[comp.dcom.lans] info please

kleonard@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM (Ken Leonard) (09/27/89)

also to: comp.sys.masscomp,comp.dcom.telecom,
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How do _YOU_ connect "super"-class machines so they can talk to each other
(partly?) (almost?) (really?) as fast as they can compute?
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Who is presently making, using, building, needing, selling...
-- a "LAN" in the 1Gb/s class?
-- a "CPU cluster" connection, _NOT_ bus-to-bus or manufacturer-specific, in
.. the 1Gb/s class?
-- an HSC-to-HSC, HSX-to-HSX, or equivalent speed class channel-to-channel
.. bridge or switch?
-- an HSC- or HSX- or equivalent-to-VME or -Futurebus or -equivalent interface?
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Is Ultra (Systems Inc.?) actually shipping working systems?  Who is using one?
How well does it work?
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Is anyone other than Sandia actually trying to use the "HSC/HSX Hub"?  Is
anyone planning to use one?
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all responses gratefully received
best regardz,
Ken Leonard

ggarb@apple.com (Gordon Garb) (09/28/89)

In article <341@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM> kleonard@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM (Ken 
Leonard) writes:
> Is Ultra (Systems Inc.?) actually shipping working systems?  Who is 
using one?
> How well does it work?

We have an Ultra with two frame buffers hooked to our Cray X-MP 48 on an 
HSX channel.  It works well.  

/Gordon Garb
(*I don't know where I got these opinions, but they're mine now. *)

spl@mcnc.org (Steve Lamont) (09/29/89)

In article <4429@internal.Apple.COM> ggarb@apple.com (Gordon Garb) writes:
>In article <341@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM> kleonard@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM (Ken 
>Leonard) writes:
>> Is Ultra (Systems Inc.?) actually shipping working systems?  Who is 
>using one?
>> How well does it work?
>
>We have an Ultra with two frame buffers hooked to our Cray X-MP 48 on an 
>HSX channel.  It works well.  

Clearly you have a very lightly loaded machine -- on our Y -- which we've
only just brought up -- the performance of the Ultra frame buffer is
miserable...  It is certainly not worth the time and energy that is required
to get images up on it.  An Abekas digital video recorder is a much better
choice, considering the nature of the sort of simulations that one generally
does on a Cray.  Although standard video resolution is not as good, the fact
that one cannot usually render images at the 1024x1280 resolution of the
frame buffer, but at something considerably less, say 512^2, I don't see
having the resolution of the Ultra frame buffer as a big win.

							spl (the p stands
							for pixel pusher)
-- 
Steve Lamont, sciViGuy			EMail:	spl@ncsc.org
NCSC, Box 12732, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
"Surrealism only comes later when it seems 'reality' becomes difficult
to achieve." - E. Miya, NASA Ames Research Center