jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) (09/05/90)
1. Third party RAM: I've seen it advertised, but has anyone actually bought any? What was the cost in terms of $/MB? 2. CD-ROM. Is IBM doing their own standard, or is it one of the SONY/ISO/whatever standards? Can I boot from CD-ROM? What products from IBM are available on CD-ROM? (Other than AIX.) 3. Languages. We were told "IBM will support C, where C means: ANSI C, C++ and Objective C." All I've seen so far is ANSI C. Any news on the other two? 4. Third party disk drives. Any horror stories? I assume that IBM correctly implented the SCSI standard... :-) 5. Graphics cards. Anyone bought any of them? How do they really perform relative to a stock 320 (what we plan on buying the most of). Please email replies, I'll summarize if there's interest. Thanks. -- J. Eric Townsend -- University of Houston Dept. of Mathematics (713) 749-2120 Internet: jet@uh.edu Bitnet: jet@UHOU Skate UNIX(r)
drake@drake.almaden.ibm.com (09/06/90)
In article <1990Sep4.200532.19719@lavaca.uh.edu> jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) writes: >2. CD-ROM. Is IBM doing their own standard, or is it one of the >SONY/ISO/whatever standards? Can I boot from CD-ROM? What products >from IBM are available on CD-ROM? (Other than AIX.) I believe that AIX 3 implements the ISO standard CD-ROM filesystem. The only product currently available from IBM on CD-ROM is the complete set of AIX Version 3 and RISC System/6000 documentation. AIX itself is not available on CD-ROM; it comes on 8mm or 1/4" tapes, preloaded on hard disk from the factory, and/or on 3.5" diskettes. Given that, you cannot boot AIX from the CD-ROM. >3. Languages. We were told "IBM will support C, where C means: >ANSI C, C++ and Objective C." All I've seen so far is ANSI C. >Any news on the other two? IBM announced C++ and Objective C on Feb 15th, the same day the system was announced. Objective C is part of NextStep, and will be available from IBM in the 3rd quarter of 1990; for C++ the IBM announcement refers interested parties to Oasys's Glockenspiel C++. >5. Graphics cards. Anyone bought any of them? How do they really >perform relative to a stock 320 (what we plan on buying the most of). The question confuses me. IBM sells two graphics adapter cards that could be used in a Model 320; the 2-D adapter and the 3-D adapter. A Model 320 can be configured without either of these cards, in which case it has no graphics capability at all; it can serve as a LAN server or as a host for ASCII terminals (VT-100-ish things). With either card it supports graphics of the obvious type (2-D or 3-D). So asking what the performance of a graphic card relative to a stock 320 doesn't mean anything to me ... can you be more specific about what you're interested in? Sam Drake / IBM Almaden Research Center Internet: drake@ibm.com BITNET: DRAKE at ALMADEN Usenet: ...!uunet!ibmarc!drake Phone: (408) 927-1861
jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) (09/07/90)
In article <154@rufus.UUCP> drake@drake.almaden.ibm.com writes: >In article <1990Sep4.200532.19719@lavaca.uh.edu> jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) writes: >>3. Languages. We were told "IBM will support C, where C means: >>ANSI C, C++ and Objective C." All I've seen so far is ANSI C. >>Any news on the other two? > >IBM announced C++ and Objective C on Feb 15th, the same day the system >was announced. They sure did. But no one I know has a copy yet. When will it be publicly available? There is an internal-only version of cfront 2.0 (maybe 2.1), but that doesn't do me any good. >>5. Graphics cards. Anyone bought any of them? How do they really >>perform relative to a stock 320 (what we plan on buying the most of). >anything to me ... can you be more specific about what you're interested >in? I assumed (incorrectly) that the 320 came with some inherent graphics ability and that the 2d and 3d cards were add-ons. I was wrong. How is the performance of the 3d card compared to the 2d card? -- J. Eric Townsend -- University of Houston Dept. of Mathematics (713) 749-2120 Internet: jet@uh.edu Bitnet: jet@UHOU Skate UNIX(r)
drake@drake.almaden.ibm.com (09/08/90)
In article <1990Sep6.172900.5859@lavaca.uh.edu> jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) writes: > >They sure did. But no one I know has a copy yet. When will it >be publicly available? The next sentence of my append partially answered the question: third quarter 1990 for Objective C (as part of NextStep). For C++, I'd suggest contacting Oasys directly. >How is the performance of the 3d card compared to the 2d card? Yep, without a graphics adapter the systems have no graphics capability at all ... perfect for environments where the system will be configured as a server or ASCII host only. No need to pay for what you don't need! The additional capabilities of the 3-D cards are useful primarily in a GL environment. You can run X and GL applications simultaneously on the 3-D adapter. I think the quote is 100,000 shaded polygons per second on the 3-D card. The 2-D adapters are great for X and NextStep, where the 3-D capabilities of the more expensive cards are not exploited. Here's some detail from the announcement material: GRAYSCALE GRAPHICS DISPLAY ADAPTER (#2760): The Grayscale Graphics Display Adapter provides support for an IBM 8508 19-inch monochrome, analog non-interlaced; 1280 X 1024 67Hz graphic display. 16 concurrent shades of gray may be displayed from a palette of 256 shades of gray. This adapter occupies one card slot in the Micro Channel and is an AT (R) form factor card. (R) Registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. CHARACTERISTICS: o 4-bit pixels, 16 concurrent shades of gray o Palette of 256 shades of gray o Programmable two-plane sprite cursor (three gray shades out of 256 shades of gray and transparent mode) o 1-bit per pixel mask map allows both rectangular and non-rectangular scissoring o 1-bit per pixel maps are color expandable to 4-bits per pixel o Integer coordinate system o Maximum of two per system. COLOR GRAPHICS DISPLAY ADAPTER (#2770): The Color Graphics Display Adapter provides support for 16-inch, 19-inch and 23-inch, analog non-interlaced; 1280 X 1024 60Hz color graphic displays. Two hundred and fifty-six concurrent colors from a palette of 16.7 million colors may be displayed. This adapter occupies one card slot in the Micro Channel and is an AT form factor card. The cable from the adapter to the display is included and is 2.5 meters (8 feet) in length. CHARACTERISTICS: o 8-bit pixels, 256 concurrent colors o 16.7 million colors palette o Programmable two-plane cursor (three colors out of 16.7 million colors and transparent mode) o 1-bit per pixel mask map allows both rectangular and non-rectangular scissoring o 1-bit per pixel maps are color expandable to 4-bits per pixel o Integer coordinate system o Maximum of two per system. HIGH-PERFORMANCE 8-BIT 3D COLOR GRAPHICS PROCESSOR (#2780): The High-Performance 8-Bit 3D Color Graphics Processor provides support for 16-inch, 19-inch and 23-inch analog non-interlaced; 1280 X 1024, 60Hz color graphic displays. Two hundred and fifty-six concurrent colors may be displayed from a palette of 16.7 million colors. This adapter provides higher function than the Color Graphics Display Adapter and a modular approach to graphics. This feature requires two card slots in the Micro Channel. The cable from the adapter to display is included and is 2.5 meters (8 feet) in length. Only one color graphics processor per system may be installed. This base feature provides an 8-bit, 256 color, 2D and 3D adapter. Two optional features are available for the High-Performance 8-Bit 3D Color Graphics Processor (#2780). The optional 24-Bit Z-Buffer Solid Rendering Option (#2782) provides for hidden line and hidden surface removal and enables smooth surface rendering. The other optional feature, the 24-Bit Color Graphics Frame Buffer Upgrade (#2783) (this is a field only upgrade), provides an additional 16-bit buffer, 16 sets of 256 concurrent colors, two additional overlay planes, two additional window control planes, and 24-bit "true color." The 16 sets of 256 concurrent colors provide for defining colors in separate windows to keep the colors consistent when the cursor is moved from window to window. Color modes supported by this option are single or double buffered 8-bit, single or double buffered 12-bit, and single buffered 24-bit frame buffer modes. The two optional features plug on to the adapter cards and do not occupy additional card slots. CHARACTERISTICS: o 16.7 million color palette o 8-, 12-, 24-bit color modes o 24-bit Z buffer o Two or four overlay planes o Two or four window control planes o Support for arbitrarily shaped windows o Support for multiple, colored, local and infinite lights o Support for diffuse, ambient, and specular (Phong) lighting models o Support for flat and smooth (Gouraud) shading o Support for dithered RGB shading o Support for anti-aliased lines o Support for backface polygon removal o Support for 6-axis clipping o Support for depth cueing o Support for pan and zoom of images o Programmable cursor two-plane (three out of 16.7 million colors and transparent mode) o Integer and 32-bit floating-point coordinate systems. HIGH-PERFORMANCE 24-BIT 3D COLOR GRAPHICS PROCESSOR (#2781): The High-Performance 24-Bit 3D Color Graphics Processor (#2781) is the same as the High-Performance 8-Bit 3D Color Graphics Processor (#2780) with the addition of the 24-Bit Color Graphics Frame Buffer Upgrade (#2783) as a standard feature. Only one color graphics processor per system may be installed. One optional feature is available for the High-Performance 24-Bit 3D Color Graphics Processor (#2781). The optional 24-Bit Z-Buffer Solid Rendering Option (#2782) provides for hidden line and hidden surface removal and enables smooth surface rendering. CHARACTERISTICS: The High-Performance 24-Bit 3D Color Graphics Processor (#2781) characteristics are the same as the High-Performance 8-Bit 3D Color Graphics Processor (#2780) with the following additional enhancements: o 8-, 12- or 24-bit pixels, 24-bit "true color" o 16 sets of 256 concurrent colors o Four overlay planes o Four window control planes o 24-bit Z buffer. Sam Drake / IBM Almaden Research Center Internet: drake@ibm.com BITNET: DRAKE at ALMADEN Usenet: ...!uunet!ibmarc!drake Phone: (408) 927-1861