IRIX

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**IRIX**
IRIX 6.5 Desktop
Website:	SGI IRIX
Company/ developer:	Silicon Graphics
OS family:	Unix
Source model:	Closed source
Latest stable release:	6.5.30 / August 16, 2006
Kernel type:	Monolithic kernel
Default user interface:	IRIX Interactive Desktop
License:	Closed source
Working state:	Current

IRIX is a System V-based Unix computer operating system with BSD extensions developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) to run natively on their 32- and 64-bit MIPS architecture workstations and servers.

As a result of its Unix underpinnings, it is capable of extremely long uptimes, and its XFS file system is regarded as one of the most advanced journaling file systems in the industry.^{[citation needed]}

IRIX has particularly strong support for 3D graphics, video, and high-bandwidth bulk data transfer. IRIX was one of the first Unix flavors to feature a graphical user interface for the main desktop environment, and is widely used in the computer animation industry and for scientific visualization due to its extremely good performance with 3D graphics.^{[citation needed]} IRIX uses the IRIX Interactive Desktop, which by default uses the 4dwm window manager with a custom look designed using the Motif widget toolkit.

The current major version of IRIX is IRIX 6.5 which was released in May 1998. New minor versions are released every quarter. Through version 6.5.22, there were two branches of each release: a maintenance release that included only fixes to the original IRIX 6.5 code, and a feature release that included improvements and enhancements. Versions up to the 6.5.22 maintenance release are available for free download, while version 6.5.23 and higher require an active Silicon Graphics support contract, despite only running on Silicon Graphics hardware.

It is compliant with UNIX System V Release 4, UNIX 95 and POSIX (including 1e/2c draft 15 ACLs and Capabilities).

1 The end of IRIX
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] The end of IRIX

In a press release on 6 September 2006, SGI announced the end of the MIPS/IRIX line.^[1] Production will end on 29 December 2006 and the last orders will be fulfilled by March 2007. Support for these products will end no sooner than December 2013. All remaining SGI products run Linux.