Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!sunybcs!bingvaxu!leah!uwmcsd1!marque!ddsw1!gryphon!richard From: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.misc,comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Atari Transputers ? & A British ST/Amiga Rival ? Message-ID: <1623@gryphon.CTS.COM> Date: Sun, 20-Sep-87 03:50:47 EDT Article-I.D.: gryphon.1623 Posted: Sun Sep 20 03:50:47 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 20-Sep-87 21:13:25 EDT References: <8709181728.AA13664@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Reply-To: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) Followup-To: comp.sys.misc Organization: Trailing Edge Technology, Redondo Beach, CA Lines: 163 Keywords: Atari's, Amiga's, Transputers, RISC chips Xref: mnetor comp.sys.atari.st:5221 comp.sys.misc:818 comp.sys.amiga:8571 Note: I have X-posted this because it is interesting to more that just Atari types. Followups to the appropriate places folks! So please edit the newsgroups line! In article <8709181728.AA13664@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> KEITH@SYSD.SALFORD.AC.UK writes: >I have not seen any mention of Atari in connection with Transputers >recently on the digests or in the U.S. magazines so I thought you might >be interested in this... > >Most of the British computer press have printed news articles over the >past few weeks about certain Atari contracts. Apparently, Atari have >reached an agreement of some sort with a U.K. company Perihelion to >develop a Transputer based prototype ! > >Very few actual details have appeared and some of these appear to >contracdict each other. Those aspects of the machine that do seem >firm are: > >Operating System: > HELIOS is being developed by Perihelion as the standard operating > system for Transputers (this is being aided by a recently awarded > government grant). The current plans are that HELIOS will look like > UNIX with a full X-Windows interface. > > They are also reported as wanting to promote the use of C for > transputers instead of Occam to ease porting of applicaions. > >Processor: > Almost certainly the T800 (20 mhz), very impressive even when used > as a single processor system. It is a 32 bit processor and includes > an on-chip floating point unit. > > One article I have seen quotes the performance of the slower T414 > processor (20 mhz) as 10 MIPS ! > >What is not clear is the form that this new machine will take. Perihelion >chairman, Jack Lang is reported to have said that the new machine will >have "its own bit-blitter and lightning graphics of at least 1024x768 >resolution". The same article credits Lang with three stages of the >product: > > 1. As an ST add-on. In some way this is supposed to allow existing > software to run unaltered and about five times faster !? > > 2. An all new machine with an ST inside the transputers box. > This requires software to be ported over (why?) though this is > supposed to be simple for GEM based (C?) programs. The article > claimed that this would result in a faster, more connectable and > expandable box than anything produced by DEC. > > Lang (and everybody else ?) hopes to bring this in for under > 1000 pounds ($1600). > >A British ST/Amiga Rival ?? >--------------------------- > >I thought that news of a British micro that is due for official >launch at the PCW Show in London this month would be of interest >to ST users. And others... >Acorn, a company that were not exactly a raging success when they >tried to launch their BBC Micro range of computers in the U.S., have >released a machine that they claim is the worlds fastest micro ! > >The Archimedes (I know, silly name) range of micros is based on >Acorns own RISC architecture processor (the ARM). This is a 32 >bit chip with 27 general purpose 32 bit registers. In its current >form it runs at between 4 and 8 MIPS though this is really limited >by the speed of the memory (Acorn have clocked ARMs up to 18 MIPS). I hope they wern't doing NOP's :-) >There are over 20 graphics modes ranging from 25 by 40 text up to >640 by 512 (and 1280 by 978 on the A400 series) in up to 256 >simultaneous colours (i.e. 8bits/colour) from a pallette of 4096. >There is no blitter chip, but you don't miss it - the processor is so >fast that a blitter really isn't needed. The advantage of having a seperate blitter is that you can have the blitter and CPU operating simultaneously. > Software Sprites of any size >and colour (depending on mode) are provided. > >Sound is similar to the AMIGAs, using wave form tables. There are >8 sound channels each with a stereo position from 1 (left) thru >128 (centre) to 255 (right). Speech is possible but not part of the >bundled sotware. > >The machine is incredible ! I haved played with one for a few minutes >and should be able to get access to one on loan within the next few >months. It is difficult to describe how fast this machine is but two >items do illustrate the fact: > > - The desktop environment shipped with early machines is > provided on disk and is written in interpreted BASIC ! > This will be changed for the final release versions but > even now this is the fastest windowing envronment I have > seen; everything happens instantaneously, windows simply > appear ! > > - A demontration version of a game, still in development, is > supplied with the machine. You guide a "lander" type craft > over a detailed surface made up of cubic patches. You can fly > the lander in ANY direction, towards and away from the screen, > over the valleys and lakes of the planet. All the particles, > splashes in the water, the rocket motors all behave > ballistically. It may turn out to be a terrible game but it > is an incredible demonstration of processing power. > >The Operating system offers a form of multi-tasking and there is a >true multi-tasking, unix like operating system under development for >the A400 series. A 6502 emulation that can run "legal" BBC Micro >programs is supplied with the machine and a software emulation of >the 8088 running MS-DOS should also be available - both of these >emulations are supposedly faster than the machines they mimic ! > >Up to 2 or 4 slots are supported in-machine and these will be able >to take a variety of cards. One of the first cards is a co-processor >unit with a 10MHz 80186 running MS-DOS. Others for the A400 series >will include a floating point unit (normally emulated in software so >no change in code is required) and even additional, faster, ARMs >working in parrallel ! > >One of the main problems I can see at present is that memory is >currently limited to 4 MB by the memory management unit even though >the processor can address at least 32 MBs. Also, the machine could do >with a decent set of bundled software instead of the demos currently >planned. > >Prices for the A300 series are close to those of the Atari MEGA ST2 and >the A400 series is around the price of an AMIGA A2000. > >Who knows whether Acorn will risk the U.S. market again but this >machine might push Atari into proceeding with the Transputer project ! > >Keith Wolstenholme >JANET: UK.AC.SALFORD.R-D I wish Acorn a lot of luck. This sounds like a King-Hell machine. Although I wonder how fast this thing really is compared to a 25Mhz 68020. And hey, if there are 25 Mhz 68020's is it possible to get faster ones as grade outs ? 'Bridge' was selling 12 Mhz Z-80 cards for UNIBUS using grade out 8Mhz Z-80's. just how fast can you push a 68020 anyway ? ----------------------- I have some serious doubts about the wisdom of posting to both ST and Amiga groups, but I thought perhaps this was sufficiantly interesting. So lets try to be nice this time, huh ? -- Richard J. Sexton INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard "It's too dark to put the keys in my ignition..."