#PPC/OS2/NT/BS2
16 messages in this thread
ana
I've been trying to follow some of the dialogue in the IBM PPC/OS2 forum!!
I really give up on the BS(251 msg's of the smarty-pants variety)! The most
interesting thread concerns IBM's choice of os2 as an OS and the problems and
rumors that fly up around BIG BLUE when anything happens there that looks like
a direction!!
Are Win 95 and OS/2 waltzing around their release dates to get some clue
as to the appeal of their respective features? I know your co. is macentric
but we share
the Intel burden w/ 3ds.
My question is: if adesk and 3ds embrace NT does that mean the PPC or Alpha
300 are
alternative processors? and does that mean that net renders can include other
cpu types?( yes i know about the upcoming SGI render engine and the likelyhood
I will use it-NOT) Pardon my naivete, but I am under the impression that NT
means multi cpu however I thought that an app has to be native to a cpu in
order to use it!!
This conflict in my understanding is like having 2 rational schizoid
personalities who know about
each other and disagree. Being schizoid means never having to be alone but
this is ridiculous.
Any help and we will both thank you<G>
Gary
Hello Gary,
Warp has been out for Intel for some months now. Other story is the PPC
version. As you probably know, this one is based on the mach kernel from
Carnegie bla,bla,bla… <g> It was demonstrated at Comdex and all that stuff,
but they were pretty fragil demos (don't touch!) You probably have read about
this in the PPC forum. The surprise come when you analyze what could be the
future of OS/2 as a multiplatform oriented enviroment, compared to NT. Well,
the future seems rather dark for it. First, IBM has dropped the Mach kernel for
AIX and hasa announced no intention about continuing with the idea of a
multiple personality Workplace. So how many personalities will workplace run:
one, OS/2 for PPC, which is by no means as portable as NT. OS/2 Warp will
continue to be hardwired to the Intel platform because that means increased
performance, something that an abstraction layer can't offer. So now, IBM looks
at the future and says: hey, we don't need a damn portable OS/2, we need
something else… we need to buy Apple! <bg> Seriously, the only platform that
make sense now for a software manufacturer that want to expand their target
market has a big sticker that says NT all over it. Microsoft has to do
something really DUMB to trash its future, and I can't think about anything
silly enough to do it, except for a total mess in the programming, something
that is not going to happen. No matter how much time people could wait for
Chicago, Cairo or whatever. The crystal ball has spoken: Windows NT, it says.
It will the apocalipsis <g>
Well, whatever. After that silly big paragraph, let's speculate about the
future of our favorite program. No matter what the guys at Adesk could say. 3DS
will go New Technology sometime on 1995. Maybe for the next Siggraph. It is the
only move that make sense for them, no matter how much I desire to see a port
for the PowerMac <bg> And no matter how you OS/2-guys like Warp. This thing
will not go Warp. It will go Intel, PPC, Alpha, whatever…. but on NT. And now
that OS/2 will never let 3DS to be easily ported to different processors…
well, the incognita finita est (hey look at that macarronic latin of me! 🙂
So the question is NOT: "if adesk and 3ds embrace NT does that mean the PPC or
Alpha 300 are alternative processors?". It is, "now that Adesk has clearly
decided to fully get in the Microsoft boat, does this mean that we will be able
to run 3DS for NT on other processors than the Intels?" And the answers are:
1. Thanks godness, YES!
and
2. Only if after developing it for NT Intel, they port 3DS to other processors
(NT could run slow folks, but there is no doubt that they have done a pretty
good job on the portability issue).
Most likely, this what they are going to do. They are not porting ACAD to NT
just because they like icons! They are doing it because they want to minimize
developement cost. NT gives them the tools for doing this cheaply, so NT is the
way to go. We are not speaking about Quicken, this is ACAD, this is 3DS. ACAD
is not longer to be available for the macintosh. They don't have enough public
there to justify the BIG cost of porting ACAD to the PowerMac, and Apple simple
thinks that ACAD is not worthy to have in the PowerMac software list. Not that
is not worthy, only that they are spending their energies and dollars on other
things, not on colaboration with one of the biggest sponsors of Microsoft (I am
wondering if this message is going to be deleted 🙂
And once they have 3DS available on Intel, would this mean that they could
easily include network renderers for other processors running NT on a network,
instead of porting the entire to thing to Alpha or PPC? Could be a possibility.
Or a first step towards the final 3DS omnipresence in any platform available.
However, they also have to serve the people who only have a computer (specially
those who have a DEC XL, who will love to buy a nice Alpha AXP 233MHz card
<bg>) and they are getting into NT because of portability, among other things.
So a simultaneous Intel/Alpha release will not sound strange to me. Or maybe an
Intel version followed by the Alpha in two months or some other maquiavelic
scheme that will let them calibrate market response to the product.
So to you, Gary and to you, Gary, o squizoid being, after all this krazy
speculation your best bet is to ask Autodesk if they are going to release
multiple versions of 3DS, only one version and multiple renderers, or multiple
versions with multiple versions of renderers for you to make whatever network
configuration you will like to do. But, oh pity, I am afraid that they won't
speak. And if you want to know my opinion, good for them. We all have to do
better things that worry about what is going to be next in line. heck! I don't
even know what I have spent almost 30 minutes writing this message about
crystal ball and tarot related stories. 😉
And remember that this message has not more value than the first page of the
National Examiner! My predictions are as accurate as that one about Elvis
coming back on february 25.
Talking about death bodies, there is an old spanish joke (beware of the
translation):
"A man is walking throught the cementery (you know, the place where people get
buried and everyone makes a big deal of it), and suddenly, a hand gets his leg
from bellow. Wait a minute! It is a dead hand trying to get out of the tomb!
The man then hears someone asking for help from the inside of the marble tomb:
-Hey, hey, I am not dead! let me out of here! I am not dead!
-You are not dead? -the man says with no sign of surprise- You are not dead,
huh? Do you know how you are? -kicking several times the hand- You are not well
buried!"
Oh come on, that's funny, hmm? It is better when you tell it person to person,
and of course, in spanish (Vivo? Vivo? Ni vivo ni leches! Tu lo que estas es
mal enterrado!)
So what was this message about? Oh yea, the 3DS for NT and stuff. Well, forget
about everything. Maybe Autodesk is going to surprise everyone, including me,
and they are going to release the announced port to the SuperNES. Or for the
macintosh, who knows!? <vbg>
ana "I am still here" gervas /krazy images
Hi Ana,
<< And remember that this message has not more value than the first page of the
National Examiner! My predictions are as accurate as that one about Elvis
coming back on february 25. >>
🙂
>>coming back on february 25
Darn right; he's not coming back till Feb. 30th (don't those happen once every
5000 yrs.? Feb. 31st's once every 100,000 yrs.?).
John Stetzer
JWS
yes! I thought that it was an errata, althought they don't have too many
in that… newspaper? 🙂
ana /krazy images
>>errata
All they'd need would be one line; 'the previous week's newspaper was in
error'.
>>newspaper?
Bird cage liner (even before it reaches the birdcage, it's already full of
'droppings' ;^).
John Stetzer
JWS
yeah, ":-)"! But _YOU_ also know that Ms.Carol Bartz is one of the editors of
the Examiner, under a false name, don't you? <bg> Amazingly enough, she uses a
Macintosh.
ana /krazy images
Good answers! See my note on the air.
Link A. Parikh
Good answer(s), my brave fellow. I feel that that, for now, an ultimate combo
is 3D Studio, NT, on an Alpha 300 MHz (TBA). One demo showed that an (cough,
cough) an Intergraph Microstation ran at 4 hours on a 486-66 and 7 minutes on a
beta version of a 300MHz Alpha (no further data on the other parameters, use
for general comparison and wet-dreams only).
Here is my vote: to Autodesk — please provide 3ds v.5, NT on Alpha; no
response requested, no response expected.
P.S.: I DID like release 4 (good for humaniform robotics design).
LinK:
/_______________________From your message________________________\\
Good answer(s), my brave fellow.
__________________________________________________________________
Ana is a babe.
Bob
And here is my vote: to Autodesk — please release 3DS v.5 on Powermacintosh;
hey! this is a democracy, right? <g> But anyway, if the thing is going NT, I
will be able to run in my next PowerMac in any case.
Ah, the Alpha will be nice too. After all, that's why everyone here with a DEC
XL bought that machine instead a Micron 🙂 The time of the upgrade is near!
ana /krazy images
ps. That's Ana, female (or is "fellow" a neutral word?)
I had high hopes for OS/2 until IBM decided to tie it down to Intel. It seems
like every time IBM has a good idea they get scared and back off. I guess I'll
keep using OS/2 for its multitasking until such a time as 3DS should no longer
be native to DOS — which may only be a few short months from now!
In the voice of Spock:
Sensors indicate that there is an 85% chance that Autodesk will announce the
direction of 3DS at Siggraph 95.
In the voice of me:
Information is like water, it assumes the shape of its container. If you know
the shape of the container, you may not need the water itself the see what
shape it will take.
I sure hope 3rd party developers are taking classes on programming for NT . . .
— James E. Coulter — Choreo Motion —
James
In the voice of the short guy from Fantasy Island "It's Plain, IT'S PLAIN"!
> "It's Plain, IT'S PLAIN"! <
"It's Plain" . . . to see what will become of 3DS?
— James — Choreo Motion —
>"It's Plain" . . . to see what will become of 3DS?
Assuming ASOFT/YG haven't microwaved their brains from staring down an electron
gun too long, yup, itsa pretty plain.
Gary:
The two big issues with NT are: recompiling the program for other supported
processors, and being written fully multithreaded. If they're not recompiled
(couple files in the code need to be tweaked), it won't run on other processors
than the one it was compiled on. If it's not totally multithreaded, it won't
take advantage of multiprocessor systems. I doubt either will be an issue with
3DS. ASOFT/YG are with-it enough to do both. The main thing right now is
getting them to admit that NT is definately what R5 will be out on so we can
get on with our hardware upgrades, and plans for the future.
JNJ