Advice needed

[epseps]

I want to get a non x86 Unix to practice on.

Since I work with Solaris on Sparc II, that is out of the question for now. So I am thinking of either SGI running Irix or HP RISC running HP-UX.

So far I think the advantages of HP-UX might be that it is used by enough companies to perhaps help he get a job later...however I rarely see them for sale with a monitor (I know they can use SVGA monitors but I want to buy something that is guarenteed to work out the box)

SGI boxes just look cool and are often sold with monitors on e-bay and the color scheme would go with the voodoo flags I got from my recent trip to Haiti....but I rarely see Irix listed as a job requirement here in NYC.

Any suggestions?

(space is limited, I figure I would want to spend no more than $400 including shipping and handleing)

[RTFM]

I've been thinking of wanting to do this lately as well..

Looking around on the net, I've found this:

(on SGI's)
The Indigo2's are a good place to start, but are showing their age of late. The older O2's are still nice, and very upgradable. But anything brand new from SGI will cost you your firstborn grandchildren..

(on Suns)
The general consensus seemed to be that a Sparc 5 was a good place to start, and was fairly upgradable/configurable. Surprisingly, you could most likely pick up a Sun Ultra/30 with monitor / keyboard / mouse / all that for around $550 at the most.

Tell us what you get and if you like it or not, I'd be interested in hearing how it goes.