xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) (03/30/90)
I am trying to put together a little demo of the Amiga for science applications as a cheap graphics workstation. The intent is NOT to go toe to toe against Macs (there are scads around here...mostly II and IIcx models) but as a replacement to the aging bunch of Atari STs. What I need is some information on the amount of scientific programs out there in PD that I can use. I would like something simple like being able to take a floating point array and dumping it to the screen...I can download skymaps in FITS format and strip off the header and pass this R*4 array to whatever display program I find that can take this data and interpolate it to some standard palette. I also need to show that the Amiga can be used as a user station for the ground system. For this I need TEK 41xx series emulation and X-Window client capability. I know of VLT (where can I get it FTP? I need to know what FF disk or whatever it resides in...I poked around a bit last night without finding one and I suspect I'm looking in the wrong directories.) and heard that there is a X-Window emulator. A PD version would be best as this is being done on my own time and my own money. Is there a PD TeX out there? My system is an A500 w/1meg, 2 floppy drives and RSN a Trumpcard 500 w/ST157N 40meg HD. The objective is to be able to purchase a user work station for under $1000 (since this can be procured directly under petty cash and skip some of the procument hassles). This way, when a project staffs up, new employees dont have to wait 12 months for a workstation. I hope that I can do this with an A500, single drive, 1 meg system (more memory if x-windows requires it...). That cost might just be under the $1000 limit with GSA pricing. Otherwise the next jump is $2500 and I'm sure I can beat that. Thanks...I'll post whatever the final system config is and how the demo goes. It really seems that the Amiga can use more scientific programs...I'm going to talk to people at NCSA to see if they will let me do a port of their Image program for the Mac...since I'm a new Amiga owner (about 6 mos.) is any one interested in helping if I can get permission? Thanks, NT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A| Nigel Tzeng xrtnt@csdr.gsfc.nasa.gov // m| STX Inc. xrtnt@csdr.span.nasa.gov // i| \\ // g| Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own. \X/ a| | "Producing a system from specification is like walking on water... | it's a hell of a lot easier if it's frozen." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------