luciw@kodak.UUCP (bill luciw) (03/17/88)
Well, our KBS Lab is ordering a microExplorer, the coprocessor for the Mac II. It will be equipped with 12MB of memory (using a daughter-board), and we will be using the Development System from TI as well as trying to run TCP/IP. I wonder if anyone (beta-sites, maybe) has had some relevant experiences with the product or can comment on some of our concerns: 1) What impact (if any) does the alledged lack of "true" DMA have on the paging performance of the microExplorer? 2) Is TI's implementation of RPC available to other applications (such as those developed under MPW)? 3) How well integrated is the microExplorer into the rest of the Mac environment - (cut, copy, paste, print on an AppleTalk printer) ? 4) Can you install the "load bands" on third party disks (SuperMac 150) or do they need to remain on the Apple hard disk (the load bands are supposed to be normal, finder accessible files)? 5) How much of a hassle is it to port applications over to the little beastie from a normal Explorer (what about ART, KEE, SIMKIT, etc.)? 6) Do any benchmarks (ala Gabriel) exist for this machine? 7) How about ToolBox access from the Lisp Environment? (or am I dreaming?) That'll do for starters ... Our group is responsible for testing this type of technology and developing a "delivery vehicle strategy." Ideally, said delivery vehicle should be under $10K, but it looks like we'll be around $20K before we're through. This puts the microExplorer in the same price range as a "reasonably" equiped Sun 3/60FC. Thankyou in advance for all your comments and I will post our experiences (good or bad, of course) as they develop ... Happy St. Patty's Day ... -- Bill Luciw / Technology Leader ATTnet: (716) 477-5384 Knowledge-Based Systems Group UUCP: ...rutgers!rochester!kodak!luciw Eastman Kodak Company ARPA: luciw@cs.rochester.edu "Don't take life seriously, you'll never get out of it alive!" -- Bugs Bunny
striepe@Apple.COM (Harald Striepe) (03/26/88)
In article <1180@kodak.UUCP> luciw@kodak.UUCP (bill luciw) writes: >Well, our KBS Lab is ordering a microExplorer, the coprocessor for the Mac II. >1) What impact (if any) does the alledged lack of "true" DMA have on the >paging performance of the microExplorer? I do not have exact figures on this, but overall performance is 50% + of TI's Explorer II; contributors to this differential are reduced clock speed of the CPU to reduce power consumption, different memory organization (cache), and disk performance. However, it is nice to have a single file system rather than dealing with multiple partitions. >2) Is TI's implementation of RPC available to other applications (such as those >developed under MPW)? Texas Instruments is publishing the RPC spec. >3) How well integrated is the microExplorer into the rest of the Mac >environment - (cut, copy, paste, print on an AppleTalk printer) ? The microExplorer uses the Apple peripheral devices. Although the user interface integration is not yet complete (you are running an Explorer window system in one or more Macintosh windows under MultiFinder), TI is working agressively on deeper integration. >4) Can you install the "load bands" on third party disks (SuperMac 150) or do >they need to remain on the Apple hard disk (the load bands are supposed to be >normal, finder accessible files)? Although we have not tried this, there should be no reason why this should not work (a Macintosh volume is a Macintosh volume). >5) How much of a hassle is it to port applications over to the little beastie >from a normal Explorer (what about ART, KEE, SIMKIT, etc.)? Some vendors have installed their application in less than a day. Inference, IntelliCorp and Carnegie Group all announced support of the microExplorer. >6) Do any benchmarks (ala Gabriel) exist for this machine? You might want to contact TI, they ran a whole suite. Unfortunately, I do not have the details. >7) How about ToolBox access from the Lisp Environment? (or am I dreaming?) Not available in the first release, but a kit is planned. Since RPC is public, you would have to "roll your own" in the meantime. Another approach would be to use Coral's Allegro CL on the Macintosh side, implement the RPC, and... >Thankyou in advance for all your comments and I will post our experiences >(good or bad, of course) as they develop ... Although the microExplorer is supported by TI, we all would be interested in hearing about your experiences, and definitely would be willing to help you reach the right people, should you run into unforeseen problems in getting help. -- Harald Striepe Business Development Manager, Artificial Intelligence Apple Computer, Inc. email: striepe@APPLE.COM AppleLink: STRIEPE2