papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (01/28/88)
In article <2007@elrond.CalComp.COM> jam@elrond.UUCP (Julie A. Melbin) writes: >Help! Does anyone who attended the MIT X consortium know who was running the >X server on the PC/RT with a Megapel Display in Kresge? We would like to beg, >borrow or steal (:)) a copy of this server (source or binary). Also, what >operating system was this ported under? Any help, phone numbers, et al >is GREATLY APPRECIATED! The X-11 Megapel server was developed jointly by IBM and the USC Advanced Computing Support Center. The server shown in Kresge was a multi-display server running concurrently with 3 display devices: the Megapel, an apa-16 (B&W) and an EGA. The IBM MIT group that showed it in Kresge was one of the original beta testers of the Megapel server. An earlier version of the server was shown at the EDUCOM conference in LA, late last year. The server runs on an IBM RT PC with IBM/4.3 (Not to be confused with the AIX X-11 version announced for September 1988). As such it is still an unreleased and unannounced product. (Though, you won't have to wait long :-) At the MIT Conference, there were rumors that the server would go on the next release of X from MIT, but it was unclear whether it would be only in binary form or not. MIT probably knows more about it than we do. I like the display a lot, especially the 16 in., though I cannot be considered an impartial party. -- Marco Papa USC Advanced Computing Support Center
jeff@polyslo.UUCP (Jeff Weinstein) (02/04/88)
I just could not keep my mouth shut about this one. What makes things worse is that the guys still at IBM are not allowed to post to the net to respond to this. Why do I know so much about this? Well, I was one of the guys that designed and wrote the Megapel server while I was on co-op at IBM. In article <6532@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes: >In article <2007@elrond.CalComp.COM> jam@elrond.UUCP (Julie A. Melbin) writes: >>Help! Does anyone who attended the MIT X consortium know who was running the >>X server on the PC/RT with a Megapel Display in Kresge? We would like to beg, >>borrow or steal (:)) a copy of this server (source or binary). Also, what >>operating system was this ported under? Any help, phone numbers, et al >>is GREATLY APPRECIATED! > >The X-11 Megapel server was developed jointly by IBM and the USC Advanced >Computing Support Center. Actually, the Megapel server started out with about 10 low level display dependent routines written by the ACSC. They were poorly written, slow and dependend on their own hacked kernel mods that caused our kernel people to cringe. We threw most of these routines out in the first week, and as of several months ago they were all gone. > The server shown in Kresge was a multi-display >server running concurrently with 3 display devices: the Megapel, an apa-16 >(B&W) and an EGA. Actually the EGA was running as a seperate server because someone wanted to see two servers running at the same time. > The IBM MIT group that showed it in Kresge was one of the >original beta testers of the Megapel server. The server shown at MIT was being shown by Erik Fortune and Tom Paquin, who along with myself developed the server at IBM Academic Information Systems in Palo Alto. These were the actual developers, not beta testers. > An earlier version of the >server was shown at the EDUCOM conference in LA, late last year. The rumor I heard was that when people came to the IBM display at EDUCOM they asked why the server they had just seen at the ACSC was slower than the one on display at the show. >The server runs on an IBM RT PC with IBM/4.3 (Not to be confused with >the AIX X-11 version announced for September 1988). As such it is still an >unreleased and unannounced product. (Though, you won't have to wait long :-) Gee, commenting about unannounced IBM products? Better look over your shoulder Marco, here come the IBM cops. :-) FYI: The Megapel/AED/APA-16/EGA server shipped yesterday. As far as I know this is the first production quality X11 color server on the market. >At the MIT Conference, there were rumors that the server would go on the next >release of X from MIT, but it was unclear whether it would be only in binary >form or not. MIT probably knows more about it than we do. Last I heard the RT servers will be on the MIT tape, with complete source code for all but the machine independent color code that we wrote to make porting to different color displays easier. I guess the powers that be at IBM don't want to give this away to the competition right now. > >I like the display a lot, especially the 16 in., though I cannot be considered >an impartial party. > >-- Marco Papa > USC Advanced Computing Support Center Jeff Weinstein Computer Systems Lab Cal Poly State Univ., San Luis Obispo (805)756-2147 ucbvax!voder!polyslo!jeff
jeff@polyslo.UUCP (Jeff Weinstein) (02/04/88)
Oops, I forgot my disclaimer on the previous article. Disclaimer: I speak for myself, not IBM or Cal Poly. --Jeff Weinstein
papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (02/05/88)
In article <1152@polyslo.UUCP> jeff@polyslo.UUCP (Jeff Weinstein) writes: > >In article <6532@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes: > Actually, the Megapel server started out with about 10 low level > display dependent routines written by the ACSC. They were poorly > written, slow and dependend on their own hacked kernel mods that > caused our kernel people to cringe. We threw most of these routines > out in the first week, and as of several months ago they were all > gone. Sure it was "hacked" code, but it bootstrapped in 2 hours with the Palo Alto cfb. Also we had megapels way before Palo Alto had them, and I believe the work we did definitely cut down on the rest of the development. Otherwise, why would IBM want it? >> The IBM MIT group that showed it in Kresge was one of the >>original beta testers of the Megapel server. > > The server shown at MIT was being shown by Erik Fortune and > Tom Paquin, who along with myself developed the server at > IBM Academic Information Systems in Palo Alto. These were > the actual developers, not beta testers. I did not see neither Tom nor Eric. A guy that was claiming to be working with Berkowitz of the IBM MIT group handled the machines when we where there. > The rumor I heard was that when people came to the IBM display > at EDUCOM they asked why the server they had just seen at the > ACSC was slower than the one on display at the show. That was after we had stopped working on the low-level server routines. IBM Palo Alto was changing the code every day, and we did not have the latest, faster version. >>The server runs on an IBM RT PC with IBM/4.3 (Not to be confused with >>the AIX X-11 version announced for September 1988). As such it is still an >>unreleased and unannounced product. (Though, you won't have to wait long :-) > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Gee, commenting about unannounced IBM products? Better look over > your shoulder Marco, here come the IBM cops. :-) > > FYI: The Megapel/AED/APA-16/EGA server shipped yesterday. As far > as I know this is the first production quality X11 color server > on the market. FYI I knew that long ago, and note that the date of my posting was BEFORE the announcement of Feb. 2nd. And yes, it is the first production quality X11 color server on the market, and I claim that it probably would not have been if we (ACSC) hadn't done the work we did on it. But that is a personal opinion. By the way, IBM called it "IBM - ACSC joint development". I did not. -- Marco USC Advanced Computing Support Center
papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (02/05/88)
In article <1154@polyslo.UUCP> jeff@polyslo.UUCP (Jeff Weinstein) writes: > > Oops, I forgot my disclaimer on the previous article. > >Disclaimer: I speak for myself, not IBM or Cal Poly. > > --Jeff Weinstein I blew that one, too :-) Disclaimer: I speak for myself, not USC or the ACSC. -- Marco Papa