rlin@cs.ubc.ca (Robert Lin) (07/09/90)
I talked to an IBM insider this morning, and learned that IBM has put out NextStep for PS/2 and RS/6000 officially, and that it is priced at $500. My source said performance on PS/2 is quite sluggish, for a couple of reasons: - The 80387 FPU is quite slow compred to Motorola's, and Postscript really needs good FPU support; - AIX interprocess communications is not as fast as MACH's, which means messages sent from applications to the DPS slows down; and - The hardware architecture isn't as well optimized for thoroughput as NeXT, which really shows up whenever I/O occurs... modem, disk drive, ethernet, etc. Finally, the only display currently supported is the Matrox MegaPel video board/monitor, which is quite expensive. All together, it makes the PS/2 version quite expensive to put together, and not as fast as the NeXT at that. Interestingly enough, a 80486 system running NextStep is about as fast as a NeXT. While these are fairly broad statements and are more concerned with screen I/O than with raw MIPS or what-not, it does show how the dual ported video RAM and a good system architecture can go a long ways to help a mediocre CPU.
bobeson@saturn.ucsc.edu (Robert Ellefson) (07/10/90)
I am holding the official IBM announcment from the internal IBM marketing database, regarding AIX NextStep. The planned availability date is September 28, 1990. Inlcluded is the Objective-C compiler, Window Server, Desktop Workspace, Interface Builder, and of course display PostScript. Cost is $500. The only graphics adapter currently supported is the Matrox 8-bit Color Adapter 1280 x 1024 Model PG2-1281 The machine requirements for the development environment are listed as a PS/2 model 70 or 80, 8 MB RAM, 185 MB disk, 80387, and a mouse. I don't have the RS/6000 version information here. I will look it up, though. Mail me if you need more details. bobeson@spica.ucsc.edu
smb@datran2.uunet (Steven M. Boker) (07/10/90)
In article <5019@darkstar.ucsc.edu>, bobeson@saturn.ucsc.edu (Robert Ellefson) writes: > The planned availability date is September 28, 1990. > The only graphics adapter currently supported is the > Matrox 8-bit Color Adapter 1280 x 1024 Model PG2-1281 Does this mean that IBM is going to ship the color version of NeXTStep before NeXT? And running on a _gasp_ DOS machine as well? I don't imagine that a ps/2 is going to give the NeXT box anything to worry about when it comes to speed, but I'm suprised that SJ would allow big blue to have the scoop on color. Even if it is "baby color" (to quote Mr. Jobs). Steve. -- #====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====# # Steve Boker # Black holes are how God divides by zero. # # smb@datran2.uunet.uu.net # ....I have my own methods. # #====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#