[comp.sys.sgi] 3rd party RAM, disk, and software query

weinhous@CASTOR.BERKELEY.EDU ("Martin S. Weinhous") (11/14/89)

We need to augment our two 4D120GTXs with ...
  SOFTWARE:	C++, Pascal, LISP, and PHIGS+
  RAM:		power series SIMMS
  DISK:		ESDI and/or SCSI
  MISC:		video frame grabber
Given that SGI's present prices are ..., well "high," we would
appreciate comments on 3rd party sources for the above.

Specifically:  Has anyone implemented any c++ on a power series
Iris?  Which one?  How well does it work?  Is SGI's c++ their own?
How well does it work?  Does the gnu c++ work on the power series?
Any general comments on Pascal, LISP Phigs+?

Who is getting Power Series RAM from what company(s)?  At what
prices?

How does performance compare for ESDI and SCSI disks on a 120GTX?
Is it different for a 240?  Who is getting disks from what company(s)?
At what prices?

Has anyone had experience with the SGI video boards?  How well do
they function as frame grabbers?  What are the "good" alternatives?
(We need a good S/N ratio for accurate digitization of x-ray images.)

As these questions are of general interest, I promise to sumarize
the responses and post them to info-iris.

Thanks in advance.
--

						Marty Weinhous
					  <weinhous@castor.wustl.edu>
				 	<...!uunet!wucs1!dinorah!weinhous>

ciemo@bananaPC.sgi.com (Dave Ciemiewicz) (11/14/89)

In article <8911131818.AA00479@castor.wustl.edu>,
weinhous@CASTOR.BERKELEY.EDU ("Martin S. Weinhous") writes:
> We need to augment our two 4D120GTXs with ...
>   SOFTWARE:	C++, Pascal, LISP, and PHIGS+
>   RAM:		power series SIMMS
>   DISK:		ESDI and/or SCSI
>   MISC:		video frame grabber
> Given that SGI's present prices are ..., well "high," we would
> appreciate comments on 3rd party sources for the above.
> 
> Specifically:  Has anyone implemented any c++ on a power series
> Iris?  Which one?  How well does it work?  Is SGI's c++ their own?

The current C++ offering is a port of the AT&T C++ translator version
1.2.1 with some bug fixes by SGI.  We have also modified our dbx to
support unmangled
C++ variables and members of structures and classes which helps immensely in
the debugging of C++ code.

The translator works on all members of IRIS-4D series, including the 4D/120GTX.
The price is $1995.  I think AT&T charges $2500 for a source license. 
You won't
get the dbx mods with an AT&T source license.  Also, the C++ translator works
with all of the compiler tools including the profiling tools: pixie and prof.
Pixie and prof allow you to do a line-by-line execution analysis of your C++
application.

> How well does it work?

We have been using the C++ translator internally at SGI for over a year.
The IRIS WorkSpace (TM SGI), the visual systems administration tools, and
wsh were all written in C++.  The developers who wrote these applications
did it on just about every model of IRIS-4D.

Personally, I'm hooked.  Most of my own personal development projects have
been done in C++.

> Does the gnu c++ work on the power series?

The IRIS-4D compilers run on all SGI IRIS-4Ds.  If you find a port of
g++ for an IRIS-4D, it should run on any of the IRIS-4Ds including your
power series
systems.

> Any general comments on Pascal, LISP Phigs+?

The SGI Pascal is the MIPS Pascal compiler.  Currently, the compiler is an
ANSI/ISO Level 0 implementation with extensions from MIPS.  Look for more
extensions in the future.

For LISP, both Franz LISP and IBUKI Common LISP are available.  I don't
know the relative merits either one.  From the SGI Geometry Partners directory:

	IBUKI
	1447 North Shoreline Blvd.
	Mountain View, CA 94043
	(415) 961-4996

	Franz, Inc.
	1995 University Avenue
	Berkeley, CA 94704
	(415) 548-3600

For a PHIGS+ implementation, SGI offers Figaro from Template Graphics Software.
The upcoming 2.0 release includes the PHIGS+ extensions.  The price
for the development environment is $3000.  The price for the run-time
environment is $700.

I hope this is of some help.

jmb@patton.sgi.com (Jim Barton) (11/15/89)

In article <8911131818.AA00479@castor.wustl.edu>, weinhous@CASTOR.BERKELEY.EDU ("Martin S. Weinhous") writes:
> We need to augment our two 4D120GTXs with ...
...
>   MISC:		video frame grabber
...

The Live Video Digitizer is a frame grabber board which will work with your
GTX quite nicely.  It can do lots of nifty things, including letting you
watch soap operas in a window while you hack away.  One interesting
demo allows the overlay of geometry on a live video image, for instance
using pieces of "flight" to shoot missles at live planes coming in from
a VCR.

This is a shipping product which is available >now<.

-- Jim Barton
Silicon Graphics Computer Systems    "UNIX: Live Free Or Die!"
jmb@sgi.sgi.com, sgi!jmb@decwrl.dec.com, ...{decwrl,sun}!sgi!jmb