🚀 go-pugleaf

Dear Mailing List:

First of all, up to now I didn't receive any response to my problems
concerning the EXPRESS graphic configuration tool. I can't believe
that nobody out there is using it! (Or am I the only one having that
Problem?)

Secondly, Ariel J Frank posted/will post a lot of transputer
equipment questions. Here are my *very personal* opinions:

About Parsytec: I just don't like that company. First of all, my
experiences when requesting info's from them were quite bad up to now,
and secondly, why do they refuse to be compatible with the rest of the
transputer world? I have the feeling that they just want to force you
to buy their software: Their hardware is just different enough from the
rest of the world that Inmos-compatible software will not run unchanged,
but can be adapted with a few bytes patch (just Parsytec knows how).
Also, their software releases are usually back a little bit for that
reason...

About memory size:
You're talking about 1 MB per node. I would initially buy 2 or 4, and
make sure that upgrading to 8 is possible (you mentioned Lisp - prepare
for even more). Remember: No paging, everything has to fit into real RAM
(and the compilers or Helios all like to have lots of memory).
At least for the root board, I would say 4 is the absolute minimum, for
the others, it depends on your application and the system software you
use.

About the QBUS: Caplin Cybernetics has such an interface (Inmos
compatible), Parsytec will have one (for Parsytec boards only).
Caplin has Helios drivers for VMS, I don't know about Ultrix.
However, writing drivers for VAX-based boards (or porting existing
PC or Unix drivers) is surely nontrivial.

About PC-based Unix hosts: I know that some people run transputer
software in the DOS window, and I know that some have written
Unix device drivers for PC transputer boards (for iserver and LS C).
All this refers to Interactive Unix, not SCO Xenix.
All languages by Inmos, 3L and LS (and maybe others) come with host
server sources (in C), so it can be done in principle.
However, ready-to-run Unix drivers are usually *not* included.
(I prefer DOS...)

About TDS versus Toolset: Go with the toolset:
* It is much easier to port Toolset's iserver than TDS's serverxx
  to a new host.
* It is easier to mix Occam with non-Occam code with the Toolset.
* With the Toolset, you may use your favourite host editor (and other
  users may use the transputer board in the meantime if you are on a
  multiuser machine), with TDS, you are forced to use the fold editor.

About C:
If you want to have combined C/Occam programs, you have to go with
Inmos C. For Express, I would use LS C (they support both 3L C and
LS C, but I think LS C has the longer tradition with Express).
I've never heard any experiences with Parsec's Par.C (all who have:
please post!!!), but the pre-releases were said to generate awfully
slow code compared with the competition. Moreover, currently most ANSI
extensions are not yet there I think.

About Express:
It can be done with some hackery, but both Parsytec and Parasoft
officially confirm that Express currently will *not* run on Parsytec
hardware.

About MicroWay:
You get what you pay for, and the MicroWay boards are rather cheap...
There are definitely PC board companies which I would trust more with
respect to quality.
However, Helios should run on them.

About Link Switches:
Make sure you really need them before you buy them:
* They are just another thing to program and to worry about.
* There is no agreed standard for systems with link switches.
* Some pieces of software don't like them:
  + Worms (network topology investiators) get sometimes angry if
    they hit a link connected to the C004 configuration input.
  + Some software always resets the system when booting an application.
    This will also reset the switches, so you boot a no-topology
    configuration. The same might happen for debuggers asserting
    analyze: Suddenly the link configuration is gone...

About Common Lisp:
No product known. Inform me please if such a thing shows up!

About Trollius:
It comes with sources, and you will have to adapt it by yourself for
your transputer hardware and host.
Currently, it should run with any Unix host, DOS is in preparation
at Cornell.
Again, I believe not having Parsytec hardware will make your life
much easier.

About GNU C:
Has been done as an academic project as far as I know, but is not (yet)
available to the public.

To sum up:
Buy a big 386 PC and some 100% Inmos B004 compatible transputer
boards (B004-compatible refers to the host interface and the way
error/reset/analyze is handled). Check PVR's list of companies!!!
This will give you:
* A minimum-trouble start (with DOS).
* The widest choice of ready-to-run software.
* At least 80 % of the speed/fun/comfort provided by highly-specialized
  workstation-based systems.
* A lot of saved money (compared to workstations).
Things to add later (if you know in which direction and with which
software you will go):
* Link switches (better start with cables).
* Unix host drivers.
* Faster (DMA- or FIFO-based) AT bus link interfaces.

PC-based transputer systems are an open market. Anything else will
most likely restrict your future hardware and software choice to a
single company, and will cost more (however, if you like Unix, have
*a lot* of money, want a highly sophisticated programming environment,
and know for sure that you will never need any software except the one
offered for that particular system, you should probably consider Meiko's
Sun solutions or something similar).

I hope that is of help...

************************************************************************
* Klaus Kusche                                                         *
* Research Institute for Symbolic Computation                          *
* Johannes Kepler University           Tel: +43 7236 3231 67           *
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