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From: paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: NuBus traffic
Keywords: NuBus, ethernet, video
Message-ID: <872@taniwha.UUCP>
Date: 14 Jun 91 18:00:47 GMT
References: <1991Jun11.160305.7049@hubcap.clemson.edu> <1991Jun11.190925.25293@world.std.com> <871@taniwha.UUCP> <1991Jun13.183543.12392@umbc3.umbc.edu>
Reply-To: paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell)
Organization: Taniwha Systems Design, Oakland
Lines: 39

In article <1991Jun13.183543.12392@umbc3.umbc.edu> brian@umbc4.umbc.edu (Brian Cuthie) writes:
>
>What I really keep waiting for, is someone to come out with a graphics board
>for the MacIIfx that uses the processor direct slot.

This probably wont happen, not because it's not a good idea, but because
whoever does it wont sell many there aren't many 'fxs out there compared
with cheaper NuBus machines and 'si etc

>there is a real bottleneck between the processor and the video ram.  Worse,
>the NuBus is EXPENSIVE to design interfaces for.  Even the chipset that
>TI has is $50 in quantity.

but anyone doing serious NuBus work does their own silicon and pays far less
than $50 (for the equivalent functionality they need from the TI chips - usually
they pack lots of other stuff in there too). The first NuBus card I 
did (not a video card) had 5 chips in the bus interface, 1 of them was a PAL
(no TI chips), total cost <$10, the equivalent PDS hardware probably
wouldn't be any cheaper. The TI chipset is good if you want to build a
bus master board - but then not many people do that, or if you don't know much
about NuBus and want to put out a card quickly.

>So, what would be nice, is for someone to introduce a video display board for
>the IIfx that used the processor direct slot.  It would be MUCH faster 
>and should cost less.  It's not hard to imagine that a 40 Mhz 68030 
>running quickdraw would start to approach the speed of a 25 Mhz 29K.

Nowdays I think it's highly unlikely, MacLeek is full of news of future
Apple high end machines - my guess is that the 'fx a dead-end (from a product
planning point of view - it's still a good machine) and people will be
looking at those.

	Paul

-- 
Paul Campbell    UUCP: ..!mtxinu!taniwha!paul     AppleLink: CAMPBELL.P

Tom Metzger's White Ayrian Resistance has been enjoined to stop selling Nazi
Bart Simpson t-shirts - Tom of course got it wrong, Bart is yellow, not white.