Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bloom-beacon!think!husc6!bunny!abh0
From: abh0@GTE.COM (Andrew Hudson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Rumor: NeXT as graphics back end to i860?
Message-ID: <7508@bunny.GTE.COM>
Date: 8 Sep 89 13:47:11 GMT
References: <3813@asylum.SF.CA.US> <11679@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: abh0@bunny.UUCP (Andrew Hudson)
Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA
Lines: 15

I heard an interesting rumor and would like to know if anyone has 
more info on the subject. It involves the integration of the Intel
860 'vector' microprocessor and the NeXT. The 860 is theoretically
capable of many megaflops of performance in single, double, and quad
precision. Chances are, however, that it will be a long time before
it exists as a turnkey system. Consider a scenario: using
multiprocessing techniques, either Mach or Linda, couple the 860 floating
point engine with the graphics capabilities of the NeXT. 

How farfetched does this seem? Has anyone heard of efforts or
investigations into something like this?

- Andrew Hudson
abh0@gte.com
GTE labs