Thread View: comp.sys.transputer
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Started by Adrian Cockcroft
Thu, 15 Oct 1987 14:37
Atari/Perihelion Transputer Machine Spec
Author: Adrian Cockcroft
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1987 14:37
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1987 14:37
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There have been rumours about Atari and Transputers circulating so I
thought that I had better get some hard information out there. I have no
involvement in Perihelion, neither has my employer although I have been
aware of events at Perihelion and know some of the people who work there.
I do want one of their workstations however, I rate it as better than a
SUN 3/260C+fpa for numbercrunching with a single T800.
A presentation was given by Atari and Perihelion at the Cafe Royal in
London on 22/9/87, over 100 software developers, hardware manufacturers and
press people attended and no restrictions were made on the information
presented at the meeting. I attended and this a quick summary of the notes
I took at the meeting.
First a benchmark reported by Inmos: Multivariate regression analysis
IBM PC 45 minutes
T800 18 seconds
T800 x 4 7 seconds
Inmos also had a T800 powered multiuser flight simulator that kept 4 people
at a time happy shooting each other down. 4 T800's per user plus a T4 graphics
card and a load of T2's handling the joysticks. All in an ITEM box together.
The graphics animation was VERY smooth, far better than a SUN3/260C+fpa+gpone
flight simulator I have played with.
Atari and Perihelion have got together so that Perihelion are designing the
hardware and the software for a high performance workstation to be
manufactured and sold by Atari.
Perihelion Hardware
-------------------
Perihelion is headed by Jack Lang in Cambridge, England.
Stage 1 Hardware is a Mega ST add-on system intended for software developers.
Stage 2 Hardware is a compatible single box workstation.
The Mega ST is a front end I/O processor only. The block diagram looks like:
--------- -------------
|blitter| | 4 Mb DRAM |
----------- --------------- --------- --------- -------------
| Mega ST | | Interface | |T800-20| | |
| kbd I/O |---| Link Adaptor|----| |---------------------
| mouse | | SCSI disk | | | | |
| floppy | --------------- --------- ----------- ----------
----------- | | | | |1 Mb VRAM| |Graphics|
4Mb/s|SCSI | | | ----------- ----------
---------- 3 ECL buffered
| 40 Mb | 20 MHz links
| Winch |
----------
The box takes up to 16 Mb on the motherboard (using 4Mbit DRAMS) and has
three expansion slots which can take either 4Mb (1Mbit) or 16Mb (4Mbit)
of DRAM each for a total in the box of 64 Mb. The expansion slots use
a single DIN plug (VME-type) and the 3 ECL buffered links go onto them so
that a slot can contain a board with more transputers on it. Size is enough
for four T800s + 1 Mb each per card. Graphics cards can also be used to
replace the built-in hardware.
The Blitter 2D fills at 128 Mpixels/sec, 2D block copy at 16 Mpixels/sec.
(It has a novel architecture based on work by Phil Willis at Bath University).
Graphics modes:
1280 * 960 * 4 bpp
1024 * 768 * 8 bpp
640 * 480 * 8 bpp 2 screens for animation
512 * 480 * 32 bpp true colour + overlay and tag bits
60 Hz, not sure about interlace.
Probably uses Inmos G170 CLUT giving 256K colour shades.
SCSI disk uses true DMA synchronous SCSI interface to get 4Mbytes/s, 40Mb is
minimum size.
A photo of a completed motherboard in box was shown, smaller than an IBM
PC box with 3 fair sized slots.
Perihelion Software
-------------------
This is based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England and is headed by Tim King
ex of Metacomco, Amigados fame.
Operating system called Helios written in C to support single processor
workstations, 4 processor workstations, 1000 processor farms or anything
inbetween.
Helios is distributed, multiprocessor, multiuser, sympathetic to the
Transputer and familiar to Unix users. Tim King has listened to the criticism
of Amigados and has avoided a lot of the complaints about that system.
It is based on message passing with transparent passing across processors,
it uses a client/server model, has per-processor protection and capability
based access.
Networking and diskless workstations will be supported via the 3 ECL buffered
links with no extra hardware.
Applications can be written in 3 modes, the traditional single threaded
program, unix-like multiple processes
at a coarse grain level or parallel algorithms using a medium grain level.
Existing TOS/GEM applications can run on the Mega ST front end processor.
User Interface
--------------
X-11 window system standard.
GEM - translating GEM traps on the 68K i/o proc to the T800.
GEM running under X-11 may be provided.
Standard unix like shell command line interface.
Compatibility
-------------
MSDOS floppy disk format
UNIX(TM) hard disk format
UNIX(TM) compatible C library
UNIX(TM) command subset
Languages
---------
C Pascal Lisp
Fortran BCPL Occam
Development Tools
-----------------
Hosted on ST or Unix(TM) or MSDOS or native
Asm/link
C
Debugger
Atari's Position
----------------
They are looking for wider markets and want to go upmarket into workstation
technology. The hardware design will be Atari's property but Helios is already
spreading wider, another 4 companies are likely to use it so far.
It will be launched at COMDEX as a Mega ST add-on for developers.
Development systems available in Dec 87/Jan 88.
The standalone system will be launched at Hannover in March 88.
Product in the shops in June 88 in the UK.
Product in Europe 6 months later and US launch June 89, giving a years
head start to the UK software developers and a chance for the machine to
gather some applications software before it hits the US.
Cost
----
Priced well below Mac II, base level entry price (no winchester or monitor)
aimed at 1000 pounds according to Jack Lang.
For now they will provide a set of 3 manuals, User Manual, Developers Manual
and Technical Manual for 50 pounds, you then become a registered
developer and get a priority place in the queue for developers hardware
in December.
Apply for more information to: Perihelion Software Limited
24 Brewmaster Buildings
Charlton Trading Estate
Shepton Mallet
Somerset BA4 5QE
Perihelions phone number: 0749 4203
--
| 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...)
Re: Atari/Perihelion Transputer Machine Spec
Author: Kent Paul Dolan
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1987 00:32
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1987 00:32
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Yeowie! I want to see this thing with a 3D joystick, roaming the Mandelbrot set in real time and 16 colors at > 1K x 1K resolution. Whee! What the heck, how about _two_ joysticks, 1, 3D and 1, 2D, and we can take a wild cruise through the Julia sets, or that 4D version of the Mandelbrot set hinted at in the last Scientific American Computer Recreations column. If it's fast enough, and will do NTSC out of that 512 x ? x 32 bpp mode, you could preprogram a cruise and record it in real time without worrying about single frame video. Awesome! I may actually have to work for a living for a few months to scrape together the price. (Naaah, calm down Kent; you're getting irrational again. ;-) Kent, the (totally weird) man from xanth. Running for president on a pound of caffeine, an ounce of sense, and a program of increased exploration and exploitation of space. Support your (probably non-existent - get busy!) local branch of the Birthright Party: "The birthright of mankind is the stars!" Hey, it's better than dwelling on your stock portfolio; at least here you've got a chance for a laugh or two. ;-) Yum! Eat them plastic chickens, brethren! Call me when I'm elected; 'til then, I'm going to take a nap.
Re: Atari/Perihelion Transputer Machine Spec
Author: Leo L. Schwab
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1987 11:10
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1987 11:10
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In article <986@titan.camcon.uucp> anc@camcon.uucp (Adrian Cockcroft) writes:
:There have been rumours about Atari and Transputers circulating so I
:thought that I had better get some hard information out there. I have no
:involvement in Perihelion, neither has my employer although I have been
:aware of events at Perihelion and know some of the people who work there.
:I do want one of their workstations however, I rate it as better than a
:SUN 3/260C+fpa for numbercrunching with a single T800.
:
: [ Lots of info about Atari's proposed new system. ]
I don't believe this for even a second.
:First a benchmark reported by Inmos: Multivariate regression analysis
: IBM PC 45 minutes
: T800 18 seconds
: T800 x 4 7 seconds
:
This is nothing surprising; an HP calculator can outrun a stock PC
(1/2 :-) ).
:The graphics animation was VERY smooth, far better than a SUN3/260C+fpa+gpone
:flight simulator I have played with.
:
Again, unsurprising. UNIX can really get in the way of real-time
programs. The mockup obviously (?) has no OS in the way of the flight
simulation program.
I saw the same fighter simulation at SIGGRAPH. Fun!
:The Blitter 2D fills at 128 Mpixels/sec, 2D block copy at 16 Mpixels/sec.
:(It has a novel architecture based on work by Phil Willis at Bath University).
:
Can you elaborate? I've heard stories both good and bad about the
Atari blitter design. (Reply to my mailbox, please.)
:A photo of a completed motherboard in box was shown, smaller than an IBM
:PC box with 3 fair sized slots.
:
Have you seen Pixar's poster called "1984"? That looks like a real
photo, too :-).
:Perihelion Software
:-------------------
:This is based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England and is headed by Tim King
:ex of Metacomco, Amigados fame.
: ^^^^
Fame? I would have chosen a different word....
:Languages
:---------
:C Pascal Lisp
:Fortran BCPL Occam
: ^^^^
Ack! Phft!
:Atari's Position
:----------------
:They are looking for wider markets and want to go upmarket into workstation
:technology. [ ... ]
Sorry, but whatever Atari may be doing now, they will always be
perceived as a toy company (at least as long as the coin-op division
continues to exist). No one buys workstations from a toy company.
:It will be launched at COMDEX as a Mega ST add-on for developers.
There's a strong positive probability that I will be visiting COMDEX
this year. I'll visit the Atari booth in disguise (sans cape) and see what
I can find out.
:Development systems available in Dec 87/Jan 88.
:The standalone system will be launched at Hannover in March 88.
:Product in the shops in June 88 in the UK.
:Product in Europe 6 months later and US launch June 89, giving a years
:head start to the UK software developers and a chance for the machine to
:gather some applications software before it hits the US.
:
Apply appropriate slop factors for time figures given.
:Graphics modes:
: 1280 * 960 * 4 bpp
: 1024 * 768 * 8 bpp
: 640 * 480 * 8 bpp 2 screens for animation
: 512 * 480 * 32 bpp true colour + overlay and tag bits
:60 Hz, not sure about interlace.
:
:Cost
:----
:Priced well below Mac II, base level entry price (no winchester or monitor)
:aimed at 1000 pounds according to Jack Lang.
:
Wrongo! With resolution as quoted above, there is no way you'll
come in under $2000, at present. Bandwidth is not cheap (yet). Add the
cost of a suitable color monitor, and.... well.....
DISCLAIMER: I'm not normally given to unsolicited vaporware product
bashing, but this announcement sounds about as plausible as a rumor I heard
about how the stock market crash was caused by two high-school computer
crackers.....
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape ihnp4!ptsfa -\
\_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Although there are technical differences between the quality of images
created on the Amiga and on our system, we feel that viewers could be misled
to believe otherwise, even with your disclaimers to the contrary."
-- Ralph J. Guggenheim, Pixar
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