HARDYID@kirk.vax.aston.ac.uk (06/22/89)
Jong-Hoon Oh asks: > Does anybody has an experience with B008 board pluged in Apollo DN3000 >(or DN3500,4500...)? Can you let me know the experience? Which software >is usable with that configuration? Is it working on UNIX(SR10) or AGIS ? >Another server written for D700D, or Helios? Cresco Data A/S have developed in conjunction with Apollo Computers a Transputer Software Environment (CD-TSE) which they are now marketing. This runs on Apollo DN3000/DN3500/DN4000/DN4500 workstations. The CD-TSE consists of two software components the CD-TDS and the CD-CPS. The CD-TDS is a nice port of the standard INMOS D700D TDS to the Apollo environment. This offers all the usual tools (compiler, debugger etc), only the server is altered. The server makes use of Apollo's Dialogue user interface to provide a mouse driven interface to the TDS. This makes the majority of the commands (including those required to drive the utilities) available from simple to use menus, most commands are also available from the keyboard. I've been using this for some time now in various beta test versions and I think this is a much nicer environment to use than the standard PC based TDS. The second software component is the Co-processor Server (CD-CPS). This basically allows a process running on the host Apollo workstation to boot the connected transputer(s) and to communicate with them. Routines that are to executed on the transputer system are written using the CD-TDS, a tool known as the 'Client Stub Source Writer' (CSSW) is used to extract the compiled occam code into a stub file (either in C or Pascal format) which can then be compiled and bound with your application program. Included in the stub file generated by the CSSW are call stubs to the transputer routines. All the Apollo based client program has to do to make use of these routines is to acquire the transputer device and make a procedure call to the required routine; the code in the stub file automatically deals with the loading of code and passing of parameters to the transputer. In addition a transputer routine may be invoked using a 'fork' variant of the procedure call, this allows the workstation to execute code in parallel with the transputer system; another call is made later in order to obtain the return parameters. If a procedure is invoked in this way then the worksation and the root transputer can communicate with each other through special parameters passed in the invoking procedure call. On the transputer side these parameters apear to be standard occam channels while on the Apollo side they are viewed as Apollo Mailboxes. Conversion between the data formats of the Apollo's 68020/30 and transputer processors is performed by the CD-CPS. I understand that Cresco Data are working on ports of the servers required to run the 3L range of compilers and the Inmos unbundled toolset. As mentioned at the beginining this software runs on the Apollo DN3000/4000 range of workstations. A transputer board can be fitted into one of the PC slots available on these workstations. The Inmos BOO8 board is supported as is Cresco's own CD-TB40 board. The later should provide a better performance as it is designed around the DMA provided on the Apollo's (I've only tried the BOO8 though). Be warned though DN3000's do not support DMA to the transputer boards and are therefore limited to the speed of programmed I/O for communication. Currently the software only runs under release SR9.7 of the Apollo OS (either Aegis or DOMAIN-IX UNIX), though I understand that a SR10 version is planned. I do not work for Cresco Data as such this short review reflects my own opinions. My interest in this, just in case anyone is interested, is in the use of multi- transputers as 'compute servers' in a heterogeneous network using Apollo's Network Computing System (NCS) but that as they say is another story. Cresco Data Address :- Apollo Contact:- Cresco Data A/S Bruno Boeniger oresundsvej 148 European Technical Development DK-2300 Kbh S. Apollo Computer AG Denmark Punten 4, CH-8602 Wangen Phone: +45 31 554270 Zurich, Switzerland Fax: +45 31 550153 Phone: 835 7777 Fax: 835 7788 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ANTS :: Aston Networked Transputer System | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Hardy Dept. Computer Science Aston University Birmingham B4 7ET Tel: 021 359 3611 (Ext. 4272) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------