Weather Star XL: Difference between revisions

The Weather Star XL is a rack-mounted rendering computer, manufactured by Silicon Graphics, Inc., containing a modified SGI O2 computer. The O2 is an entry-level Unix workstation introduced in 1996 by SGI to replace their earlier Indy series. Like the Indy, the O2 used a single MIPS microprocessor and was intended to be used mainly for multimedia purposes; the O2 was SGI's last attempt at a low-end workstation. The Weather Star XL utilizes the SGI IRIX Operating System with custom written software for The Weather Channel. Because of the proprietary SGI hardware and software, the Weather Star XL remains the most expensive STAR system, having a manufacturing cost of $[[Wikipedia:United States dollar|US]]6,500. As a result of the XL's high price, many smaller cable headends retained their [[Weather Star 4000]] or [[Weather Star Jr]] units until the [[IntelliStar]] was released, skipping the XL altogether. The Weather Star XL receives raw video data from The Weather Channel and weather statements from the National Weather Service, as well as forecasts from an Internet connection. It sends back monitoring data to The Weather Channel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Weatherscan Local by The Weather Channel: Installation and Instruction Guide|publisher=The Weather Channel|archivedate=2007-01-10|edition=2nd ed.|date=September 2000|url=http://support.weather.com/affiliates/tech_support/display/product/weatherscan_local/weatherscan_plus_install.pdf|format=PDF|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110004659/http://support.weather.com/affiliates/tech_support/display/product/weatherscan_local/weatherscan_plus_install.pdf}}</ref> Its crawl controller (which manages the text for local advertising) is accessible via a modem and terminal/terminal emulator. In Latin America, TWC only used satellite to deliver the service.<ref>{{cite web|title=Weather Star XL Installation and Instruction Guide|publisher=The Weather Channel|archivedate=2005-08-15|url=http://support.weather.com/affiliates/tech_support/display/product/star_xl/XL_install.pdf|format=PDF|edition=1st ed.|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050815154217/http://support.weather.com/affiliates/tech_support/display/product/star_xl/XL_install.pdf|date=February 1999}}</ref>