4Dwm

IRIX
Company type	Operating system
Industry	Computer software
Founded	1988
Founder	Silicon Graphics (SGI)
Defunct	2006
Fate	Discontinued
Headquarters	Mountain View, California, United States
Products	IRIX operating system
Owner	Silicon Graphics (original), later Rackable Systems, then Hewlett Packard Enterprise

IRIX (, ), a blend of IRIS and UNIX, was an operating system developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) specifically for its proprietary MIPS-based workstations and servers. Now discontinued, IRIX was founded on UNIX System V enhanced with features from BSD. It was notable for introducing the XFS file system and the widely adopted OpenGL graphics API.

History

The IRIX brand made its debut in 1988 with version 3.0, released alongside the SGI IRIS 4D workstation and server lineup. Prior to this, documentation referred to earlier releases using a "4D1-" prefix. Before adopting IRIX, SGI’s operating system offering was GL2, which was built on UniSoft UniPlus System V and incorporated the proprietary MEX windowing environment.

IRIX 3.x merged UNIX System V Release 3 with enhancements from 4.3BSD and featured the 4Sight windowing system, which was based on NeWS and IRIS GL. This version replaced the standard System V filesystem with SGI’s own Extent File System (EFS). With the arrival of IRIX 4.0 in 1991, the 4Sight environment gave way to the X Window System (X11R4), accompanied by the introduction of the 4Dwm window manager.

In 1993, IRIX 5.0 integrated elements from UNIX System V Release 4, such as support for ELF binaries. The subsequent release, IRIX 5.3, introduced the journaling-capable XFS filesystem. The launch of IRIX 6.0 in 1994 brought compatibility with the 64-bit MIPS R8000 processor; later versions in the 6.x series expanded support for additional MIPS CPUs. IRIX 6.3 was optimized for the SGI O2 workstation, while version 6.4 improved multiprocessing scalability for machines like the Octane, Origin 2000, and Onyx2—this iteration was marketed as "Cellular IRIX," although it only partially incorporated features from SGI’s distributed operating system initiative.

The final major iteration, IRIX 6.5, was released in May 1998 and received quarterly minor updates until 2005, followed by four further releases. Up to version 6.5.22, two update streams existed: a maintenance branch (marked with an "m" suffix) focusing on bug fixes and a feature branch (with an "f" suffix) delivering enhancements. Installing updates beyond version 6.5.22 necessitated an active support contract with SGI.

By 2001, industry evaluations described IRIX's future as uncertain amid SGI’s pivot toward Linux and Windows platforms exemplified by products like the SGI Visual Workstation. Nevertheless, customer demand ensured continued support until 2006. On September 6, 2006, SGI announced discontinuation of its MIPS and IRIX product lines; manufacturing ceased on December 29, 2006, with final shipments completed by March 2007. Official maintenance concluded in December 2013 without plans for additional updates.

A significant portion of IRIX technology has been open sourced and adapted for Linux by SGI, including components such as XFS and OpenGL.

Following SGI’s bankruptcy in 2009, Rackable Systems acquired the company; subsequently, Hewlett Packard Enterprise purchased Rackable in 2016. After 2007, SGI hardware transitioned to IA-64 or x86-64 architectures incompatible with IRIX; these newer systems operate under Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server instead. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has not indicated intentions to resume IRIX development or release its source code.

Features

IRIX version 6.5 adheres to standards including UNIX System V Release 4, UNIX 95, and POSIX, incorporating draft specifications for ACLs and Capabilities.

During the early ’90s, IRIX was a leader in Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP), scaling efficiently from a single processor up to more than a thousand processors within one unified system image. It provided robust support for real-time disk operations and graphics input/output. Throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, IRIX found widespread use in fields such as computer animation and scientific visualization, maintaining relevance for certain legacy workloads today.

Among Unix variants of its time, IRIX was one of the pioneers offering a graphical user interface for its desktop environment. The IRIX Interactive Desktop employed the 4Dwm window manager based on X11 and utilized the Motif widget toolkit. Additionally, IRIX played a key role in establishing the industry-standard graphics API known as OpenGL, along with associated image processing libraries.

The operating system relies on the MIPSPro compiler suite—formerly called IDO—for both front-end and back-end compilation tasks. Multiple compiler versions were synchronized with OS releases; the latest known release is version 7.4.4m compatible with IRIX versions from 6.5.19 onward. This compiler supports parallel programming under POSIX standards using languages such as C/C++, Fortran (77/90), and Ada. Development tools provided include the Workshop integrated development environment (IDE), Speedshop performance analysis tool, and Performance Co-Pilot monitoring framework.

4Dwm

4Dwm serves as the window manager within the IRIX Interactive Desktop, primarily utilized on Silicon Graphics workstations operating with IRIX. It is based on the Motif Window Manager and leverages the Motif widget toolkit built on the X Window System, which is widely used across Unix environments. Notably, 4Dwm was one of the earliest default graphical user interface desktops available on a Unix platform. The name "4Dwm" stands for "Fourth dimension window manager" and has no connection to dwm.

Several X window managers mimic the appearance of 4Dwm, such as a dedicated 4Dwm theme for IceWM and 5Dwm, a clone derived from OpenMotif. The 5Dwm variant offers compatibility with both the traditional SGI aesthetic and a contemporary style featuring anti-aliased fonts along with UTF-8 encoding support.

Features

Stacking architecture for window management
Utilizes Motif widget library
Menu panel for launching applications
Window frames include borders and titlebars
Titlebar equipped with meta button, minimize, and maximize functions
Supports customizable themes

History

Features

4Dwm

Features

See also