Recently I have been using Linux computers a lot. My notebook runs
Linux (an Ubuntu 18.04), my main desktop runs Linux (a Fedora 31), the
machines that I use or used on other places have been Linux boxes as
well - the ODROID (Ubuntu 16.04), the Raspberry PI B (a Raspbian). And
my tablet uses Linux, too (BQ Aquaris M10 with UBPorts).
I have been using IRIX boxes, too. They are of course terribly
underpowered by today standards. An they were underpowered when I have
got them (of course - I have had to got old used ones because new ones
were way too expensive form me). I have not used none of them from the
start of 2020. Except some short runs to sync data and so.
Today I have spent several hours on my SGI O2 and I also ran the old
IRIS Indigo. An I immediately notices that there is one big difference
between a slow Linux box and a slow SGI - the SGI machine is much more
responsive (and it remain responsive under any load except extreme
situations).
For example: the ODROID XU-4 has 1 GB of RAM (or 2?) and 4 fast CPU
cores (an ARM ones, 1.6GHz, I think) and a bunch of slower ones. The
SGI O2 has 1 GB of RAM and single-core CPU (the MIPS R10000 @250 MHz).
If the CPU is eavily loaded (by the FireFox, for example) then its
whole GUI is less responsive or even non-responsive at all for some
time. When the O2 is heavily loaded (by the Firefox, for example - and
the Firefox port to IRIX is almost unoptimised and it's Gtk+ GUI is
slow as hell on any O2) then the machine works normally and I can (for
example) open the Links or other application and do something else
until the Firefox is doing its work. And of course the O2 can still
play music (I like to listen the MP3 stream of the ORF Radio Wien).
And this is not a problem of the ODROID - I have the same experience
with my Ubuntu tablet. The POWER9 workstation solves these issues by
use of brute force, so I have not noticed such problem on it. It's
simply not slow.
Obviously the old SGI machine is much more pleasant to use than most of
low end Linux desktops (well, my work tablet with W10 is not better:
sometimes it hangs for minute or two - I ever cannot move a pointer -
and after times continues to work)... Of course compatibility problems
and lack of CPU power makes these old machines unsuitable for lot of
tasks.
