The professional Unix workstation now runs Linux and there are lots of them.
I've used SGI and Sun Microsystems hardware (and long before that Apollo, which probably means very little to people today). They were fantastic in their day and the degree of stability that you could get out of those boxes was something that I'd love to have now. But almost all of the functionality with maybe some degraded performance for edge cases (yes, 30 years later...) is now available for free + an old laptop or desktop.
If I had the choice between a modern day Irix workstation or Linux I'd most likely pick Linux, but Irix will always have a special place in my heart in that it was the first OS that made me feel like everything was just right and it enabled me rather than limited me at almost every step. Powertools for the mind.
Do it yourself linux workstations with off-the-shelf hardware offer a decent emulation of the 30yr old original but the fair comparison would be with a current design that packs an amount of innovation proportional to the lapsed time.
Funny to see that people are so resigned to what is on offer they cant even imagine what really good might look like today.
That may be so. I have a bunch of Apple laptops, the first thing I do when I get a new one is wipe it and install Linux. I couldn't give a rats ass about certification, I need a workstation, and preferably one that is as close as I can get it to what my servers run, not a fashion accessory.
I've used SGI and Sun Microsystems hardware (and long before that Apollo, which probably means very little to people today). They were fantastic in their day and the degree of stability that you could get out of those boxes was something that I'd love to have now. But almost all of the functionality with maybe some degraded performance for edge cases (yes, 30 years later...) is now available for free + an old laptop or desktop.
If I had the choice between a modern day Irix workstation or Linux I'd most likely pick Linux, but Irix will always have a special place in my heart in that it was the first OS that made me feel like everything was just right and it enabled me rather than limited me at almost every step. Powertools for the mind.