nelson@wdl1.UUCP (Gregory L Nelson) (03/17/89)
We use our Encore for digital signal processing algorithm design. We
currently use low-end Sun workstations for graphics output, and they are now
obviously inadequate for new data graphics techniques we are starting to
design. We are investigating alternatives for adding better interactive
graphics capability, one display station for the moment. Every vendor we talk
with indicates that their system is vastly superior to all their competitors'
systems, and it seems unlikely that *every* one is telling the truth. So my
basic survey question is,
"What do you use to graphically display the massive amounts of data generated
by your Encore?" with the perhaps-obvious sub-question, "And what do you do
you like and not like about it?"
Since our goals and priorities may be different from yours, here's what is
important to us:
o resolution--no smaller than 1024 by 1024.
o color--8 bits (256 colors) pseudo-color is enough; full 24-bit RGB true
color is probably too expensive, unless it is free <grin>.
o 2-D vector, 3-D vector, and 3-D polygon performance--we have a need in some
cases to display lots of data, so speed is important; we are weighting each
equally right now because we will be investigating various data presentation
techniques, and we also want something that can do all things reasonably
well.
o PHIGS, or better yet, PHIGS+ support--we anticipate developing non-trivial
amounts of graphics code, and want to be free to port it to other platforms
with minimum effort, and PHIGS seems to be the best non-proprietary graphics
standard that includes 3D; we also anticipate PHIGS capability becoming
universally available soon after the PEX implementation code is publicly
released (as happened with X-Windows).
o price--somewhat an open issue right now, but rest assured we will not double
our Encore investment with a single graphics station!
Please e-mail directly to me; I will summarize and post to this newsgroup if
there is sufficient interest. Thank you, in advance, for your help.
--Greg Nelson
Gregory Nelson uucp: nelson@wdl1.fac.ford.com
Ford Aerospace Corporation
3825 Fabian Way, MS X-21
Palo Alto, CA 94303 telephone: (415) 852-4090