Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!ukc!stl!stc!idec!camcon!anc
From: anc@camcon.uucp (Adrian Cockcroft)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.transputer
Subject: Re: SUN (VME) Interface
Summary: some VME vendors
Message-ID: <1481@titan.camcon.uucp>
Date: 16 May 88 09:26:55 GMT
References: <751@trwspf.TRW.COM>
Organization: Cambridge Consultants Ltd., Cambridge, UK
Lines: 49

In article <751@trwspf.TRW.COM>, bebop@trwspf.TRW.COM (Allen Takatsuka) writes:
> I am interested in any experience anyone has had interfacing transputers
> to a SUN workstation.  I am specifically interested in the interface between
> the transputer system and SUN's SunView windowing environment.

There have been several approaches, broadly

1) a serial link adaptor on the VME bus

2) dual ported memory between VME and Transputer

3) a hybrid of the two

Approach 1) is easy but slow, Meiko, Parsytec and others have interface
boards based on it. Expect 60Kb/s Maximum.

Approach 2) is faster. Topologix's board has 4 T800's, one of which is
dual ported onto the bus. The Inmos B011 (Tadpole TSC) which is a normal
sized VME board also has dual ported RAM. Kodak have launched a parallel
image processing system based on SUNs/Transputers that uses dual ported RAM.

Approach 3) is used by Niche Technology.  They have a T4 with 64Kb of fast
dual ported static RAM that acts as an intelligent interface controller.  It
talks to the SUN via 8 8Kbyte buffers, four in and four out, which map onto
its four links.  The Unix device driver appears the same as an inmos link for
read/write system calls which go through to the processors hanging off the
links.  For a SUN 3/260 the performance is measured as 700 Kb/s to the
Transputer and 160 Kb/s to the SUN (using large blocks and the Niche "perf"
utility).  Niche also have a perfmeter-like "naxmeter" that monitors the
throughput on a device driver.  Their board is based on four "sites" of 8
inmos-compatible TRAM "modules".  For up to 32 T800's/motherboard and up to 8
motherboards/SUN.  The most popular module is a double width 2Mb one giving 16
T800's and 32Mb per motherboard.  They have the pentasoft C and Fortran
Compilers (as well as TDS and afserver software) and will soon have a parallel
runtime enviroment that will allow transparent migration of Unix processes
down to Transputers.

To delare my bias I should say that we have been beta testing for Niche
since last year (they have been shipping to UK customers from early april)
and we were involved in setting them up and have a small equity stake.

Niche Data Systems Inc in the USA (Houston) are on (713) 751-0055
Niche Technology Ltd in the UK (Bristol) are on (0272) 298034

-- 
  |   Adrian Cockcroft anc@camcon.uucp  ..!seismo!mcvax!ukc!camcon!anc
-[T]- Cambridge Consultants Ltd, Science Park, Cambridge CB4 4DW,
  |   England, UK                                        (0223) 358855
      (You are in a maze of twisty little C004's, all alike...)