow control. You can use this cable for all serial devices except terminals and serial printers (any application that doesn't need RTS flow control). For example, you can use this cable for a 3-wire application. It can be used with a null modem adapter for serial printers and dumb terminals. You can purchase the full-handshake serial cable from Silicon Graphics or your local service provider.
The cable connector pinout assignments are shown in Table 5-2.
| Note: Do not use a standard Macintosh serial cable. It does not have the correct number of connectors for full flow control. |
Table 5-2. Cable Connector Pin Assignments for a Modem Cable
Signal Description | Pin Number | Pin Number |
|---|---|---|
DTR | 1 | 20 |
CTS | 2 | 5 |
TXD | 3 | 2 |
GND | 4 | 7 |
RXD | 5 | 3 |
RTS | 6 | 4 |
DCD | 7 | 8 |
GND | 8 | 7 |
| Note: If you are attaching a modem with modem signals and RTS/CTS flow control, you must use the /dev/ttyf* command devices in the configuration files. For more detailed information, see the serial man page. To access this man page, place the cursor in the console window and type |
man serial
To use the devices below, you'll need a serial adapter cable supplied by Silicon Graphics.
dial and button box
dials box
digitizer tablet
Spaceball™
The Silicon Graphics adapter cable is used to convert the serial cable that came with the device to a Silicon Graphics DIN-8 serial cable connector. This cable then connects to the serial connector on the back of the Indigo2 chassis. The cable connector pinout assignments are shown in Table 5-3.
Table 5-3. Cable Connector Pinout Assignments for the Silicon Graphics Adapter Cable
Signal Description | Pin Number | Pin Number |
|---|---|---|
DTR | 1 | 9 |
CTS | 2 | 5 |
TXD | 3 | 2 |
GND | 4 | 7 |
RXD | 5 | 3 |
RTS | 6 | 4 |
DCD | 7 | 8 |
GND | 8 | 7 |
| N/C | 6 |
| N/C | 1 |
To use a serial device designed for use with personal computers using a DB-9 connector, you'll need a PC adapter cable supplied by Silicon Graphics. This adapter cable is used to convert from the PC's DB-9 pinout to the Indigo2 workstation's DIN-8 pinout.
The cable connector pinout assignments for the PC adapter cable are shown in Table 5-4.
Table 5-4. Cable Connector Pinout Assignments for the PC Adapter Cable
Signal description | Pin Number | Pin Number |
|---|---|---|
DTR | 1 | 4 |
CTS | 2 | 8 |
TXD | 3 | 3 |
GND | 4 | 5 |
RXD | 5 | 2 |
RTS | 6 | 7 |
DCD | 7 | 1 |
DSR | 8 | 6 |
| N/C | 9 |
The following audio ports are located on the back of the Indigo2 workstation:
Microphone In
Line In
Line Out
Headphone Out
Digital I/O
Audio jacks accept stereo 3.5-mm phone plugs. See Appendix A, “Cable Pinout Assignments,” for cable pinout information.
To connect an audio device, plug the device cable into the appropriate port, as shown in Figure 5-15.
For information on audio tools available on your workstation, choose “Online Books” from the Help toolchest and select the Media Tools User's Guide.