mlh@houxs.UUCP (M.HARRISON) (10/17/88)
As some you know, Microproject Corporation has been working
closely with AT&T for some time, developing VMEbus systems around
AT&T microprocessor products. What follows is a press release from
them describing an extraordinarily high performance 3B2-compatible
graphics workstation. I've posted it to these groups because of
high past interest in such posting, Please use the "n" key if
you're not interested!
Microproject can supply more complete information to anyone who's
interested, call them at (213) 306-8000 or ...!uunet!mpusa!inquiry .
What follows is the press release from Microproject.
Marc Harrison
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MICROPROJECT CORPORATION AND AED ANNOUNCE
3B2-COMPATIBLE X-WINDOWS GRAPHICS WORKSTATION
Microproject Corporation (Marina del Rey, CA) and Advanced
Electronics Design Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA) today exhibited for
the first time the result of a long joint development
project - an extraordinarily high performance X-Windows
workstation. The system is VMEbus based, and incorporates
the MP322 Single Board Computer and AED 1280V-GDS Graphics
Display Processor. Based upon the AT&T WE 32200 chipset
and AT&T UNIX System V/VME, the system is 100% software
compatible with the AT&T 3B2 family of computers, and offers
users upwards of 8 MIPs of processing power. In addition,
the combination of the 24 MHz clock of the 32200 and AED's
hardware implementation of X-Windows results in a system of
unparalleled graphics throughput. The high performance of
the 1280V-GDS is a result of a powerful ASIC graphics
processor. For example, on the 1280x1024 screen, which can
simultaneously display 256 out of a possible 16.7 million
colors, one can draw and scroll text at a rate of 55,000
characters per second. It performs vector drawing at a rate
of 375 nanoseconds/pixel and supports high speed BITBLT
(block move) operations at 81 nanoseconds/pixel. Also
supported are individual pixel addressing, multiple Pixel
Block Moves (BITBLT) with graphical logic operations, plus
multiple font text strings. Graphics primitives include:
line, arc, circle, polygon and rectangle fill, with
programmable line drawing (i.e. dot, dash, dot-dash) and
user definable fonts and font sizes.
Incorporating the X-Windows graphics standard, developed at
MIT, a user is able to simultaneously execute and display
the results of multiple programs, each in its own window or
windows. Windows may be added, deleted, re-sized, or moved
in real time. In addition to X-Windows, the popular
Tektronix 41xx graphics standard is supported as well. For
text, up to 1536 font entries can be simultaneously
resident, and operations are fully VT 100/200 compatible.
Multiple dynamic windows, each driven by these different
protocols, can be run concurrently.
Microproject specializes in developing and producing high
performance systems and board level products based on the
VMEbus, an industry standard, technologically advanced bus
structure. The company's complete product family is
designed from top down to incorporate many advanced systems
features, including those necessary for high performance
execution of the UNIX Operating System. Microproject is
licensed by AT&T as a Licensed Systems Integrator to develop
and supply VMEbus systems based upon AT&T microprocessor
technology.
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UNIX and WE are registered trademarks of AT&T