SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (07/28/88)
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the August 1988 APPLE PULP
H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter
$15/year
P.O. Box 18027
East Hartford, CT 06118
Permission granted to copy with the above citation
Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739
Mac Double II.
Golden Triangle has announced the Firepower processing board
for the Mac II which will be capable of running Apple's
forthcoming (in beta test at the moment) Macintosh real-time
distributed operating system (called MR-DOS) independently
of the host Mac II (which means it will not be necessary to
dedicate a Mac II solely to file serving on an AppleTalk
network). The Firepower board is available with a 16, 20,
or 25 MHz 68020, 2 Appletalk ports, up to 4 Mbytes of RAM
and 1 Mbyte of ROM. Manufacturer's prices for the Firepower
board start at $2,500 in volume. - InfoWorld 11 July
Clone a Mac II at Home.
Second Wave, makers of a 4-slot expansion chassis for the
Mac-SE (last October), has begun shipping a similar chassis
for the Mac Plus and will introduce a 6-slot Nubus unit at
MacWorld that can be used to expand the number of slots in a
Mac II. If it's outfitted with the Firepower board, a hard
disk, and a keyboard, the Second Wave product can become a
basic Unix workstation, or the combination could act as a
network file server without any Mac II at all. If some
enterprising firm (Phoenix Technologies? AST?) should decide
to write Macintosh compatible ROM chips, the Second Wave
expansion chassis plus the Firepower board could be turned
into a Mac II clone. The price of the expansion unit which
is scheduled for shipping this fall has not been announced.
- InfoWorld 11 July and a phone call from 2nd Wave 2 July
Color SE.
Perhaps next January's MacWorld will see the introduction of
the new, three expansion slot, color Macintosh SE (see last
October's column), as there are no indication that it will
be unveiled at the Boston show in August.
- InfoWorld 20 June
Not Much to Read (Only).
Apple evangelist Martha Steffen estimated that only about
half a dozen different disks were available for the new Mac
CD ROM by the end of June - a dozen if demo programs are
counted. Most of those disks contain clip art or similar
applications. A few more disks will be introduced at
MacWorld in Boston this month, but the first real flurry of
CD's for the Mac aren't expected until January's MacWorld.
However, if High Sierra access software is delivered this
month as expected, disks currently used by the IBM PC could
become available as developers write Mac interfaces for
them. - InfoWorld 20 June
Apple Connectivity to IBM
David Nagy, Apple's marketing manager for IBM communications
products, has confirmed that a combined Token Ring adapter
(see last month's column) and 3270/5250 terminal emulation
board will be introduced in November for delivery next
March. In addition, Apple plans to announce wide-scale
support for IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA)
communications protocols.
- PC Week 21 June and InfoWorld 27 June
Modern Jazz Blown Away.
Lotus has announced that Modern Jazz (last month and last
May's columns) is one piece of vaporware that will never
materialize. Apparently recently appointed Lotus vice
president Frank King didn't believe that Modern Jazz would
effectively compete with Microsoft's Works and so decided to
concentrate on 1-2-3 Mac which is expected next year. Lotus
plans to offer registered users of Jazz 1A upgrades to 1-2-3
Mac, but further details are not yet available.
- InfoWorld 20 June
MacWare That May Yet Exist.
Software Publishing Corporation has signed a joint agreement
with D Graphics, Inc. to create a Macintosh version of the
popular Harvard Graphics program. The, as yet unnamed,
application will compete with Cricket Presents and Microsoft
Powerpoint. Delivery won't be until next year. Another Mac
graphics product scheduled for August publication is Photon
Paint for the Mac II. This color application is capable of
wrapping designs around 3-D objects and can add luminance to
objects so that they appear to be lighted from a point
source. Photon Paint's announced price is $299.95.
Electronic Arts expects to release its $495 Studio 8 color
paint program for the Mac II in September. The program is
designed for graphics professionals and plans to compete
directly with Supermac's Pixel Paint. Also, Acius is
working on documentation for a prototype database named
Skeleton that will make it simple for anyone to customize
and have a full-featured Mac database application.
- InfoWorld 27 June and 4 July
Rewritable Optical Disc.
Advanced Graphics Applications joined the rewritable disc
race (see June's column) by showing a "plug and play" 650
Mbyte drive at PC Expo in June. The Discus Rewritable uses
3M's optical media, plugs into an AT bus, and is scheduled
to ship in November. The transfer rate at the demonstration
was 5.5 Megabits per second with an average access time of
80 milliseconds. The announced price is $4,995.
- InfoWorld 27 June
Taking a Different Bus.
PC clone manufacturers led by AST Research president Safi
Qureshey are attempting to agree on an alternative to IBM's
Micro Channel Architecture (MCA). The alternate bus could
be the Nubus standard used in the Macintosh II or an
adaptation of the VME (IBM mainframe Virtual Memory
Extension) electrical specifications. The move away from
the IBM "standard" is based on dissatisfaction with MCA
performance as well as the cost and difficulty of licensing
from "Big Blue." - InfoWorld 27 June
Twice As Fast.
Nexgen Microsystems is ready to ship a five chip processor
that is Intel 80386 and 80387 compatible, but approximately
six times faster than the Intel originals. Olivetti is
likely to be the first to offer a workstation built around
the Nexgen processor set early next year. - PC Week 11 July
More Than Fifty Times Faster.
By October, Semiconductor maker, Wietek, plans to begin
shipping their Abacus math coprocessor for Intel 80386
computers. The Abacus will come in 20 and 25 MHz versions
and can be used as a stand alone math coprocessor in
conjunction with Intel's 80387 math coprocessor. In a test
on a 20 MHz Compaq 386 with both 80387 and Abacus
coprocessors, only 9 seconds were needed to recalculate a
program that took a PC-XT with an 8087 chip 470 seconds to
accomplish. - PC Week 21 June
VAX-on-the-Desk.
DEC is busy developing a desktop VAX workstation to compete
with Sun, Apollo, and other marketers of high end work
stations. The VAX-top will retail for around $15,000 and
link to DECnet. - PC Week 21 June
Who's Doing a Job(s) on Who?
One rumor has it that NeXt is negotiating a licensing
arrangement granting IBM the rights to all, or portions of,
the Palo Alto startup's Unix interface. However, a rival
rumor monger claims that the whole story originated at Apple
in Cupertino. - PC Week 21 June and InfoWorld 27 June
More "Unobtainables?"
Shipment schedules for the announced 25 MHz Intel 80386
computers from IBM, Sun, Compaq, and others my slip due to
limited availability of microprocessors from Intel. Smaller
PC producers are having difficulty getting even
preproduction samples of the 25 MHz chips.
- PC Week 21 June
Blue Chips.
IBM has a license from Intel to manufacturer it's own 80386
chips. There is a rumor that Big Blue has an in-house
version running at 60 MHz! Not surprisingly, IBM's
engineers have received an internal memo directing them not
to design any more 80286 systems. IBM appears well on the
way toward solving their DRAM shortage as well with the
discovery that they can produce 16 Mbit chips as easily as
4 Mbit chips and actually get a higher manufacturing yield
as well. Those 16 Mbit chips (2 Mbytes) could make OS/2
Extended Edition (now said to require more than 3 Mbytes of
RAM) practical after all. - PC Week 11 July
Very Fast Laptops.
Harris Corporation announced plans to begin shipping a 20
MHz 80C286 in September. The Harris chip is the fastest
'286 microprocessor yet announced. For 16-bit operations it
actually offers faster software performance than the 20 MHz
80386. Because the CMOS technology of the 80C286 uses only
one-third the power of 80386 and standard 80286 processors,
the new chip is ideally suited for use in battery powered
laptops. - PC Week 28 June
Speaking of Laptops.
The LapMac rumors have been around so long they're becoming
boring, but it might just show up in Boston at MacWorld, or
next January's MacWorld... Meanwhile, Big Blue is rumored
to be planning a public announcement of a battery powered,
very compact, 80386 laptop in September.
- InfoWorld 11 July
Not Enough Advantage.
Ashton-Tate is completely rewriting Multimate Advantage for
OS/2 but doesn't expect to be finished until late 1989. In
the meantime, owners of the present product may be tempted
by new versions of competing word processors. So, current
Advantage users will be offered an "interim functionality
improvement" (when is a new version not a new version?)
before snow next reaches the Great Plains. Meanwhile, some
of Ashton Tate's best programmers are said to be accepting
jobs at Claris (to work on what?).
- InfoWorld 27 June and 11 July
IIgs-e? New IIgs ROM.
Now that wags are saying, in print, that "gs" stands for
"goes slow," rumors are abroad that Apple is planning on
putting Western Design's 65832 in the next IIgs. If true,
it would mean that the IIgs+ chatter (see April's and June's
columns) is wrong because production quantities of the 65832
aren't planned until 1990 (see last month's column). Could
someone be planting the "a faster IIgs is coming" rumors to
keep "the rest of us" from buying Amigas? Maybe the new
IIgs ROMs in September will quicken the pace of the hardware
a bit. - InCider August
GS Works by Another Name.
A faster IIgs may be needed to make effective use of
AppleWorks GS which was renamed from GS Works after Apple
spinoff Claris acquired Styleware in June. Sources close to
Claris say that a Macintosh version of the program, which
would compete with Microsoft Works, can be expected in about
18 months. - InfoWorld 4 July
If These Guys Get Together It Could be Awesome.
Researchers at Sandia National Labs have a 1,024 parallel
processor machine that runs 1,000 times faster than the
single processor machine (Nearly perfect efficiency).
Processing that quickly could require a memory based on a
transistor made of superconducting materials which AT&T Bell
Labs has developed that is current-sensitive to only one
electron. The machine could produce so much output that
"Digital Paper", a polyester-based substrate coated with
infared-sensitive dye polymer developed by ICI Electronics
might be needed. The "tape" is able to accept data at 10
Mbits/sec - a 2,400 ft. reel (.5 in wide) can hold 600
Gigabytes.
- Popular Science reader John W. Taylor (SUNY Buffalo)
6 July
Up in Smoke.
Phillip Morris has been test marketing a new cigarette in
Palo Alto, California named Next. The real difference
between the tobacco product and Steve Job's computer of the
same name is that Phillip Morris has managed to get
something into the box. - InfoWorld 20 June
Murph Sewall Sewall@UCONNVM.BITNET
Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET]
U of Connecticut {rutgers psuvax1 ucbvax & in Europe - mcvax}
!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP]
-+- My employer isn't responsible for my mistakes AND vice-versa!
(subject to change without notice; void where prohibited)
"It might help if we ran the MBA's out of Washington." - Adm Grace Hopperlinimon@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Mark Linimon) (07/29/88)
In article <8807281150.AA29951@ucbvax.berkeley.edu>, SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) writes: > Taking a Different Bus. > PC clone manufacturers led by AST Research president Safi > Qureshey are attempting to agree on an alternative to IBM's > Micro Channel Architecture (MCA). The alternate bus could > be the Nubus standard used in the Macintosh II or an > adaptation of the VME (IBM mainframe Virtual Memory ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Extension) electrical specifications. The move away from ^^^^^^^^^ > the IBM "standard" is based on dissatisfaction with MCA > performance as well as the cost and difficulty of licensing > from "Big Blue." - InfoWorld 27 June VME may mean that to InfoWorld, but to the 100+ VMEbus vendors it means something different, and that is the meaning I think is intended in the information above. The VMEbus is a design spec that allows the interconnection of multiple processors, memories, peripherals, and so forth on a backplane. It is a competing technology to Multibus, Nubus, STDbus, and so forth. VME even has its own non-profit trade group: VITA (10229 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite E, Scottsdale AZ 85253). Discussion of various bus-related topics seems to go on over in comp.periphs. Disclaimer: I work for a VMEbus manufacturer but otherwise have no connection with VITA. Mark Linimon Mizar, Inc. uucp: sun!texsun!mizarvme!linimon ...now all we need to do is tell InfoWorld :-)