vinsci@ra.abo.fi (Leonard Norrgard) (12/01/89)
Well, I got a bunch of request for the info on Sangs Transputer cards
that I promised too long ago, so here we go...
DISCLAIMER: This is not a review. I'm not connected to any of the
companies mentioned, not even as a customer*. Nor am I
connected to any of the research projects utilizing
transputers here (no Amigas involved as far as I know).
The information below is directly from sales brochures,
judge yourself, I'm merely repeating it.
* Actually I have a bunch of Prentice-Hall's books...
First the addresses of some of the Amiga Transputer companies:
Sang Computersysteme GmbH (The transputer cards & software)
Am Wuennesberg 13
4300 Essen 1
West Germany
phone (intl +) 49-201-7101191
FAX 49-201-710410
Distributed Software Limited (Helios software)
670 Aztec West,
Almondsbury,
Bristol BS12 4SD
England
phone (intl +) 44-454-612777
FAX 44-454-618188
3L Limited (Has Parallel C, Parallel Pascal &
Peel House Parallel Fortran)
Ladywell
Livingston
West Lothian
EH54 6AG
Scotland
phone (intl +) 44-506-415959
FAX 44-506-415944
Prentice-Hall sells the book `The HELIOS operating system'
written by Perihelion Software Ltd. (Perihelion has a well-known
connection to the Amiga...) The ISBN number is (probably)
13-386004-3 and price (subj. to change) USD 35.95.
Of course, the address to `Parallelogram' should be here too. It's
a magazine focusing on the transputer market and is published in England.
---------------------------
o The SANG cards:
There were three cards in the family back in August when I got
the brochures. According to the brochures, a fourth card became
available in October.
- MEGA-Link01 "Multi-Transputer-System for your PC/AT"
1 - 4 Transputers (T414 or T800) per card
1MB or 4MB RAM per Transputer
Up to 40 MIPS / 6 MFLOPS
Customer configurable
For PC/AT:s, Atari ST or Amiga 2000
3 year warranty, made in Germany
- MEGA-Link02 "High Performance Graphics Board"
T424 or T800 + Inmos G300 color video controller
1, 2, 4 or 8MB main memory
1 or 2MB dedicated dual ported video RAM
16.7 million colors simultaneously or 256 out of
16.7 million colors via color look-up table
10 MHz up to 110 MHz video dot clock (freely selectable)
Programmable resolutions from 512x512 (50 Hz interlaced,
true color) up to 1280x1024 (67Hz non interlaced,
256 out of 16.7 million colors)
Port for frame-grabbers, U-Matic video etc.
DMA-interface
"[...] The MEGA-Link02 has been developed to allow the
transputers a powerful display of their graphics data. High
resolution with few (256) colors and true-color display in
TV-resolution can be realized easily.
[...] The addressing range of the transputer includes 1 or 2MB
of dual ported video memory (VRAM) which the transputer can
access more than 95% of the time without any restrictions,
even during display periods. Therefore a memory bandwidth
of 19 megabytes/second is available for drawing.
Video data may not only be written to the video memory by the
local transputer but -via the links- by other ones too,
allowing real parallel image processing.
[...] Programming is supported by the included drivers.
[...] Some sample programs (raytracer, mandelbrot etc.) make
the lead-in easier and demonstrate the possibilities of the
MEGA-Link02. At the moment drivers for the 3L parallel
compilers, for OCS and Helios are available. An X-windows
server for Helios is being prepared.
We also supply equipment to connect the MEGA-Link02 to monitors,
televisions, videorecorders and U-Matic engines."
- MEGA-Link03 "The Transputer Memory Board"
T425/T800 transputer
1MB up to 32MB of main memory
DMA-interface
Compatible and cascadable with all MEGA-Link boards and other
Inmos B004/B008 compatible systems
3 year warranty, made in Germany
- MEGA-Link04
This is the card that probably was released in October
(I haven't checked). The only thing the August brochure
says is:
"An unlimited number of transputer boards can be connected
via the 4 links including graphics output (MEGA-Link02) or
a very fast SCSI hard disc controller (MEGA-Link04, available
in October '89)."
---------------------------
The brochures go on at length, describing other available hardware, all the
software, has a price list etc. But I suggest you contact the companies
mentioned above for more information.
-- Leonard "Par CU is"
--
Leonard Norrgard, vinsci@ra.abo.fi, vinsci@finabo.bitnet, +358-21-6375762, EET.