philipp@bebop.gipsi.fr (Philippe Prindeville) (10/18/89)
Le tX -- A New Line of High Performance X Display Stations PARIS, Oct. 4 -- Gipsi S.A. recently announced le tX, a line of X Window System terminals. These high-speed stand-alone display stations are based on a Motorola 16MHz 68030 CPU complemented by a 68881 FPU and custom gate-array graphics accelerators, called GROBs (Gipsi Raster Op Booster). The system offers X Version 11, Release 3 (X11R3). Unlike other X devices, le tX offers a synthesis of terminal and workstation concepts: + Le tX provides an intelligent user interface where display-intensive operations may be performed locally. Customized interfaces may be run from this station to reach a variety of distributed computing facilities, such as supercomputers, database engines, and image processors. Tailored front-ends may be developed using the facilities of le tX compact yet powerful kernel. + Size and cost are contained while performance and relia- bility are increased by using a dedicated design. How- ever, expansion capabilities are offered without the com- plexity of a general purpose bus. Add-on features allow a variety of resolutions and I/O dev- ices: Model Memory Resolution Display Refresh (Hz) Price (FF) M 2 MB 1280x960x1 19" B&W 66 32 400 Me 2 MB 1280x960x2 19" Greyscale 66 38 000 C4 2 MB 1280x768x4 16" Colour 60 59 900 C8 4 MB 1280x1024x8 19" Colour 60 79 400 Expansion is up to 8 MB, and 8 video planes. I/O devices offered include: PostScript printers, digitizers, and 3-1/2" disk drives. EPROM is provided for configuration. Network connection is via Ethernet (thin or thick). A 102-key key- board is provided in QWERTY or AZERTY (french) layouts. The mouse is optical, and has 3 buttons. Le tX software is equally state-of-the-art: layered on Chorus--a real-time message-passing kernel (including Berke- ley sockets)--it contains the `core' TCP/IP applications: TFTP, RARP, and BOOTP (at power-up); TELNET, RLOGIN, and Domain Name Service. Custom interfaces may be ported to le tX through the developer programme, and typically migrate quite readily. For information about pricing and distribution, please con- tact Jeff Abramatic, +33 (1) 30.60.75.00, <jfa@gipsi.fr> or mcvax!inria!gipsi!jfa.