V2002A@TEMPLEVM.BITNET (10/03/87)
Hi, Vince Pugliese (apollo@ecf.toronto.edu) describes a theoretical machine that incorporates a laser printer, cpu and hard disk. Such a beast would require some innovative soft/firmware to control it. Any PC could spool its program load requests to the server just like a print request. The problem gets complicated when the program needs additional data from the disk. If the printer is interpreting Post- script at the time, then response time may become unacceptable. A better suggestion (already in use?) would be intelligent workstation software for a network of PCs with a large central server connected to a standard laser printer. A few weeks ago a suggestion appeared on unix-wizards about a cpu with 300 meg of memory and no hard disk. Should a new discussion group be created to discuss the future of computer HW? I don't know if one exists already. JUNTO%UMSLVMA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU might be a good place for it since they are a new promising server node that are open to suggestions about new topics. Andy Wing V2002A%TEMPLEVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU