3DS/DEC/Multiprocessing
13 messages in this thread
This is not a commercial, people! Call it the Recommendation of the Month, from
your e-friend Krazy Ana:
Sounds like I have something going on with DEC, but I only own one of their
systems. The thing is that I am a DEC fan. DEC XLs are incredible boxes for
graphics, many people in this forum know about this and share the same points
of view. Why they are great for graphics? Not only you will enjoy with them
some excellent system engineering, but… well, we all that purchased XL
systems are happy now with the announcement of 3DSr5/NT (many of us knew about
it, so they got one/others, like me, have a crystal ball <g>). These XLs
charged with 3DS can be upgraded to Alpha 233Mhz, thanks to a board that plugs
right into a special processor and that is in the TO BUY list with the idea of
r5 running on AXP systems in the horizon. BUT, it seems that r5 (specially for
Alpha) will not be here for a long time. What to do?
The reason of this message is because I want to spread the good news among
anyone who wants to hear them here on ASOFT 🙂 I am always pursuing
"knowledge" on the cutting/bleeding edge of technology, a passion that many of
you, like Paul -except that Paul has bigger budgets to play with <g>- share. I
have come across some news about the new Celebris XL line specially oriented to
GRAPHIC users (according to the PR papers), who want to have one or two
Pentiums at a low cost, with maximum optimization on graphics and the
posibililty of getting (yes, ladies and gentlemen) an upgrade to Alpha 233MHz
(just like the XLs but twice the amount of CPUs). Translation: Get a single
Pentium system for 3DS now if you need it. Get an Alpha AXP as soon as 3DS for
Alpha ships or get another Pentium board as soon as NT (which will be sooner, I
guess) ship and instant multiprocessing. In any case, plenty of upgrade ways.
Systems start at $3,100. Quite a good price.
That's all. Hope this helps to people deciding on upgrade to Pentium. It sounds
to me like a smooth path for power scalation. Compaq is also bringing out a
system with Pentium to whatever CPU they want (that is, processor independent)
but the XLs and Celebris XLs are real, and are, IMHO, the best way to go for an
3DS NT system.
ana /krazy images
Ana,
>> Get an Alpha AXP as soon as 3DS for Alpha ships or get another
>> Pentium board as soon as NT (which will be sooner, I guess) ship and
>> instant multiprocessing.
I was under the impression that NT would run just fine on any of the DEC ALPHA
based systems, which would indicate to me that 3DS for NT would be the same as
3DS for the ALPHA. Am I missing something? Thanks,
Bob W.
Bob:
There is a little bit of confusion here. NT on an Intel processor is different
from the version of NT which operates on the Alpha processors and different
from the version of NT which will run on other RISC processors. FWIW, there
are many DEC Alpha models which simply cannot run NT at all. These models will
run OpenVMS and OSF operating systems but not NT.
Bob
Bob,
Thanks for partially clearing that up for me! You're saying that when 3DS is
written for NT, it will only be for the NT that works with Intel chips? Does
this also mean that Krazy Ana is saying that 3DS will be written for the Alpha
version of NT?
Bob W.
Bob, there has been no announcement otherwise, so I think we can all safely
assume that 3DSr5/NT will be released for Intel processors. Even if this
software ran on DEC Alphas running on NT, it wouldn't make much sense unless
3DS was recompiled for the DEC chip. So any predictions regarding 3DS's
performance on an Alpha/NT machine depend solely on Autodesk's decision
regarding eventual re-compiliation to the DEC chip. As you have seen, some
folks are betting on a re-compiliation, and are buying Alpha
compatible-machines now. But so far Autodesk is saying nothing about it, so
it's all just a bunch of guesses at this point.
Hope this clears up a few things.
-Alan
Alan,
Thanks for setting me straight. Learn something new every day!
Bob W.
>>learn something new every day<<
Ain't that the truth. In this business, if a day goes by without at least a
measure of enlightenment, I wonder if I was actually awake that day!
-Alan
Bob:
Looks like Ana and Alan have filled in the rest of the story. To confuse you
even more, I don't know if a different version of NT and 3DS would be required
if you were running a Cyrix chip vs. an Intel chip. As these K5 chips start
becoming available I'd like to know if they would be effectively
interchangeable with Intel chips when it comes to proper compiled versions of
software. Don't know that I would buy any machines with these chips in them
but they purport to be cheap, without division defects and pretty quick. So,
the answer to your querry is yes, an entirely different recompile of 3DS for
the Alpha version of NT would be required to run on your entirely different
recompile of Windows NT for the Alpha. I am not a programmer but I've gathered
that such a recompile is not terribly difficult.
Bob
I don't know about those pentium clone chips. I read (I don't remember which
manufacturer) created one that doesn't even have a built in math-coprocessor.
Nothing like riding the technological wave backwards…
Robert already got the answers. 3DS for NT on Intel platform will be the first
to arrive, but obviously, other platforms will arrive on demand. Although 3DS
NT doesn't have any schedule yet, Autodesk has announced that AutoCAD will be
available first for NT Intel, then NT Alpha. Most probably, 3DS will follow the
same way (always remember that portability is one of the strong points of NT).
When 3DS NT for Intel arrives, I am sure a date will be announced for the Alpha
version.
My message about the Celebris XL line was intended to suggest a smooth
transition path between the Intel and Alpha arenas (althought I am not sure if
there will be enough time between the Intel and Alpha versions to justify a
multiprocessor upgrade to get two Intels while waiting for the Alpha. In the
other side, the second Intel may be most cost effective than replacing the
first and getting only one Alpha).
ana /krazy images
Ana,
Thanks for the additional info. I plan to stay away from MAC's, but I'm open
to the Alpha machines!
Bob W.
"I plan to stay away from MAC's, but I'm open to the Alpha machines!"
There are many Ways in the Force <g>
ana /krazy images
Ana:
I always enjoy your messages about NT and DEC hardware. The DEC Direct
catalog just arrived, I'll have to check the latest offerings. Your ideas on
the Celebris XL are interesting, I may have to figure out a way to add one to
my desk.
Bob