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Key New Features and Changes
The goal of IRIX 6.5 is to provide a high
quality and stable operating system for all Silicon Graphics systems.
This release supports all SGI platforms supported by IRIX 6.2, 6.3, and
6.4, except for Crimson. Significant additional software had been
packaged with IRIX 6.5, including some important system and network
management and interoperability tools.
The page contains a partial list of the key
new features and changes for IRIX 6.5. Please be aware that some
features listed here are only applicable for certain software bundles
or hardware configurations. For more details about IRIX 6.5, look
for information about it on Supportfolio Online (http://support.sgi.com)
and www.sgi.com.
Includes both a 32-bit and a 64-bit runtime
environment. Systems that use the 64-bit runtime environment support
both 32-bit and 64-bit applications; systems that use the 32-bit
runtime environment, such as the O2, will only support 32-bit
applications.
Systems that support a 32-bit
runtime
environment with 64-bit
extensions*:
-
Indigo R4000
-
Indigo2
-
Indy
-
Challenge S/M R4000
-
Indy/Challenge R5000
-
O2 R5000
-
O2 R10000
*64-bit extensions include
support for
XFS filesystem and
64-bit long integers,
excluding 64-bit
address spaces. |
Systems that support a 64-bit
runtime environment:
-
Challenge R4000
-
Onyx R4000
-
POWER Indigo2
-
POWER CHALLENGE
-
POWER Onyx
-
Indigo2 Extreme 10000
-
Indigo2 IMPACT 10000
-
Origin200
-
Origin2000, Cray Origin2000
-
Onyx2
-
OCTANE
|
Products:
-
Site Manager 1.1, for web content
validation and version control, workflow support, 3D visualization, and
server traffic statistics
-
Adobe Acrobat 3.0, for viewing PDF
documents
-
Nedit, new default text editor; jot is
also available
-
Accessibility Panel, new graphical interface for AccessX software,
allowing movement-impaired users to use the keyboard and mouse more
efficiently
-
WebViewer 3.0 now supports CSS1 Style
sheets, Netscape plug-ins, JavaScript, history mechanism, animated GIFs
(WebViewer is embedded in System Manager, File Manager, Software Manager, InfoSearch, EZ-setup, Site
Manager, Out of Box Experience, and SGIHelp)
-
Netscape Communicator 4.05 provides
support for Navigator (browser), Messenger (e-mail), Composer (content
creation), and Collabra (news reader); MediaMail no longer
supported-see preinstallation
caveat
-
Netscape Communicator Lite 4.05 provides
support for Navigator (browser) only
General Changes:
-
Desktop now called IRIX Interactive Desktop
(previously Indigo Magic)
-
For security, ability to display
applications that are running on other systems is now off by default
(see the online Desktop User's Guide, "About the Remote
Display Feature," for details)
-
Performance improvements in application
startup
-
Impressario now supports PostScript
Printer Description (PPD); HP and Lexmark PPD drivers are included with
software
-
Media Player now supports movies played
to video output
-
Movielib file now supports Quicktime
MJPEG-A files
-
Movielib, Media Player, and Movie Maker now
support DV DIF files
-
Sony DAT Qualification (LibDatAudio)
-
Support new Audio Subcode I/O
-
Hardware generated audio events, sample
rate changes
-
O2 and OCTANE Digital Media Buffers
(dmbuffers) now support the same interface--the OCTANE 6.4 interface
(for compatibility, the O2 IRIX 6.3 interface will continue to be
supported)
-
For compatibility, VL Buffers continues
to be supported for IRIX 6.2 and earlier applications (dmbuffers are
recommended for new application development)
-
InfoSearch, new and improved online
viewer and search engine for books, man pages, and Release Notes
-
New on the Toolchest: Help > Quick
Answers; Help > Hints and Shortcuts
-
See Resources
section for comprehensive overview of useful information and support
-
Support for OpenGL 1.1 on all systems
-
Imaging performance increased for O2
-
Increased performance for luminance
(8 and 16-bit) and RGB
images
-
Increased performance for general
and separable convolves
-
Increased throughput through the
imaging engine
-
Guaranteed Rate I/O (GRIO) support
-
Project quotas
-
User space serial I/O
-
Fibre channel Arbitrated Look Topology (AL)
-
Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) version 2
-
(Origin systems only) HP-UX MIB/SNMP
provides network manageability in enterprise environments
-
Unified Name Service now supports yp services
-
NFS for data-serving
-
NIS+
-
(Origin systems only) Distributed Computing
Environment (DCE) Client for accessing shared resources in distributed
computing DCE/DFS serving environments
-
Database Accelerator (DBA)
-
Computer Associates Unicenter® TNG(TM)
Framework(TM)
-
SBE reporting mechanism
-
Automatic disabling of failing components
while booting
-
Extended memory error handling
-
Single system environment consisting of up
to 128 processors
-
Single system image
-
Support for balanced batch and timeshare
workloads
-
Single administrative entity
-
Partitioned system environment consisting of
up to 128 processors
-
Partitioned system image with firewalls
between each Origin partition
-
Application availability with Failsafe
(option)
-
Administration through IRIS Console
-
(O2 systems only) SoftWindows 95 for Windows
3.1 and Windows 95 terminal emulation on IRIX
-
Xinet Appletalk for Macintosh file and print
sharing
-
Novell Netware
-
(Origin systems only) Syntax TAS provides
instant interoperability with Windows 95 (Server Message Block),
Macintosh, and Novell clients
-
SAMBA (on Freeware CD) provides
interoperability with Server Message Block (SMB) clients
-
Support for multifunction cards
-
User-level PCI drivers can now be
developed for OCTANE
Products:
-
New and improved personal system
administration interactive guides and tools (accessible from the System
Manager)
-
Process Manager, graphical tool to
manage processes
-
Hosts Guide, graphical tool to setup
your network
General Changes:
-
Startup login screen is user
configurable (for example, user icons can be replaced with any image)
-
Support for personal filetypes--allows
users to create custom icons for their desktops
-
Keyword search now supported in System
Manager
-
Backup and Restore graphical tool now
uses cpio
-
Miser predictive batch scheduler
-
ShareII resource manager (option)
-
Most features of the Commercial Security
Pack are now bundled into IRIX 6.5
-
Least Privilege (POSIX P1003.1e), which
allows allocation of system privileges individually (rather than setuid)
-
Access Control List
-
Single Sign-on via Distributed
Computing Environment (DCE)
-
Inst now supports ISO 9660 CDs
Standards compliance under IRIX 6.4 will be
extended, with the addition of:
-
(Origin systems only) ENlighten Workgroup
DSM Server provides Distributed System Management for small enterprises
and workgroups.
-
(O2, OCTANE, Onyx2 systems only) ENlighten
Workgroup DSM Client provides Distributed System Management for small
enterprises and workgroups
-
Improved performance for X11 and Motif
-
Thread-safe Xlib and Xt
-
Support for X11R6.3 server and
libraries (previously X11R6.1), including support for Low-Bandwidth X
-
Continue to support Motif 1.2.4
-
Improvements to the hardware colormap
implementation minimizes colormap flashing for IMPACT and OCTANE
graphics systems
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