cyosta@taux01.UUCP ( Yossie Silverman ) (03/29/89)
I heard from a friend who knows people that the Mac IIxE is to be introduced later this year. It will feature a 33Mhz 68030, all the goodies in the current new macs AND a RISC (88000 I would assume) QuickDraw processor. I think this machine would count as a NeXT killer as it will have the fastest (or at least very fast) graphics around. -- Yossie Silverman What did the Caspian sea? National Semiconductor Ltd. (Israel) - Saki UUCP: cyosta%taux01@nsc.COM NSA LSD FBI KGB PCP CIA MOSAD NUCLEAR MI5 SPY ASSASSINATE SDI -- OOCLAY ITAY
billkatt@sol.engin.umich.edu (billkatt) (03/30/89)
In article <1377@taux01.UUCP> cyosta%taux01@nsc.COM ( Yossie Silverman ) writes: >I heard from a friend who knows people that the Mac IIxE is to be introduced >later this year. It will feature a 33Mhz 68030, all the goodies in the >current new macs AND a RISC (88000 I would assume) QuickDraw processor. >I think this machine would count as a NeXT killer as it will have the >fastest (or at least very fast) graphics around. The Quickdraw processor is an AMD 27000, not an 88000, an 88000 costs MUCH too much to use as a co-processor. +----------------------+----------------------------------------------------+ | Steve Bollinger | Internet: billkatt@sol.engin.umich.edu | | 4297 Sulgrave Dr. +------+---------------------------------------------+ | Swartz Creek, Mi. 48473 | "My employer doesn't take my opinion any | +-----------------------------+ more seriously than you do." | | "You remember the IIe, it +---------------------------------------------+ | was the machine Apple made before they decided people didn't need | | machines with big screens, color, or slots." | | - Harry Anderson (from NBC's Night Court) | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
caromero@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (C. Antonio Romero) (03/30/89)
In article <1377@taux01.UUCP> cyosta%taux01@nsc.COM ( Yossie Silverman ) writes: >I heard from a friend who knows people that the Mac IIxE is to be introduced >later this year. It will feature a 33Mhz 68030, all the goodies in the >current new macs AND a RISC (88000 I would assume) QuickDraw processor. >I think this machine would count as a NeXT killer as it will have the >fastest (or at least very fast) graphics around. >-- I heard a similar rumor (InfoWorld or MacWeek, I forget which) about the graphics coprocessor-equipped machine. Didn't say anything about a 33MHz 68030, though that might be nice; but it did say an AMD29000 (I think-- at any rate, the processor in the Archimedes, I think) RISC coprocessor, rather than a Motorola 88000. Sorry about the vagueness, but this was a couple of weeks ago. If someone keeps old issues of these publications you could check the rumor columns at the back and back me up on this. -Antonio Romero romero@confidence.princeton.edu
lauac@mead.qal.berkeley.edu (Alexander Lau) (03/30/89)
In article <1377@taux01.UUCP> cyosta%taux01@nsc.COM ( Yossie Silverman ) writes: >I heard from a friend who knows people that the Mac IIxE is to be introduced >later this year. It will feature a 33Mhz 68030, all the goodies in the >current new macs AND a RISC (88000 I would assume) QuickDraw processor. >I think this machine would count as a NeXT killer as it will have the >fastest (or at least very fast) graphics around. >-- >Yossie Silverman What did the Caspian sea? The rumor that I heard was that the Mac IIex will have a 25 MHz processor, 20 MHz NuBus, and a few more neat goodies. Of course, the standard disclaimer applies... fodder fodder --- Alex UUCP: {att,backbones}!ucbvax!qal.berkeley.edu!lauac INTERNET: lauac%qal.berkeley.edu@ucbvax.berkeley.edu
sho@pur-phy (Sho Kuwamoto) (03/30/89)
In article <4252fa64.a590@mag.engin.umich.edu> billkatt@caen.engin.umich.edu (billkatt) writes: >In article <1377@taux01.UUCP> cyosta%taux01@nsc.COM ( Yossie Silverman ) writes: >>I heard from a friend who knows people that the Mac IIxE is to be introduced >>later this year. It will feature a 33Mhz 68030, all the goodies in the >>current new macs AND a RISC (88000 I would assume) QuickDraw processor. >The Quickdraw processor is an AMD 27000, not an 88000, an 88000 costs MUCH >too much to use as a co-processor. So, how much of a speedup should we expect for graphics intensive operations? Is the AMD 27000 going to be only as fast as the 68030 (speed increase only because the CPU can do other things in the meantime) or significantly faster? As 32 bit quickdraw approaches, this becomes very important. How fast would a full screen redraw be with 24 bits on a 19" monitor? Also, what Quickdraw calls will the processor handle? Probably bit blits for sure, but will it do all the funky region stuff as well? Also, are there any rumors about the progress of NuGraph? What new routines will be added? Will it be interpereted (ugh) like postscript? Etc. Youth wants to know. -Sho
alan@rnms1.paradyne.com (0000-Alan Lovejoy(0000)) (03/31/89)
In article <4252fa64.a590@mag.engin.umich.edu> billkatt@caen.engin.umich.edu (billkatt) writes: >In article <1377@taux01.UUCP> cyosta%taux01@nsc.COM ( Yossie Silverman ) writes: >>I heard from a friend who knows people that the Mac IIxE is to be introduced >>later this year. It will feature a 33Mhz 68030, all the goodies in the >>current new macs AND a RISC (88000 I would assume) QuickDraw processor. >>I think this machine would count as a NeXT killer as it will have the >>fastest (or at least very fast) graphics around. > >The Quickdraw processor is an AMD 27000, not an 88000, an 88000 costs MUCH >too much to use as a co-processor. What is an AMD 27000? Do you mean an AMD 29000 RISC? You're quite right that the 88k is too expensive. Given the price which Apple pays for 68030's, a dual 68030 design is far more likely. Or perhaps even a 68030/68020 combo. After all, the graphics coprocessor doesn't strictly need memory mangement. Another possibility, for this time next year, is a 68040 based Mac. For those of you who have not heard, Motorola "announced" the 68040 this week. Details: General Sampling date: September 1989 Volume production date: 1Q90 Clock Speed: 25MHz initially, with 33MHz 3-4 months behind. Performance: 13.5 @ 25MHz (Intel claims 10 MIPS @ 25 MHz for the 80486) 2 MFLOPS SP (about 8x the 68882) Transistor count: 1.2 million Process: 1 micron HCMOS On-Chip Caches: 4k instruction, 4k data Functional Units: integer, floating point, mmu Compatibility: full upward compatibility with 68030/68882 Price: unspecified Other comments: full internal Harvard architecture; Motorola has not yet released all pertitent information, including what programmer-visible architectural extensions there may be or whether the '040 uses microcode or not; based on the MIPS rating and the clock speed, it appears that the '040's cycles-per-instruction ratio is just under 2, at least when executing 68030-compatible code; that means that it is about equivalent to the current-generation Fujitsu SPARC chip at the same clock speed; people who might reasonably know have claimed that it also has RISC style 3-operand register-register instructions, which significantly increase performance if used; we'll see. [Source for most of this: Electronic Engineering Times, March 27 '89] Alan Lovejoy; alan@pdn; 813-530-2211; AT&T Paradyne: 8550 Ulmerton, Largo, FL. Disclaimer: I do not speak for AT&T Paradyne. They do not speak for me. __American Investment Deficiency Syndrome => No resistance to foreign invasion. Motto: If nanomachines will be able to reconstruct you, YOU AREN'T DEAD YET.