HackerTube.dev

SGI Fusion - FSN 3d File System Navigator

spyratex · 87.6K views · 2009-08-03 · 1:23

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A short screen capture of SGI's File System Navigator (FSN, also called Fusion) running on IRIX 6.5 on an Octane. It shows the 3D file browser seen in Jurassic Park.

On Hacker News

Linked as proof that the 3D file manager in Jurassic Park was a real Unix application, in threads on movie UIs.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2012–2020

Topics

Search by tags

What people said

DonHopkins · 2020-04 · Reference

Sun made SPARCstations, not SGI, who used MIPS, not SPARC, and just called them workstations. Then there was the SGI Indy, which was an SGI Indigo without the go. ;) The 3d desktop file system navigator software running on the SGI workstation was actually a thing that SGI shipped, by Joel Sherrill <joel@sgi.com>, called SGI Fusion, or FSN! Original URL of binary distribution: ftp://ftp.sgi.com/sgi/fsn/fsn.tar.Z Now archived at: ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/unix/sgi/bin/fsn.tar.Z [LINK] [LINK] >File System Navigator (fsn; pronounced "fusion") is an experimental application to view a file system in 3D, made by SGI for IRIX systems. >Even though it was never developed to a fully functional file manager, it gained some fame after appearing in the movie Jurassic Park in 1993. In a scene in the film, the character Lex Murphy, played by Ariana Richards, finds a computer displaying the interface. She exclaims "It's a UNIX system! I know this!" and proceeds to restart the building's access control system, locking the control room's doors. After the release of the film, some perceived the visualization as an example of media misrepresentation of computers, citing the computer game-like display as being an unrealistic Hollywood mockup. FSN – the IRIX 3D file system tool from Jurassic Park [LINK] SGI Fusion - FSN 3d File System Navigator SGI File System Navigator, otherwise known as Fusion. Running on IRIX 6.5 on an Octane. If you have an SGI, a binary of this program is available at ftp.sgi.c

Read the original HN comment ↗
frik · 2014-07 · Reference

Also The Net , Antitrust and David Fincher's Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo have very realistic computer sequences. Antitrust and Social Network also show real source code that compiles (C, Java, Perl, Bash, HTML), Antitrust even explains "Open Source" to the audience. The camera work (especially showing relevant parts of the computer monitors and pan around to keep it engaging for a longer time) on all four movies is really fantastic. * The Net (1995) - filmed one year before the World Wide Web got traction with the first fully graphical Mosaic web browser: [LINK] * Antitrust (2001) - famous for highlighting the open source movement, features a "CEO" that resembles a mixture of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in one person as evil character, shows Linux desktop and command shell, and shows real Linux developer: [LINK] * Social Network (2010) - very realistic, based on real detailed technical blog posts from 2004 on LiveJournal from Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin's memory: [LINK] * The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - nmap tool, etc.: [LINK] --- * Jurassic Park (1993) - real 3D file manager application on Unix desktop, first use of OpenGL: [LINK] , see: [VIDEO] and [LINK] * movies (like The Matrix reloaded) that use the nmap tool: [LINK]

Read the original HN comment ↗
laumars · 2013-01 · Reference

Yeah, but he also criticized Jurassic Park despite the fact that most of Jurassic Park's OS views were genuinely Unix (SGI's IRIX, to be precise): [LINK] In that clip, you can see fsn , which is a genuinely real 3D file manager for IRIX: [VIDEO] Granted it's fair to say that the average theme park wouldn't be running IRIX, but Jurassic Park wasn't the average theme park (movie quote: "no expense spared"). So I think some of his criticisms are completely misplaced.

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by spyratex, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources