rogerh@arizona.UUCP (Roger Hayes) (02/05/85)
I am soliciting opinions about framebuffers and graphics devices.
We have a Vax; we would like to have some graphics capability.
Workstations are a valid option. We run 4.2, and we have a local
Ethernet.
The things we want to do are:
Image display (raytracing)
A first graphics course (Foley & Van Damm)
Graphics utilities for, eg, display of data structures;
algorithm movies.
Criteria are:
resolution -- both spatial and color
speed
ease of interface to Vax
ease of use (for both program and people)
(cost is not an overwhelming issue)
What experiences have you-all had with various devices? I welcome
both horror stories and paeans of praise. (I also accept expert
advice, but stories are more fun.)
Thanks,
Roger Hayes
rogerh@arizona.CSNET
{ihnp4,mcnc,research}!arizona!rogerhlmiller@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/17/85)
We have SGI IRIS systems, a 1000 terminal and a 1400 workstation. These are super machines, with enormous capability. Furthermore SGI is a company that has under development some astounding machines: hardware shading, z-buffer, depth cueing, etc. For applications work, for research and teaching, you can't do better.
rick@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/17/85)
In article <3966@ucla-cs.ARPA> lmiller@ucla-cs (Dr. Lawrence Miller) writes: > >We have SGI IRIS systems, a 1000 terminal and a 1400 workstation. >These are super machines, with enormous capability. Furthermore SGI is >a company that has under development some astounding machines: hardware >shading, z-buffer, depth cueing, etc. For applications work, for research >and teaching, you can't do better. Yes, the IRIS machines are great, but only if used appropriately. The reason that they are good is that they have pipe-lined Geometry Engines to handle three dimensional transformations. If all you want is a frame buffer, and not fancy 3d hardware, then the IRIS may be over-kill. They seem comparitively slow when used as just frame buffers but I heard a rumor that this problem will be fixed in the newest machines. -- Rick Gillespie rick@ucla-cs ...!{cepu|ihnp4|sdcrdcf|ucbvax}!ucla-cs!rick "She turned me into a newt! . . . I got better."