Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!syntron!jtsv16!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!pyramid!oracle!hqpyr1!csimmons
From: csimmons@hqpyr1.oracle.UUCP (Charles Simmons)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: The 3G Machine
Keywords: user-interface bandwidth
Message-ID: <470@oracle.UUCP>
Date: 26 Oct 88 09:04:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: oracle.470
Sender: news@oracle.uucp
Reply-To: csimmons@oracle.UUCP (Charles Simmons)
Organization: Oracle Corporation, Belmont CA
Lines: 49

Okay...  random thought for the month.

As we all know, Steve Jobs help popularize the concept of the 3M
machine; a machine with 1 Megabyte of memory, 1 "Mips" of processing
power, and a 1 Megapixel display.  (The machine was also supposed to
cost minimal numbers of dollars.)

In some sense, these types of machines are fairly common (even
though the 1 Megapixel display still costs a lot).  So, I'm interested
in thinking about the 3G machine.

Obviously, the 3G machine (selling for $1995 retail :-) contains
a Gigabyte of memory and a 1 "Gips" processor (1000 times as fast
as a Vax 780).  This isn't all that hard to imagine.  At present
trends, that kind of memory and processing power should be common
in low-end workstations somewhere around 2001 (depending on how
optimistic your crystal ball is).

But what I'm really interested in is, what's that third G?
A gigapixel display?  That's something like 30,000 by 30,000
pixels.  How big does the display need to be in order that all
of the pixels produce information that can be perceived by a
human?  Or maybe it would be a 3-D display, 1Kx1Kx1K pixels
on each side?

The most awesome display that I can imagine having (guess what I
want HDTV to standardize on...) is a 2Kx2K color display having
24 bits per color.  That basically requires 12 Megabytes, which
seems a far cry from the type of display that a 3G machine should have.

Retrenching for a moment...  it seems clear that the third M in
the 3M machine is a rough measure of the communications bandwidth
between the computer and the human user.  So, rather than concentrate
on the number of pixels that fit on the display, maybe other factors
should be taken into account, such as the keyboard, mouse, microphones,
sound-synthesizers, etc.

[Bizarre example:  we might say that a Mac+ has a .25Megapixel
display, and that the mouse is equivalent to .1 Megapixels of
user interface, and that the keyboard is equivalent to .01
Megapixels of user interface, and that the 4-voice not-overly-great-
quality sound-synthesizer is worth an additional .2 Megapixels
of user interface; giving us a total of .56M.]

The real purpose of this posting, however, is to see if I can get
people to fantasize about what kind of user interface the 3G machine
will have.  Any takers?

-- Cheers, Chuck