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.

Binary Compatibility

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.

Desktop

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

Digital Media

• 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)

Documentation Content and Delivery

• 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

Graphics

• 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

I/O

• Guaranteed Rate I/O (GRIO) support
• Project quotas
• User space serial I/O
• Fibre channel Arbitrated Look Topology (AL)

Networking

• 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

Origin Database

• Database Accelerator (DBA)

Origin Enterprise System Management

• Computer Associates Unicenter® TNG(TM) Framework(TM)

Origin Reliability, Availability, Serviceability (RAS)

• SBE reporting mechanism
• Automatic disabling of failing components while booting
• Extended memory error handling

Origin Scalability Features

• 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

PC & Macintosh Interoperability

• (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

PCI

• Support for multifunction cards
• User-level PCI drivers can now be developed for OCTANE

Personal System Management

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

Scheduling

• Miser predictive batch scheduler
• ShareII resource manager (option)

Security

• 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)

Software Distribution Features

• Inst now supports ISO 9660 CDs

Standards

Standards compliance under IRIX 6.4 will be extended, with the addition of:

• Year 2000 compliance as defined by the X/Open group
• UNIX 95 Certified Single UNIX Specification - Spec 1170/UNIX 95
• DII-COE Kernel Version 3.2 available for development projects
• Full pthreads support, including system scope

Workgroup System Management

• (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

X11/Motif

• 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