Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!rogerj
From: rogerj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Jagoda)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: What NeXT *should* do next.
Message-ID: <9967@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 23 Mar 90 23:43:53 GMT
References: <1378@shelby.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: rogerj@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Jagoda)
Followup-To: comp.sys.next
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 52

In article <1378@shelby.Stanford.EDU> lane@sumex-aim.stanford.edu (Christopher Lane) writes:
>
>\begin{opinion}

--me too! --

>
>NeXT's next machine should consist, minimally, of a new CPU board, new optical
>drive and additional hard disk offerings, housed in the current cube.  The CPU
>should be based on the new IBM RISC chip used in the recently announced
>RS/6000 line and contain the current (or improved) sound, Ethernet, optical
>driver and other specialized NeXT chips.  It should perform at between 20 & 30
>MIPS.
 
A few more details:
 
While it doesn't have to be the IBM RS chip, I REALLY think it should
be MIPS' new R4000 series as their compiler and VSLI technology is MUCH
better than IBM's, but I don't want to start a "whose RISC is better"
war so.....suffice it to say that it probably should be some kind of 
RISC with optimized compilers...what does Stallman like these days?
 
The sound chip BETTER be Motorola's new 98000 series. Much better
functionality and 56001 compatible.
 
Ethernet chips are getting faster, cheaper...good!
SCSI should support SCSI II or better, liscence SUN IDI...much
faster.
 
Finish the EMBIC chip please. I know this is silly, but it REALLY
would be nice to have TWO Optical Drives, double sided (512MB) so 
that copying ODs no longer takes two cubes!
 
All this should be AT LEAST 25 mips for under 9K....not  too much
to ask for these days, especially for a visionary like Steve!
 
>Though I don't believe the additional disk space required to accommodate this
>change to be too great, I also believe that NeXT could make the 660MB drive
>the smallest in their 'disk full' line (with appropriate price adjustments
>downwards), drop the 330MB drive and introduce a 1.2GB drive.  In addition,
>they could introduce a new optical drive that can read current optical disks
>but also handle a new double sided optical disk with ~ 512MB capacity.
 
Agreed, anything that comes almost 70% full is probab;y too small.
1.2G is NOT that much when you think about it and drive technology
is cheaper faster all the time. Also, the new cube should come
standard with 16MB RAM instead of 8 as SIMM prices keep falling
and the cube is so good at memory managment anyway.

--Roger Jagoda
--Cornell University
--FQOJ@CORNELLA.CIT.CORNELL.EDU