cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) (03/04/91)
What is the best platform for running a virtual world system? This is a recurring question for both novices and experienced researchers alike. Currently, the most sophisticated systems use Silicon Graphics Powerstations as rendering devices. Others have constructed lower end systems on everything from Amigas to Sun workstations to dedicated engines, like the stripped-down driver marketed by England's Division Ltd. Autodesk has pioneered the turbocharged PC platform. So far about the only thing we haven't heard about is a VW system running on a Mac, a NeXT, or an H-P/Apollo configuration. Are there developments in the area of chips and hardware that might eventually result in one or a few de facto machine standards for virtual world productions? Besides the British, who have graciously shared their experiences with the rest of us, what are our overseas colleagues' experiences? Are the Japanese experimenting with NEC workstations or the Germans working on Nixdorf's? Work at Digital Equipment and Sun suggests that new machines will be forthcoming, and that chip manufacturers indeed perceive a new market for specialized devices (not only for rendering virtual worlds but also for presenting them to the participant via I/O tools). Are others working toward similar ends? I feel that it's an appropriate moment, in the wake of the HIT Lab's successful Industry Symposium on Virtual Worlds Techno- logy, to start asking for hard answers to some of these vexing problems. The field is ready to take off on the applications side, once the machinery is ready to support it. The sci.virtual-worlds community welcomes your replies, especially those of you in workstation/chips/hardware business in North America and around the world. Bob Jacobson Moderator