----------------------------------------------------------------- The NeXTdimension Compendium (or, How I Spent My Summer Vacation) by Steven C. Weintz (indy@delphi.beckman.uiuc.edu) compiled from June-August 1993 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 Starters This is a VERY large document; so large, I've posted it in 3 parts. I realize this can be an imposition of sorts on many readers. I could have simply summarized people's comments, and left out the NeXTanswers. However, I felt that it was important to present the original discussion in a straightforward way, so there would be little chance of my distorting someone's commentary or explanation. Also, I think that readers will enjoy the lively give-and-take that is such a hallmark of electronic correspondence. Those readers interested in the topic who take the trouble to download this beast, will, I hope, not have to download the relevant NeXTanswers for a follow-up. It's my hope that the NeXT community will find this effort of value. I am responsible for my own opinions and any errors of editing. One thing is missing; my own e-mail! I forgot to save it all and I suspect our sysadmin long ago vaporized it. I hope you get enough of the discussion from my correspondents. If you like what I've done, please let me know. (If you don't, let me know that, too, but be reasonable.) I may be willing to update this thing from time to time and upload it to an archive site. I'd also like to see some kind of depository or watering hole where ND users can share custom software, tips and tricks. let's see if we can't put something like this together. 1.1 Table of Contents There's a lot here, so I've tried to organize it in some logical way. PART I 1.0 Starters 1.1 Table of Contents 1.2 Preface 1.3 Editing conventions used 1.4 Credits 1.5 My original post 2.0 Debating NeXTdimensions vs. Intels (and SGI's) 2.1 Basic info 2.2 Cons 2.3 Pros 2.4 The Crux of the Biscuit PART II 3.0 More Power! Brian Willoughby's ND Turbo summary 4.0 Tips culled from the Net 4.1 Two-headed ND's (contains several posts) 4.2 ND booting problem and fix under 3.1 4.3 ND Slots 4.4 ND memory check 4.5 Video.App bugfix PART III 5.0 NeXTdimension Lore [5.2, 5.3 not available yet - see note] 5.1 What happened to the C-Cube chip 5.2 Dick Phillips, MediaView, and the ND 5.3 NeXTWORLD's pre-production review of the ND 6.0 NeXTanswers about NeXTdimensions 5.1 1036 NeXTdimension Software 5.2 1037 NeXTdimension Upgrades 5.3 1052 NeXTdimension Configuration 5.4 1065 NeXTdimension demos 5.5 A NeXT FAQ fragment about ND's: color, memory 1.2 Preface This project began as a personal quest. I came under the NeXT spell last semester and resolved to have my own machine. Though a grad student, I have some resources that I was willing to invest in top-of-the-line tools for the brave new multimedia world that is upon us. I was able to attend the NeXTWORLD Expo, and have become a regular reader and participant in the c.s.n.* newsgroups. It remained to determine the hardware and software I needed to get. To begin with, I dreamed of a NeXTdimension and made plans for a loaded Intel system. Then I began negotiations for a Turbo NeXTdimension and in the process solicited advice from many quarters. Along the way I collected a body of useful information about the NeXTdimensions and their software that I felt ought to be assembled in one place. I carried on long and lively conversations with several people who graciously shared their thoughts and experience with me, and have agreed to allow their correspondence to become public. The debate swirled around the pros and cons of the NeXTdimension vs. the new PC's. In its essence: the black hardware remains unrivaled in many respects, but was never properly supported and is ultimately obsolete. The white hardware is much more open, possibly cheaper, and will probably be MUCH faster. But at the moment it has too many kinks and its promise is as yet unfulfilled. I have every confidence that NeXTSTEP will be a great success on the Intel platform, and will really shine on more powerful architectures. But I'm impatient. So...I'm buying that Turbo NeXTdimension. I'm also a romantic. I think maybe most NeXT people are... 1.3 Editing conventions used I pruned the following materials in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons. So that as many people as possible can access this document, it's in ASCII format, and so the cool graphics from the NeXTanswers material aren't there. Please consult the originals if you want them ("call numbers" are in the TOC). Often I removed material from the e-mail that was either personal or not germane to the topic. These are indicated by ellipses (...). All material added by me is enclosed by brackets ([ ]). I don't want to publicly discuss my financial negotiations, so all references to prices have been deleted. Correspondents at NeXT have been made anonymous, to keep them from being deluged with e-mail while they're working on our favorite OS :-). 1.4 Credits: I had the gracious and thoughtful help from quite a number of people, and availed myself of NeXTanswers. Many, many thanks to the following (I literally couldn't have done it without you!): Lance Charlish (lance@insight.com) Howard R. Cole (hcole@tumbleweed.idec.sdl.usu.edu) Alex Currier(mycroft@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) Detlev Droege (droege@infko.uni-koblenz.de) George Fankhauser (george@nice.usergroup.ethz.ch) Robert Fischer (fischer@fokus.gmd.de) Brian L Gottlieb (brian@arl1.wustl.edu) Nathan F. Janette (nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu) Gene W Homicki (gwh@cs.mcgill.ca) Simon F C Harwood (sfch@dmu.ac.uk) Eric de La Tribouille (eric_t@cs.uiuc.edu) Borre Ludvigsen (borrel@ludvigsen.dhhalden.no) Phillip MacDonough (philip@utstat.toronto.edu) Dan Marusich (maru@pri.com) Jeff Nicholson-Owens (jeffo@uiuc.edu) Blake Stone (bstone@acs.ucalgary.ca) Marcel Waldvogel (Marcel.Waldvogel@nice.usergroup.ethz.ch) Brian Willoughby (BrianW@SoundS.WA.com) a NeXT employee who will remain anonymous NeXTanswers On Line Technical Documentation (1036, 1037, 1052, 1065) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.5 My original post: From: scwg0600@ih-nxt01.cso.uiuc.edu (Steven C Weintz) Subject: Wanted: informed comments on NeXTDimensions Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1993 00:45:00 GMT I'd like to hear from people who own and use (or have owned and used) the NeXTDimension cubes for serious graphic work. I want to use maximum graphics software and hardware for archaeological illustration and presentation, and I love NeXTSTEP. Caveats and applause are both welcomed. On the downside, I'm aware of the C-Cube controversy but I'd like to know of any other little hiccups and shortcomings. On the upside, I understand that it will be some time before Intel-based hardware can measure up to the ND's performance. If you're selling your ND, what sort of systems are you considering (or have purchased) as a replacement/upgrade? If you're hanging on to one, what is your rationale? Would I blow as much if not more cash on a fully pumped Intel box as on a used ND? Please e-mail your comments to me, and, if there's enough general interest, I'll post a summary. Thanks! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 Responses 2.1 Basic Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Dan Marusich, the art director for Pinnacle Research, Inc., loves his ND and said so in his first message to me:] Date: Tue, 22 Jun 93 01:48:19 MST From: maru (To: indy@uiuc.edu) Subject: ND, or not to ND? That is the question. Steven, I use a NeXT Dimension to do free-lance graphic design for a few companies but in particular I am the Art Director for PINNACLE Research, a NEXTSTEP developer. The quality of images on the ND quickly stands above anything currently available in an Intel machine. Possibly in the future when PA-RISC and Pentium Systems are available, there will be a 32-bit system to surpass the ND's capabilities. What I like is the ability to do video grabs to create still images for video presentations or quick design ideas. There are some problems associated with the PostScript ImageOperator that on occaision can cause some interesting problems(especially when running on two screens as I do.) If you could find a reasonably priced ND I'd say jump on it. One thing to consider is the amount of memory and storage you will have available. The ND board comes with 4mb of VRAM and can hold up to 32 megs for display memory(having all 32-megs radically speeds up performace over 16-less swapping in of 32-bit windows) Again the more memory on the Cube's board (upto 64mb, or 128mb in TurboCubes). I wish I had a bit more memory here to handle running several apps. I'm not sure what sort of archaeological illustration and presentation you had in mind but an ND paired with the right software ( I use our own WetPaint for image editing, Adobe illustrator for tech-illustrations, Virtuoso-for flashier stuff, Paste-Up -for longer items and piecing things together, Concurrence - for creating video-slideshows, and a modified Video.app supplied in the developer examples. If you have more questions, or would like to talk about your projects I'd be interested to help. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He responded to my next question, regarding available software and comparison of platforms, with this:] From: maru@pri.com (Dan Marusich) Date: [I think an early July date] Steve, The same software ships with all copies of NEXTSTEP the difference being whether or not the hardware will run it. NeXT TV is a Next developer demo written by Kieth Olfs, it lives up to its name by working very much like a real TV(it even uses the annoying primary green/red screen controls). What NeXT TV is useful for, is watching TV (or a movie - i.e Blade Runner- 1st thing I did) It also allows you to output things via the ND's ports. ScreenScape Possibly the most useful developer demo for creating video work. Basically, ScreenScape outputs a video sized chunk of the screen to the ND's 3 out ports. I've used this for presentations and demos, because it allows you to lock the area in place, say over a WetPaint document or a Concurrence window and record things. Video.app & the video class this is part of the developer demos to show you how to use the Video class. You compile the program yourself, and can make minor changes easily (I have) You should look at the documentation for the Video Class, it is very straight forward. [see Section 4.0 - NeXTanswers 1065 (NeXTdimension Demos) - for more info] NextTime is very cool, you should be able to output anything from it using ScreenScape, if not a NextTime authoring app. (Did you see us at Expo?) For NEXTSTEP-INTEL there is a product that d'art was showing called the ScreenMachine II, it is essentially the same thing as a PC/Mac product available from another german company(Fast GmbH) send mail to sm@dart.de, I also believe that Alembic is working with them. This board is supposedly very similar to the ND as far as still capture and things are concerned. [Screen machine II is indeed a fine piece of equipment, and can do some things the ND can't: record short video clips, apply video effects, . However, it does not allow video output and only supports 16-bit color.] [...] Photo CD is cool, the 3.1 app will feed a base resolution version of an image to any basically any .app 5.) Look for a system you can use, I really am happy with my ND regardless of who calls it obsolete. This isn't to say I don't have my eye on a PA-RISC. Pentium, or Power architecture machine. It sounds like you're looking for workstation level tools, Mac's do and don't have some cool tools ( I worked on a IIci for more than a year at an old design job). An Intel box with cards is nice because there will be more cards available to take advantage of NextTime, MPEG and other media based tools. The addition of custom tools is always a nice option, and is easier on Nextstep, but I really don't think you need that. It sounds like you need this software. ·A real CAD program: to design accurate floor plan based dig sites ·An Illustration program : for Maps, flashy print graphics and less precise diagrams. ·An image editor: WetPaint is excellent (Had to plug it, but it is) ·A presentation program: i.e Concurrence ·A RenderMan front end (Frontface or Intuitiv) ·An Animator 2d or 3d or both If the black hardware is a good deal jump on it, if not start pricing some fast '486 boxes. I'd guess that a white hardware system would be at least $7000 for a fast machine with Decent capacity. You can't buy a system to last forever so make sure to get components and software that will travel with you to that 200mips laptop (ah that's the dream) good luck! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Lance Charlish and I discussed the system I'm going to purchase, and he answered some of my questions.] From: lance@insight.com (Lance Charlish) Received:Tue, 27 Jul 93 11:09:15 -0700 > Do the 100ns SIMMS have a noticeable impact on performance? > Do you >have a recommended source for SIMMS (when they > rebuild that >factory!) Will it be possible or desirable to > install 32MB SIMMS on the ND board? As far as the ND board goes, there does not seem to be any speed gain by using SIMMS that are faster than 100 ns. Of course you can always use faster SIMMS, but I believe that the SIMMS will actually run at the 100 ns speed. I could be wrong about this. Only the one meg SIMMS are 100 ns SIMMS and should probably be the first to be replaced. [...] (the SIMMS are used in Macintosh's latest line of printers) [...]. The largest SIMMS that NeXT specified for the NeXTdimension board are 4 MB simms. I have heard that 8 MB SIMMS work just fine as well. I cannot think of why you would want more than 64 MB of RAM on the NeXTdimension board. The ND's RAM primary function is to store the screen image, which, mind you, is huge: Over 1,000,000 pixels X 32 bits per pixel = 32 MB of Data on screen. A good question to ask would be whether or not the ND has any use for anything more than 32 MB of RAM? There is at least one reason to believe that the answer is yes. One of the ways that NeXT windows move around the screen so quickly and remain "drawn" while they are moving is that the window server buffers all the windows in memory. This means that the screen could possibly have more than 32 MB of the screen in the memory at one time. I do not know though, whether the window buffers are kept on the ND board itself or if they are kept on the system board. [...] > Tim Griswold at Dancing Bear Enterprises has told me that > the Turbo Cube's motherboard won't hold the 32MB SIMMS (too > tall). After my friend Jeff Nicholson-Owens gave me a tour > of the inside of his Cube, we decided that this should not > be a problem if we could get longer ribbon connectors from > the board to the drives and move the board over one slot. > Is this feasible/a good idea? I believe that there is a way to change the motherboard backplane slot #. I'll look into it. I thought that 32 MB SIMMS did fit. You might want to check into this more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 Cons [Many responses favored the new intel hardware over the ND.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [later, Dan Marusich had second thoughts about my planned purchase...] Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 03:05:17 -0700 From: Dan Marusich [...] For 6 or 7k you should be able to get a good 16bit color Intel box, the question is what is the cost of something like the Screen Machine II or a Video Grinder, they may save you some money for more peripherals and software. The ND's video is really cool, but after thinking about the nearly $[lot of money] I think you should really look at a fast 486, a few more mips for some Maps or 3d work may be worth it, 32 bit color is nice but only neccesary if you are doing something that has to be photographic quality. I do know that NeXT is working to address the 32-bit question in cards from Tseng labs and other sources. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [this sentiment was echoed by several respondants:] From: [name and address deleted] Date: Fri, 23 Jul 93 09:11:47 -0700 Steve, [name deleted] forwarded me your question (I do graphics support). Our engineers are usually not available to the public (given their already hectic schedules!) and the usual support channel is the ask_next@next.com e-mail alias (although, as you might have guessed, this costs money). Your question would be a great one to post to usenet, if you have access to comp.sys.programmer. However, my personal answer would be to go with the Pentium machine. It runs graphics faster than the ND and is more flexible (there will be video capture boards available by the end of the year). You will also have the option of running PC software if you need to. [My question was along the lines of, "Is there a chance NeXT will improve NeXTdimension performance in future software upgrades, as the printer performance was increased (PS1 -> PS2)?"] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: philip@utstat.toronto.edu [Phillip MacDonough] Date: Sat, 17 Jul 93 00:41 EDT [...] Well I have been dreaming of a ND for 3 years. But at this point I would stay away, and I guess the thing to do would be to get a cheap clone with 12-16 bit graphics. I wouldn't buy a brand name NeXT PC. PC's are bad enough without having to endure crazy prices for what you can get for 1/2 without the name. For years I only bought brand name PC's, and now see that it was a waste. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1993 19:45:12 -0500 From: mycroft@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Alex) Subject: Re: re: Indy?? I already have half of a NeXTdimension setup (everything except the Dimension board and color monitor) and I have been considering options between that and one of the new AV macintosh systems. Basically the way I see it it's going to be a matter of speed. The SGI machine, even the "Speilberg starter kit" stripped down model, is going to flat out stomp the NeXT or Mac in terms of graphics performance. I could add multichannel digital audio and 32bit graphics to my Cube but if I'm going to be spending the money why not go for the SGI? It's what the pros use and some day I hope to be able to afford an Onyx... might as well start with SGI now that I have that chance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [My good friend Eric de la Tribouille, an ND owner, felt strongly about the matter:] Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 12:56:27 -0500 From: Eric de_la_Tribouille [...] hum... again, you might be disappointed... you should really be careful. The problem with the NEXTDimension is that they (NeXT) had a very serious problem with the managment of the swap file. When it's swapping, the performance begins to decrease very fast, especially when you visualise images. Again, you should be careful. How much will you pay for this config ??? If you decide to buy it, there are some solutions to optimise the performance: - you need to have 32 Mb on the NeXT Dimension board. - you need to have a second Hard Drive specialised to manage the Swap !!! You might find a 100Mb HD at a good price, but you must have a great performance (<10ms). Then, it should be better. About the Sphere which was not represented as a sphere under i3d [Intuitiv'3D], it was because of the NeXTDimension. It seems to don't do that anymore when the NeXTDimension as a lot of memory... but it's very strange ! [When Eric and I loaded some JPEG images into his ND, it indeed ran very slowly] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 From: Eric de_la_Tribouille [...] To come back to your [purchase]... I really think that with $[lot of money] you could have a really really hot PC : Just take a look at the ALR Pentium Evolution VQ. Ask them to put the Wingine card from epson (locabus graphic card). It's the fastest available graphic card supporting NEXTSTEP actually. It enable a resolution of 1280*1024 (the highest resolution). Ask then a configuration with a hot 17" color monitor that would support this large resolution (ask then the price for a 21" monitor also). And you will see that you'll have something really more powerfull that the ND !!! The problem with the ND is the way the memory is manage... there is a strong bug somewhere that will never change... because the ND card has it's own server that NeXT will never improve. You must understand that... I really think that you will regret this choice... like all the owner of a ND I've meet !!! Really, for $[lot of money], you would be able to buy this ALR... and it would give you more than satisfaction ! You'll be able to evoluate... when you'll not be able to do it with the ND ! Think again ! A ND is good only for 45 minutes... after that, you have to save your work... to power off it... and to restart ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Pros [Those who liked their ND's (Lance, Brian) or had looked into them (Jeff), had very different comments.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lance@insight.com (Lance Charlish) Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 14:53:16 -0700 Steve, I have never heard of this memory management problem and I certainly have NEVER experienced it. I have never had to reboot the ND because of swapfile problems, never. [...] As to the relative value of the two machines, everyone has their own opinions. But the fact remains that the only 24/32 bit color computer that runs NEXTSTEP presently and in the near future (my guess is at least a year) is the ND. Not to mention that getting video in and out of the ALR might be rather difficult. BTW, what is the bitblast rate on the video on the ALR machine? And will NeXT support the resolution standard (1280*1024) that he quotes? The Dell DGX/2 JAWS machine that we have in our office is capable of 1280*1024, but NeXT does not support that resolution. Remember that processor speed is only part of the performance equation - video speed is critical (e.g. I saw some tests in PC World that compared a Pentium machine with a standard SVGA video adapter with a 486 machine that had local bus accelerated video and the 486 was faster in all the tests being done (Windows was the operating system). So, to summarize: 1) Not all ND owners regret their purchase - we all miss the C-Cube compression chip, but lots of us love the machine. 2) I have never had any swapfile related problems with the ND. It could be that the machine that he was familiar with might have been seriously memory starved. "[...]" is not memory starved. 3) Watch out for the evolution arguments - if the computer that is on your desk can't do what you want, then you have problem. If it can do what you want, then you ought to be a happy man, IMHO. 4) My guess is that the relative costs of the machines, if made truly comparable, might not be quite as equal as it is represented by your friend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 17:32:02 -0500 From: J.B. Nicholson-Owens I can see Eric's points on how the Intel is what the future of NeXT is (since they don't make their own hardware anymore) but I really don't think that just because it's the latest it's also the greatest. I illustrate why I think the ND is better for video and high palette problems below. > According to him, there is a fatal flaw in the ND's window > server - 45 minutes and the swapfile's full, and only a > reboot wil cure it! > I can't say I'm familiar with this problem specifically on ND systems. I understand (and have experienced) filling up the swapfile and crashing, but that is something that I've experienced on every NS system. What I'd like to know is the complete configuration of this troublesome ND system. You said it had 8M RAM (is this ND RAM or system RAM or both?), but how much swap space? If it's got a low amount of swap space with only 8M RAM, it will fill up quickly (like I said before, shuffling 24+8-bit images around is not particularly a low-RAM or low-HD thing to do. As an example of what I feel to be a good swapfile for doing UNIX stuff (terminal windows open, reading lots of news and mail, irc, long scrollbacks in each of the term windows, etc.) I think 80M swap is good (which is what I've got Ð the other 25M is saved for my /tmp drive). For images, I fill up my 80M pretty quickly. Showing about 12 large (1k x 1k or larger) images really makes my system slow down if not crash because it can't swap out. Part of the problem is that NS' swap cannot free data from anyplace but the tail of the swapfile. If you start up any swap-hungry application, start up some other application that swaps even the littlest bit, quit the swap-hungry app and continue working in the little-swap app, the swapfile is still going to be just as large as if you had let the swap-hungry app sit there and do nothing. The swap device needs fixing. The other part of the problem is that it's simply too much data to swap out. Just because I'm loading up 12 large JPEG images that don't come to 80M when I do an ls -l command, that doesn't mean they won't swap out 80M or more. After all, JPEG is a compressed format, so when you see a 10K JPEG file, it's probably something around 30K or more graphic data. For this problem I'd recommend more RAM. To answer the question "How much RAM, Jeff?" I offer this from the 1993 Winter NeXTanswers file color.802: Neither the DRAM nor the VRAM on the NeXTdimension can be memory mapped by the application. When it becomes necessary, the i860 pages to disk via the host 68040Ðit does not write directly to disk itself. Whether you increase memory on the 68040 or the NeXTdimension depends upon how you plan to use the system. In general we recommend that you keep them fairly balanced. If you are going to be keeping lots of windows on the ND system then we suggest that you keep the memory on the i860 somewhat ahead. The less paging you do the better. You cannot extend the VRAM [video ram] on the NeXTdimension. I add that it is impossible to keep them balanced forever even on the non-turbo cubes, as the Dimension can hold less RAM than the cube can. Since the ND does it's paging through the '040 system, I'm guessing that there might be a chance that the '040 might be able to decide whether to hold on to that data in the cube's RAM or page it to disk. > To come back to your purchase... I really think that with > $[lots of money] you could have a really really hot PC : > Just take a look at the ALR Pentium Evolution VQ. Ask them > to put the Wingine card from epson (locabus graphic card). > It's the fastest available graphic card supporting NEXTSTEP > actually. It enable a resolution of 1280*1024 (the highest > resolution). Ask then a configuration with a hot 17" color > monitor that would support this large resolution (ask then > the price for a 21" monitor also). And you will see that > you'll have something really more powerfull that the ND !!! > My two cents: 1. The resolution is high on that card, but when will it support 2 monitors like the ND does? Will it support more than 2 monitors working together to make a virtual monitor? 2. Where is the video in/out ports required for producing video tapes of one's work? From what I see, you must buy proprietary hardware and non-standard C libraries or ObjC classes to get these ports. Even then, you cannot have just anyone with an NS system build apps that will "just work" with the ND (NS comes standard with a video view that works perfectly with the ND). 3. The Wingine card sounds nice for a works-okay-right-now solution, but it only lets you display up to 16-bit (adjustable alpha, so I hear) video? That means that you're not going to be doing that much better than a NeXTstation color. Considering how much you can get a NeXTstation color for these days, that slight increase in resolution doesn't sound like enough to justify the cost and the hassle of getting drivers right (to me). With the ND, you get 24+8-bit video across the machine, no tricks, no hassle, just plug it in and go.1 4. With NS/I comes getting into the PC way of thought for adding functionality: don't worry that your new hardware is proprietary, just make a driver! Drivers aren't too bad but they don't seem to be that easy to create. Perhaps this is just the problem of the programmers and not the tools, but the new DriverKit doesn't seem to be helping anyone make drivers (I've not seen anyone say they've made a driver for anything). In the future the Intel machines might very well have what the ND has now, but that's just the point. The ND has it now and the Intel machines simply don't. It all depends on what each user is interested in, as the Intel boxes are not for everyone. You got that ND system at a real steal, if you ask me, and I think you'll be very happy with it. > You'll be able to evoluate... when you'll not be able to > do it with the ND ! [...] Anything you buy will be cheaper the minute after you buy it. If that sentence was "You'll be able to evaluate..." I think that you most certainly will be able to evaulate differences, but I haven't bumped into any ND user that was as disappointed with the ND as Eric apparently is. How he configured his machine makes me wonder though. I know that when I had an 8/105M machine I wasn't exactly doing cartwheels over what I could do on the machine. I had to uninstall a large part of the 2.1 user setup to install a couple apps that I really needed at the time. I was not in any position to do installation of stuff off the net and swapping killed my machine frequently. When I added more memory and a good size hard disk (for UNIX the standards tend to be higher than for DOS or Windows Ð a 1G hard disk is becoming more common for users of most types), my crashes all but went away (I've crashed 4 times due to swapdrive fill-up) and I'm able to actually use my system compiling stuff on it and getting into having fun with it, not just open a no-scrollback Terminal window and kermit into [a local UNIX machine]. ---------- 1 All the drivers you need to use are launched at boot time and come with the system, no additional work needed. Conversely, if you don't have the drivers needed for the Intel system you have to create them yourself, hire someone to create them or do without. I've heard (in other words, not confirmed) that the Wingine card allows deeper video (increase on-screen palette) by adding more ram. That's good, but there is a limit of 16-bit video, so no matter how much memory you add you'll never be able to have enough for 24-bit video. This might be a Wingine software limitation that might change with future Wingine software, but I don't know for sure. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 The Crux of the Biscuit [any Frank Zappa fans out there? :-<)>] [I think Jeff and Brian sum up the debate very well. Alex's and Eric's final comments are excellent, too.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Jul 93 18:51:16 -0500 From: J.B. Nicholson-Owens [...] >but they strongly recommended the 486 or Pentium This seems to be the big issue at hand, so I'll offer my two cents: (all statements based on what you can do right now) ND Turbo system Intel-based system 24-bit color + 8-bit alpha Best color is 16-bit with adjustable alpha DSP standard No DSP (addons would be custom and not easily standardized now) Can use high-speed SIMMS Might be able to use high-speed SIMMS if the hardware supports it Ð most I am familiar with can not do this, however Supports two monitors No multiple monitor support, no virtual in a virtual screen monitor support arrangement Able to use all major kits Can not use Music Kit (a major kit for dealing (can not use driver kit) with simultaneous sounds and DSP support) but can use driver kit Can use TTYDSP for Must rely on whatever the serial port on the incredibly high serial rates machine has since adding a serial card with (far beyond 57.6k baud)1 enhanced capability would run into customization problem again. Can not run any OS but Can run a variety of OS's, including free NEXTSTEP UNIX ports [e.g., 386BSD and Linux], Windows, OS/2 and MS-DOS 1 use of Yrrid's TTYDSP makes using the DSP for other things impossible. Playing DSP music and using TTYDSP to dialup to a BBS would be impossible. The workaround would be to play the music with the CPU and use TTYDSP for the high-speed BBS work. Speaking from a personal viewpoint, once you use SLIP, dialups will seem so archaic. Receiving mail at home and reading news at home is such a nice thing. It might even make you consider something like purchasing an ISDN connection which will require as much speed as you can give it [one person I talked to is using an ISDN modem at 57.6k baud with TTYDSP on his NeXT hardware right now as I type this]. If you ever considered living in a UIUC dorm with ethernet [the University of Illinois is installing direct ethernet connections to the campus backbone in University dormitories] in your room, that would be best, but ISDN is second best. > Reasons given: cheaper, much faster, and 24-bit color and > video boards supposedly coming soon. > But if there are no 24+X-bit boards available, it is by definition neither (1) cheaper nor (2) faster. They are comparing a 24+8-bit (palette+alpha) display system (ND) to a 16+4(?)-bit display system (Intel) and telling you the Intel system is faster. Of course it'll be faster, it has less data to store, pass through the bus and retreive to draw and redraw graphics. My 2+2-bit cube is going to be faster then their Intel system by the same logic. Also, I should mention that (for me) the phrase "coming soon" means absolutely nothing to me. I know Windows, X and DOS users can enjoy 24-bit displays on their Intel machines now. If I were considering switching to those OS's, I would care about that since I want color so much. But a combination of things has to happen before there is an Intel NS machine with the capability of the ND: (1) 24+8-bit display or better card (2) driver support for NS (3) realtime video in/out ports on the card (4) a driver that makes the hooks for using the ND video methods also able to be used by the Intel card [otherwise you'll end up with some card that is only able to work with some software Ð something that goes strictly against the NS work paradigm, if you ask me]. (5) driver support that allows ALL of NS to use the fabulous color ALL the time, not just in a particular window or view, but all 24-bit icons come up as 24-bit icons. (6) A PAL version of the card for European users (since they do development work also, there is no use in discounting them even though you will want the NTSC card) (7) Card and driver that support at least 2 monitors in a virtual monitor hookup like the ND does right now. There are no such cards for the Intel systems that can be used with NS right now, and the only option I've heard of is this thing from a company whose name escapes me that will allow animation editing. Their stuff does not allow the entire system to become 24+8-bit display, however, therefore to me it's just duplicating a fraction of what could be done with just software on the ND. If "coming soon" matters to you so much, keep in mind what you told me the demoers at NeXTtime said, how it'll run so well on a ND system. In order for any Intel display card to be compared to the ND, it will have to compete on ALL the bases that the ND can compete on. I might have left some ND features out, but you get the idea that a simple 24-bit frame buffer is NOT in any way going to suffice as proper competition for the ND. Now, just so I don't seem totally pro-ND, here are some drawbacks: * Little X usage (all the X programs run incredibly slow on ND systems, I wouldn't expect to use X under ND at all. Since I don't use X this doesn't matter one whit to me personally, but if your needs change and you need X, this could easily matter) * Maximum 2-monitor support: The ND cannot daisy-chain monitors so that you could create a video wall. * No combined PAL/NTSC video in/out: Unless you purchase two ND boards, you cannot get both PAL and NTSC on one system. If you did purchase two boards (and hooked up 4 monitors) you would have one two-monitor screens duplicated once in PAL and once in NTSC (the same video would go out on both ND boards). Not a 4-monitor single virtual-screen ND system. * Increase swap and RAM usage: As with ANY system, the more data you store, the more space you require in which to store it. With a 24+8-bit system (such as the ND), you will require more RAM and swap space than someone with a 2+2-bit system (such as me) because you will be storing more data per color image (whether the image is on-screen or not) than I will. This is not an ND flaw, per se, this is a basic operating fact of all computers. * Slower machine: The ND system will be slower than it's equally-equipped B&W competitor (comparing a [...] Turbo Cube to an ND Turbo system with equal amounts of RAM, swap space and running the same apps on the same version of NS, for instance). The ND machine has to move at least 12 times the data across the same bus (compared to the Turbo Cube) to use the full palette of the ND. The simple equation of rate=distance/time will tell you that the ND machine will be slower at the same display tasks. For me, the enhanced resolution (using a 2-monitor display doubles the horizontal resolution, albeit across two monitors) and the enhanced palette more than make up for that lack of speed. Programming can (possibly totally) take care of that speed differential by using efficient decompressing algorithms. A decent NeXTtime implementation running on an ND system would answer the question of how much work is it to implement such a good realtime display system. [...] I'm telling ya, if you want to do NS in real color, there are only two options: (1) NeXTdimension or (2) wait and see what the Intel machine offers. If you want to use NS real color now, there's only one way: ND. [...] Perhaps by the time you are in a position to buy something else or something in addition to your ND box, there will be low-cost ND lookalikes for 72MHz '486 or HP boxes that will scream your name. If you get another NS machine, you might use that one to crank out the frames of some animation and use the ND system to display them. You could then use the HP system on a 2+2-bit display and ethernet the two machines together (with a phone cable perhaps) to get the data from one machine to the other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 10:49:41 -0700 From: Brian Willoughby I'll give you a few points of view that I have. 1) Con: Compared to other video systems out there, especially motion video systems designed after the NeXTdimension, it now seems like the dimension is expensive. i.e. the cost/performance ratio is high. My common "mistake" is to think about features like recording real-time video to disk, simply because newer systems for the PC can handle this at low cost. But I don't think this is a fair comparison considering when the NeXTdimension was designed. The dimension cannot record high frame rates directly to disk because there is no hardware support for real-time compression. The only possibility would be to get a video playback device with frame accuracy, and have the NeXT control the pause on each frame long enough to convert and save the frame's image to disk. Pro: If your requirements do not include recording live video to disk, then the NeXTdimension is attractive at the right price. Real-time video in a window, without storing to disk, is fully functional. Conversion and display of still images is fantastic. There is no substitute for 24-bit true color. The NeXTstation and most PC video cards do not come close in quality. Taken as a whole package (instead of comparing the cost of the dimension upgrade by itself against the cost of a NeXTcube), the NeXTdimension has (or had?) the best price/performance ratio in the workstation market. You'll especially benefit from purchasing a used system (I purchased a demo system from the local NeXT dealer). 2) Con: If you don't have the money for at least 32MB of dimension memory, you are going to suffer. I have also been told that you need to keep the amount of RAM on the main board balanced with amount on the ND (as close as possible given the different number of slots and types of SIMM which are accepted by each), although I don't know what the consequences are if this advice is not followed. Pro: This is an easy "problem" to solve. I started with 28+20MB (CPU/ND) and now have 40+48MB, hoping to eventually reach 64+64MB. My system was never very slow in the beginning, and is now even snappier. Many things are faster than on the NeXTcube, but a few things are slower. I am happy with the tradeoffs. A Turbo NeXTdimension might be the perfect combo. What are you getting? In summary, I like my machine. I would never own a 486 PC as my main workstation, simply because there is no substitute for the computing power and throughput of a workstation with an integrated design like the NeXT. There are still far too many problems with the speed of PC bus systems, and the peripheral are not designed to work together with several channels of DMA for transferring several streams of data in a multitasking environment. You might want to consider some of the restrictions I had in mind when I made my purchase decision. I had already decided, having owned an Apple ][ with only 6 colors, that any new computer purchase must be capable of 24-bit true color in its highest resolution. With this personal preference, I was left with no other choice but the NeXTdimension (once I found out that the SGI Indigo starts with 8-bit video for $8,000 plus a $3,000 development package which didn't support 56001 development, I decided that NeXT had the best price/performance ratio in the range I could afford). As long as I don't get distracted by drooling over new computer applications like live video compression and recording, I realize that my machine does a great job of all the tasks that I had in mind when I purchased it. If you're getting a reasonable price for this used NeXTdimension, I would say "go for it". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 18:01:22 -0500 From: Alex Currier Subject: Re: About NeXTdimensions... Reply-To: mycroft@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu [...] Certainly you can use what I said, even though I seem to have changed my mind! The reason for this was I looked more closely at the specs on the Indy and realized that for the base price of about 5K you get just the basics. You'd have to add a HD (1.2GB, please) and a monitor (21" would be nice) and more memory and even then you'd be running a brand new untested OS (or GUI at least, whatever it is that "Magic" actually is) [Magic is the recently-announced new SGI user environment]. The final cost for a real performance system would be in the high 7K to low 9K region. At this point in my life I don't need to (and can't afford to) spend that kind of money on the Indy. I believe my ND system (at the astounding low price I managed to pay for it) will meet my needs nicely for some time. If I need more horsepower I can buy a second NeXT and distribute rendering or whatnot between them. In a few years when there have been some real strides made in computing power and storage capability I will consider moving up to a higher level. Already I have more computer on my desk than some small countries. As for NeXT versus Intel hardware... I now have some experience in that area too. PC hardware is pretty cool. It's faster and more configurable but when you think about the system as a whole... I would rather buy a machine designed by one company completely and solely for running NeXTSTEP than buy a machine designed by 10 different companies and stuck together which was never designed to run anything like NeXTSTEP. The hardware/software integration of NS on NeXT hardware makes it worth buying the orphaned equipment, in my opinion and for my applications. Users who want raw speed probably should wait for NS ports to higher end machines... users who want a cheap NS box should consider used NeXT hardware. My '040 cube 16/349 cost me $2000. Of course this is all for me, other people may have very good reasons for buying a PC machine to run NS. The CPU performance is definitely there... a DX2/66 with 256K cache outperformes the Color Turbostation by a factor of 150% to 250%. Video performance does suffer a bit (80% to 90% of the NCT) but that will probably be remedied in the future with new hardware designed with NS in mind and better drivers. I just don't like the idea of a machine with so many variables... I have never been a big fan of Chow Mein hardware (where you throw in whatever you have and hope it works). That's what I always liked about Apple and NeXT. You get a well integrated machine and (in Apple's case) you still have room to upgrade (though you don't have to upgrade just to get basic functionality like good video and SCSI and sound and whatnot). alex ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Aug 93 12:26:49 -0500 From: Eric de_la_Tribouille I think that the main problem when you manage large images come from the fact it really takes a lot of memory. So the same problem of swaping may come from a PC. It would be very interesting to test that. Some guys tell you that we'll wait at least one year before seeing 24bit supported under NEXTSTEP FIP. I really hope it will be ready for the 3.2.... and it should ! The main advantage of a PC comes from the fact you will allways be able to find the solution, and it does not take a long wait. I would say that the advice from the guy at NeXT to take a PENTIUM machine is interesting... But real live test is the best thing for sure ! If you could have this NEXTDimension for one month with NEXTSTEP 3.1, we'll be able to test it and to be sure it'll give you what you want. I don't know if it's possible, but it would be the best choice ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Dan Marusich reports (8/8/93) that 32-bit color will be supported with Release 3.2. Hooray! Nevertheless, I'm proud to own an Original Black Beauty] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 More Power! Brian Willoughby's ND Turbo Summary [Brian Willoughby recently posted a summary of his survey regarding the Turbo motherboards for NeXTdimension systems. I include it here with his permission, and I take the liberty of assuming that the original authors gave their consent to public posting with the original article.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: SUMMARY: NeXTdimension Turbo recommendations Sender: brianw@sounds.wa.com (Brian Willoughby) Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 23:50:34 GMT I asked a couple of questions and promised a summary, so here goes a review of the original article followed by all the responses (which have tapered off recently and now tend to be questions rather than answers :-) Brian Willoughby writes > Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1993 20:13:01 GMT > > What is the general consensus on the speed improvement > provided by upgrading a 25 MHz '040 dimension to a 33 MHz > Turbo motherboard? I assume it would be quite difficult > at this point to get a NeXTcube Turbo motherboard, but if I > were to find one, I'd like to know what to expect. > > Are there any new problems when running a NeXTdimension board > along with the 33 MHZ NeXTcube Turbo motherboards? How > much faster is the machine given similar RAM and drive > configurations? Basically, would upgrading my main board > from 25 MHz to 33 MHz be a major hassle (negative > performance), a waste of time (no change), a small > improvement, or a vast improvement? > ----------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 16:05:32 -0700 From: abell@netcom.com (Steven T. Abell) I recently got an ND and a turbo board for my cube. Quite noticeable improvement. ----------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 16:24:40 PDT From: brianw (To: abell@netcom.com (Steven T. Abell)) Thanks for the response, Steve. I'm curious, though: did you get both the ND and the Turbo board at the same time? How long did you use the ND with the 25 Mhz board before upgrading to the 33 MHz Turbo one? The reason I ask is because the ND is faster than the standard NeXTcube because all of the Postscript and Renderman functions are handled by another processor. I'm wondering how much of your improvement was due to adding the ND and how much is on account of the Turbo board by itself. I have an ND and a 25 MHz board. ----------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 17:46:00 -0700 From: abell@netcom.com (Steven T. Abell) I got the turbo and the ND at the same time. I have no basis for comparison in driving the ND, but the system as a whole is much faster. I'm not sure it's correct that PS and Renderman are handled by the ND. I've been told by a person inside NeXT that all the ND processor does is copy rectangles through a dual-port RAM. Apparently, the machine wasn't designed very well for the intended purpose of outboard rendering, and so the software was never written to accomplish that. This information may not be true anymore, but I think it still is. Designing interfaces to do what ND was supposed to do is not easy, and NeXT made at least one other similar bad assumption in their hardware interfaces: the DSP. Right now I'm running two heads, 32MB on the CPU and 8MB on the ND. I get a little window shear that I understand would be corrected by more ND RAM. Other than that, this is a very sweet machine. ----------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 20:01:27 -0500 From: J.B. Nicholson-Owens Spherical Solutions has Turbo ND systems on sale now for $7k, I believe. I would say that the ability of Turbo machines to hold more memory (128MB, I believe) could all by itself make some RAM-hungry apps run faster if that 128MB is enough to postpone a trip to the swapfile. Unfortunately, it probably takes a lot of money to expand your machine with the proper ram to take advantage of that. Also, I believe the Turbo machines can access faster ram faster than the non-Turbo machines can access the same ram. ----------------------------------------------------- From: dylan@angst.com (Dylan Kohler) Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 17:24:03 -0700 I haven't really noticed much of a difference between the Turbo and non-Turbo Dimension cubes. This isn't anything I've checked empirically--just my opinion that the extra cost wasn't worth it to me. ----------------------------------------------------- From: Peter Eisch Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 13:18:20 -0500 About going to 33MHz: I debated it for a long time. The 33's have only the 4 memory slots as the rest of the turbo crowd, so I'd have to shell out some serious cash for ram to keep 64MB on my motherboard on top of the board itself. In the same vein, you can take the 33's to >64MB of ram. To specifically answer your question, I've never tried a turbo cube/ND and you're surely to notice a difference (as in the NSC/NSTC's) but it may or may not be worth the hassle. If money's no object -- go 'fer it. ----------------------------------------------------- From: lance@insight.com (Lance Charlish) Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 12:23:08 -0700 I upgraded my ND system to a turbo system and the change was DRAMATIC. Because the display postscript is drawn on the 040 chip (rather than on the Intel RISC chip) the faster interleaved memory, faster processor and the turbo memory controller chip vastly increase the speed of the machine whenever an app has to draw a lot of postscript. If you want better performance, but can't get a board, make sure that you have the memory at max. levels on the ND board. Whenever the ND board has to page its memory of the screen, it also takes over the CPU on the system board, which really hurts performance. There were no problems to speak of doing the upgrade. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [On July 3, 1993, George Fankhauser (george@nice.usergroup.ethz.ch) of NiCE (NeXT User Group, Zurich, Switzerland) posted some NXBench benchmarks for various NeXT and Intel configurations reported to him by users. A 25 MHz '040 NeXT Cube monochrome was used as a baseline (1.0). Jim Kiraly's Turbo ND registered 0.8324, a hair faster than an Intel GX Pro (0.8112) and only a little slower than a Dell JAWS machine (0.8618). These numbers will certainly change with future driver updates, but the comparison is interesting.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 Tips culled from the Net [This stuff I saved for my own reference library, but as it concerns the NeXTdimension, and as some folks may have missed it, I'm including it here with the permissions of the original authors.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 Dual Headed NeXTdimensions [This is comprised of several posts] ------------------------------------------------ 4.1.1 References: <1993Jun23.005511.16355@cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: nebel.uni-koblenz.de In article <1993Jun23.005511.16355@cs.yale.edu> nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu (Nathan F. Janette) writes: > In article > nelson@atlas.socsci.umn.edu (David Paul Nelson) writes: > [ ... ] > > 4. A question for those having experience of NeXTDimension: > > is it possible to run two monitors simultaneously? That is, > > the 2-bit from the motherboard, and the color from the ND > > board? What does the workspace look like? > > > > Yes, in fact you can even run multiple ND boards with > associated displays, although I've never seen it done. The > color display must be the main display. No, either monitor can be the main display. It's chosen in Preferences, section for multiple monitors ("Not Applicable" on normal machines). You can choose which monitor to use as main display and adjust the relative position of the monitors so the picture doesn't "jump" if you drag a window across the displays. The displays work like one big workspace, windows can be partly on both at the same time. Menu and Dock are kept on the "main" display. Detlev Droege [.sig deleted] [However, see also NeXTanswers 1052 on a problem with dual displays] --------------------------------------------- 4.1.2 Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.bugs From: sfch@dmu.ac.uk (Simon F C Harwood) Subject: Re: WSMgr: Windows on double-head Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 15:09:48 GMT In article <1993Aug5.062547.4886@fokus.gmd.de> rfi@jeans.fokus.gmd.de (Robert Fischer) writes: >Hi, > >I'm sitting in front of a double-headed NeXT and do want to >place my windows on the second screen too. That's possible, >of course, but at new login time, the windows of the Workspace >Manager doesn't care about my second screen: the position is >correct, but on the wrong, the main (login) screen. > >Bug or feature? This sounds like the system that I have got.. NeXT Cube with Dimension board and colour monitor added at a later date. What you probably need to do is to log in as root, then, using the "screens" section in the Preferences application, tell the NeXT that you want the second screen probably the mono one since installing the Dimension drivers sets the colour screen to be the only one on) that you want the mono screen to be on, and where it is relative to the colour screen. This makes it automatically sort out the boundarys on the screens for you. After that, log out and then "log in" (this doesn't really) as exit (no password) -- this re-starts your window server. Simon.. ------------------------------------------------ 4.1.3 >To: Robert Fischer >From: rob@lighthouse.com > I have the same problem on my NeXTDimension system. I think > it's a bug. Under NS3.0 the Workspace used to rembember the > screen the windows were on. [...] >:-( > - Rob Kedoin ---------------------------------------------- 4.1.4 To: scwg0600@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu On Tue, 10 Aug 1993 scwg0600@edu.uiuc.cso.sumter wrote: [...] Things like that should really be made known since it isn't in the standard documentation. I worked it out by experimenting in order to get it right. It is possible to have the second screen logically anywhere around the main one. (Think about taking 2 pieces of rectangular card and moving one around the other while keeping them touching... those are the logical screen positions that you can get. It can be a bit fidley moving the mouse between screens if you don't have a large section of edge touching, I have them set at exactly the same height to get a "double- width" screen; useful with the number of windows I have open when developing software.) [...] Simon.. ------------------------------------------- 4.1.5 From: J.B. Nicholson-Owens Subject: Two dimensions in the same cube Steve, I believe I made a mistake in an earlier letter (a letter I think you wanted to include in your summary). Before I said (on the words of someone who's name I've long since forgotten) that two dimensions in the same cube would give you the possibility of having two two-headed displays where each two-headed display showed the same thing. This is incorrect. According to Brian L Gottlieb , you get a single three-headed display and you can use the preferences panel to set them up like this: (if you had two color screens and a Megapixel screen, for instance) -------------- | | | ND2 | | | | | -------------- ---------------------------- | || | | ND1 || Megapixel | | || | | || | ---------------------------- You can drag windows between all three of them just as with one ND you can drag windows between two monitors. For me to comment on what happens with a third ND card in the same cube (the maximum for one cube) would be total speculation. I would guess you then could get four monitors to work in tandem. It seems odd to me that with one ND you get two screens yet with two NDs you get only three screens, but perhaps the second screen for the second ND card is being shown "twice"; once by the initial ND and once by the second ND where that screen happens to be in the same place every time (in this diagram, I guess that location would be the position marked as ND1). ------------------------------------------ 4.2 ND memory check [see also 5.5, NeXTanswers FAQ - Question "R1"] From: gwh@cs.mcgill.ca (Gene W HOMICKI) Subject: Re: Nextdimension memory (how much ya got) Date: 20 Jun 1993 05:35:05 GMT [posted originally in comp.sys.next.admin] At bootup time, a message should be displayed telling you how much memory is installed on your dimension board. If you leave those silly bootup tiffs up and don't watch the messages as your machine boots up, just check out the /usr/adm/messages file. --Gene gwh@cs.mcgill.ca PS 'grep video /usr/adm/messages' should do the trick. ------------------------------------------ 4.3 ND Booting Problem and Fix Under 3.1 Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware Subject: Re: ND gone belly up From: hcole@tumbleweed.idec.sdl.usu.edu (Howard R. Cole) Date: 13 Aug 93 16:58:21 MDT [...] For those few who may still use cubes with ND boards, it turned out that the power glitch over the weekend corrupted my netinfo database. Restoring /etc/netinfo/local.nidb cured the problem, and I'm now back up and running. I also discovered that it is possible to reproduce this anomolous behavior by turning off the ND board from the preferences. In 3.1, this will put your machine in a nearly unbootable state. That is - it will only boot if you disable the netinfo crap ( I did this by disconnecting my network wire), booting single user, and restoring the databases. [NOTE: In a later note to me, Howard says: [...] I've had one email reply from a person saying he can't reproduce this behavior on his ND cube. He didn't say what OS version he was running, and hasn't replied to my query, so at this point, mine is just a single data point (it is still quite reproducible on my cube though). You may use my post if you wish, but I think it should be checked out on other machines just to be sure it isn't some peculiar combination of parameters I have set on my cube.] ------------------------------------------------ 4.4 ND Slots From: mycroft@monolith.utexas.edu (Alex Currier) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware Subject: Re: How do I set up ND board? (The Answer) Date: 18 Aug 1993 02:01:41 GMT Many thanks to the numerous responses I received for this question. Particular thanks to Sam Goldberger for taking time out to answer my pesky questions. This problem has been solved. First off, the ND board goes in Slot 2. That's the slot closest to the power supply on the left side if yu're looking into the open back of the cube. Secondly (and more to the point), there must be at least four SIMMS present on the ND board for it to function. I was unaware of this and after buying two more SIMMS and placing them on the board I installed the ND and powered up the system and it worked immediately and perfectly (and boy does it look good!). By the way, the SIMMS should be placed in the slots on the leading edge first as opposed to the slots closer to the center of the board. [...] --------------------------------------------- 4.5 Video.app Bugfix Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc,comp.sys.next.software From: borrel@ludvigsen.dhhalden.no (Borre Ludvigsen) Subject: Re: Apps that don't work with 3.1 - Icon & VideoApp Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1993 08:24:50 GMT Thnks for the answers. Icon needs to have the 3.0 patch, the 2.1 resources and the public window server preference on to work. As for VideoApp: > From: Marcel Waldvogel > To: borrel@ludvigsen.dhhalden.no > Subject: Re: Apps that don't work with 3.1 - Icon & VideoApp > Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.software,comp.sys.next.misc,comp.sys.next.bugs > Organization: NiCE - NeXT User Group, Zurich, Switzerland > > In article <1993Jul30.220744.19823@dhhalden.no> you write: > >Also VideoApp and DVR refuse to run (I have a NextDimensions): > > > > Jul 30 22:05:26 Workspace: Cannot exec /borrel/Apps/DVR/DVR : Bad > > executable (or shared library) > > Jul 30 22:05:52 Workspace: Cannot exec /NextDeveloper/Demos/VideoApp : > > Bad executable (or shared library) > > What does 'ebadexec ' say? > > -Marcel Marcel, Thank you kindly for the tip! This appears to be the workaround for now: > 3%ebadexec /NextDeveloper/demo/VideoApp > ebadexec: executable file: /NextDeveloper/demo/VideoApp does not exist > (No such file or directory) The libvideo_s.A.shlib picked up from NS 3.0 just made the whole machine freeze up, so this appears to be the solution: > 6%ls -l /usr/shlib/libvideo_s.A.shlib > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 18 Aug 1 07:29 /usr/shlib/libvideo_s.A.shlib -> > libMedia_s.A.shlib@ Both VideoApp and DVR work now (though the DVR animations are not as smooth as I seem to remember them). Thanks again. - Barre Ludvigsen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 NeXTdimension Lore [Various items of historical interest.] [NOTE: I decided to "go to press" without including the text and references for 2 NeXTWORLD articles about the ND. I'll post them when I get permission from NeXTWORLD. Article 5.2 (NeXTWORLD Fall 1992) is about Dick Phillips, the Los Alamos physicist, advisor to Steve Jobs, and creator of MediaView, a public-domain multimedia authoring environment. In a sense, the ND was designed to run MediaView. Article 5.3 (NeXTWORLD Premiere Issue, Jan/Feb 1991) is the pre-release review of the ND - when the prototype boards had working hardware video compression.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 What happened to the C-Cube chip Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy From: bstone@acs.ucalgary.ca (Blake Stone) Subject: Re: Deja Vu Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 03:28:49 GMT References: <24a4dj$j2v@paperboy.osf.org> > Thompson also worked with NeXT on the ND board. The > compression chip they've developed uses the JPEG standard - > NeXT D. designers wanted to put this onto the ND, the problem > was the silicon was 18 months away from being shipped and is > not a moving picture standard. NeXT wanted real time, 30 > frames per second compression. One of the Thompson designers > who visited NeXT said the ND folks were hopelessy unrealistic > about what was possible. ND people were probably just > deceiving themselves. I think that's an unfair assessment. NeXT's engineers had WORKING 30 frames / second ND boards using C-Cube's prototype chips, and the production schedule for the chips would allow the board to ship on time. Given that NeXTTIME manages 18 frames / second compression and 24 frames / second decompression in SOFTWARE, I don't think the hardware compression they were looking for was unrealistic. Back on the C-Cube front, when I spoke to engineers at NeXT what I was told is that: A) The production chips came out VERY late and were quite buggy B) The production chips differred from the the prototypes and the specification in a significant fashion that prevented I/O and compression from occurring simultaneously, cutting the frame rate to 15 / second. > I believe Thompson and C-Cube are the only people working in > this market. I'm surprised anyone deals with C-Cube anymore after the schedule slips and broken promises... and I'm certain there are other players in the field (what about DVI? And a dozen other proposed "standards"...) > Oh, last thing I heard was that SGS-Thompson will take your > order today, but delivery will take 12 months ! .... or it may never ship at all. You takes your chances. Blake W. Stone [Sigh...If Wishes Were Fishes...:-)] --------------------------------------------- 5.2 Dick Phillips, MediaView, and the NeXTdimension 5.3 The NeXTWORLD pre-release review of the NeXTdimension [coming soon to a Usenet site near you...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 NeXTanswers about NeXTdimensions [I culled these from NeXTanswers during my search. The originals are worth consulting (especially for the illustrations!) I'm including these for those readers who may not have access to NeXTanswers but who have access to Usenet. These are posted with NeXT's permission, in their entirety, although they arrived without dates when I downloaded them] ---------------------------------------------- 6.1 NeXTanswers #1036 The NeXTdimension Software NeXT is now shipping system software, distributed as an Installer package, to support the NeXTdimension. This software is pre-installed by our factory on new NeXT computers when the NeXTdimension board is installed. The software is also included in the NeXTdimension Upgrade Kit and must be installed on NeXT computers that customers upgrade with the NeXTdimension board. The NeXTdimension Installer package includes the most recent version of the Video Applications Programming Interface (API). The Video API has changed since Release 2.1. Because of this change, any computers on which video development is being done should also have the NeXTdimension software package installed. However, unless such development is being done, non-NeXTdimension machines will gain nothing from the NeXTdimension Installer package: the package is for NeXT-dimension support only. The Installer package includes new components of the Window Server that support NeXTdimension. To determine whether the NeXTdimension package has been installed on a computer, examine the following: - Look for a package installation receipt. Package installation receipts are kept in various folders in the /NextLibrary/Packages folder; the receipt for the NeXTdimension Installer package will be in the Standard folder. - Check the PostScript¨ version in the Workspace Managerä Info Panel; the PostScript version will be 2.1.55.3 for Release 2.1 without the NeXTdimension package installed, and will be 2.1.55.4 with the package installed. -------------------------------------------- 5.2 NeXTanswers #1037 NeXTdimension Upgrades Now that NeXTdimension, NeXT's complete high-end color system, is shipping, what about upgrades? The NeXTdimension Board Upgrades are also available for NeXTcube systems. Customers interested in upgrading the original 68030 NeXT Computer with a NeXT-dimension Board must address several issues. First, NeXTdimension computers are designed to provide optimum performance with the 68040 NeXT systems. NeXT recommends adding NeXTdimension Boards to original NeXT Computers that have been upgraded with 68040 hardware or to new 68040 NeXTcubes. If the customer wishes to use the NeXTdimension upgrade with a 68030 computer, a NeXTbusä Interface Chip (NBICä) is necessary to ensure proper functioning. Second, NeXTdimension computers are designed to be able to work with both a monochrome MegaPixel Displayä and a MegaPixel Color Display simultaneously. Many owners may prefer to operate the NeXTdimension with only a MegaPixel Color Display. If your computer's serial number is lower than AAK0016370, and you prefer to work without a monochrome display connected to your computer, you must upgrade your computer's power supply with a Power Supply Upgrade Kit. Your existing configuration will determine whether or not you need to purchase additional upgrades for the NeXT Computer. The table below can be used to determine whether an NBIC or a power supply upgrade is required. NeXTdimension Upgrades Required Existing System Power Supply NBIC NeXTcube 040 System Not needed Not needed NeXT Computer 030 System, computer Not needed $35 serial #AAK0016370 or higher NeXT Computer 030 System, computer Not needed $35 serial # AAK0016369 or lower, one monochrome MegaPixel Display, and one MegaPixel Color Display NeXT Computer 030 System, computer $295 $35 serial # AAK0016369 or lower, and one MegaPixel Color Display Installation The NeXTdimension Board is a customer installable upgrade. Customers may contact the NeXT Service Operations team at 1-800-848-NeXT for installation assistance or for information about local NeXT Authorized Service Centers, who will provide installation services. Service centers may charge the customer for NeXTdimension Board installation at their standard installation rates. The NeXTdimension installation manuals are available through NeXTedge. Part numbers and pricing for the NeXTdimension Board Upgrade include: NeXTdimension Board Upgrade, 8 MB RAM, N7014-08, $3,995 NeXTdimension Board Upgrade, 16 MB RAM, N7014-16, $5,495 NeXTdimension Board Upgrade, 32 MB RAM, N7014-32, $8,485 Additional requirements for upgrading a 68030 computer include: Power Supply Upgrade Kit, N7029, $295 NBIC, N7008, $35 ----------------------------------------------- 6.3 NeXTanswers #1052 The Key to NeXTdimension Configurations The key to NeXTdimension configurations is simpleÐdon't set the monochrome MegaPixel Display as the default screen if you configure the NeXTdimension system with both monochrome and color displays. This configuration causes the NeXTdimension to run very slowly. The NeXTdimension can be run either with just a color display, or with both monochrome and color displays simultaneously. For best performance when running with both displays, the color display should be set as the default screen. Make sure that your customers don't configure their systems to default to the monochrome display. This configuration works, but works very slowly. For example, zooming to 200 percent in Scene while looking at a large TIFF file takes 130 seconds with the slow configuration. With any other NeXTdimension configuration, it takes only about 20 seconds. How does this happen? With a new NeXTdimension system or upgrade to an existing NeXTcube, the system will power up and, by default, use only the color display. To configure a system with multiple displays, the user must run the Preferences application and use the multiple screens preference item to enable the monochrome screen. The only way to get into the slow configuration is to drag the loginwindow icon over the monochrome screen to set it as the zero screen. Make sure NeXTdimension customers don't do this. Returning a Slow Configuration to Normal Existing customers who may have already set this configuration can set the zero screen back to the color screen by dragging the loginwindow icon over to the color screen. Until we can revise the user documentation to warn NeXTdimension customers about this problem, please communicate this tip to your customers. -------------------------------------------- 6.4 NeXTanswers #1065 NeXTdimension demos What are the NeXTdimension demos, you ask? Great tools for capturing and manipulating color graphics and video! We encourage you to get acquainted with them. Some of the demos found in /NextDeveloper/Demos highlight the video and imaging capabilities of the NeXTdimension system, such as live video in, video out, and 32-bit accelerated graphics. These demos are installed with the NeXTdimension Updates package. CompressionLab This application allows you to open up any TIFF image, compress it by using one of three techniques-JPEG, LZW, and PackBits-and save the resulting compressed file. The ScrollView on the left displays the TIFF image. The ScrollView on the right displays the image after compression and expansion. The Result box displays some statistics on the compression. This demo works on all NeXT systems. NeXTtv NeXTtv is like having a TV monitor in your computer. It allows you to display images from a video source in a video-like window and to control the hue, saturation, brightness, sharpness, and gamma. It also captures video images and allows for still video output control. This demo requires a NeXTdimension system. ScreenScape ScreenScape transparently sends a partial view of your NeXTdimension screen to the NeXTdimension video output ports. This view automatically tracks the mouse as you work. At any time, you can freeze a frame so that it no longer follows the mouse. This demo requires a NeXTdimension. VideoApp Planning to write a video application? Complete with source (in /NextDeveloper/ Examples/VideoApp), the VideoApp program lets you exercise the video Application Programming Interface (API) of the NXLiveVideoView. It also includes image grab and video output of graphics. This demo requires a NeXTdimension. What video inputs and outputs are available? Two composite video inputs, which use an RCA connector, and one Svideo input, which uses a Din-5 connector, are available on the NeXTdimension board. There is one composite video output, one Svideo output, and one analog RGB video output, which uses a D-9 connector. RCA composite is a one-channel signal that combines information about chrominance, luminance, picture, and synch. This is the most common connector found on consumer-level video equipment. Svideo (also known as Y/C) produces a higher-quality picture than RCA composite because it splits up the chrominance and luminance information into two separate signals. Finally, analog RGB, generally found only in professional video equipment, splits up the signal into red, green, and blue channels. RGB provides the highest-quality video signal. How can I show a video on the NeXTdimension? You can use either NeXTtv or VideoApp to show a video on your NeXTdimension display. First, connect a video source (such as a VTR, VCR, laser disc player, or camcorder) to one of the inputs on the NeXTdimension board. In NeXTtv, select the appropriate video input on the NeXTtv monitor. You'll find three selections for input (Ln1, Ln2, Ln3) and one for output (Out1). Ln1 is the first RCA composite input, Ln2 is the second RCA composite input, and Ln3 is the S-video input. Out1 is output-either the RCA composite output, S-video output, or RGB output. Press the Power button to start your video source and turn on the display. To show a video in VideoApp, select the appropriate input in the source section of the VideoView Inspector panel. SRC1 and SRC2 are the two RCA composite video inputs, and SVHS is the S-Video input. Start your video source and turn on VideoView by clicking the Start button on the VideoView Inspector panel. What are the up and down arrows on the Palette panel for? You can use the up and down arrows on the Palette panel in NeXTtv to bring a selection on the monitor to the front or send a selection to the back (see figure 2). This applies to a live video grab selection or a TIFF file that has been dragged or dropped into a NeXTtv window. You may have to click the arrows more than once. Can I overlay characters or an image on the video? You can overlay any image on the video on the NeXTtv monitor, but you can't send it to video out. How can I control my video device from the NeXTdimension? Not a lot of consumer electronics equipment, whether it costs two hundred dollars or two thousand, has direct serial control connections or the intelligence to use a serial control protocol. In most cases, in order to advance or rewind to a particular frame, you'll need a device capable of converting a signal from serial to the proprietary control language of the video source you're using. These are some of the available conversion devices: Pioneer has a PCM (pulse code modulation) input that accepts their proprietary SR-Remote protocol. This feature was originally developed to connect various Pioneer components and control them from one remote control. Sony Corporation has done the same thing by adding a port called Control-S, Control-L/LANC. This type of control is found on many types of Sony machines. The SIAIII box from Visual Data Systems converts a signal from serial into Pioneerä SR-Remote or Sonyâ Control-S. This control is asynchronous. Such a conversion device is the only additional hardware you'll need. You still have to write the application to control the video source, however. Note: A few devices do allow direct serial communication. Two laser disc players, the Pioneer LDB-4200 and the Sony MDP-1100 are lower in cost. (They cost approximately $800 and $1,500.) The Vbox is another example. It is Sony's new video/computer interface CL-1000. It can accept serial input (ViSCA-a protocol invented by Sony) and translate it into a Control-S or Control-L/LANC protocol (nonserial) for controlling such devices as Handycamsâ, Video-8, Hi8 VCRs, and even Sony laser disc players. Future consumer video devices from Sony will have ViSCA ports built in. Can I save a single frame on the NeXTdimension? You can save an entire frame of video using NeXTtv or VideoApp. With NeXTtv, you can also save a selected portion of a frame. To save a single frame of video using VideoApp, follow these steps: 1. Start a video from the VideoView Inspector panel. 2. Choose Select All. 3. Click the Stop button to freeze the video. 4. Click the Grab button. This will bring up the Save panel. 5. Name the file and click OK. Now you've saved a single frame of video as a TIFF file. To save an entire frame using NeXTtv, follow these instructions: 1. Start a video on the display. 2. Click the camera to pause the video on the display. 3. Choose Copy from the Edit menu. 4. Start up Icon (located in /NeXTDeveloper/Demos). 5. Choose New from the Image menu in Icon. 6. Choose Paste from the Edit menu in Icon. 7. Choose Save As from the Image menu in Icon. 8. Name the image and click OK. To save a portion of a frame using NeXTtv, complete the following instructions: 1. Start a video on the monitor. 2. Click the camera to pause the video on the monitor. 3. Choose Palette from the Tools menu in NeXTtv. 4. Click the button with the square and the arrow in the Palette panel. 5. Select a rectangular area on the screen by dragging the arrow over the desired area and releasing the mouse button. Now follow steps 3 through 8 in the previous procedure. can I set a still video as the background in NeXTtv or VideoApp? Yes, both NeXTtv and VideoApp have this capability. To set a still video as the background using NeXTtv, follow these steps: 1. Start up NeXTtv. 2. Select Out1 on the monitor. 3. Click the Power button on the monitor. 4. Choose Tools from the NeXTtv menu. 5. Click Palette to bring up the Palette panel. 6. Select Still Video in the Output Background section of the Palette panel. 7. Select an image in the File Viewer. 8. Drag the icon of that image into the NeXTtv monitor screen. To set a still video as the background using VideoApp, follow these steps: 1. Start up VideoApp. 2. Click Output in the VideoView Inspector panel. 3. Click the Open Image button in the VideoView Inspector panel. An Open panel will appear. 4. Select the image that you want for the background and click OK. 5. If you want the image to fill up the entire VideoView Inspector panel, choose Scale to Fit. (This feature is not available in NeXTtv.) Can I set the background color or gradation in NeXTtv or VideoApp? You can set the background color and gradation only in NeXTtv. To do so, complete the following steps: 1. Start up NeXTtv. 2. Select Out1 on the monitor. 3. Click the Power button. 4. Choose Tools from the NeXTtv menu. 5. Click Palette to bring up the Palette panel. 6. Double-click the border of the Drawing Color box to bring up the Colors panel. 7. Select Color in the Output Background section of the Palette panel. 8. Select a color in the Colors panel and drag a swatch of the color you want into the Drawing Color box in the Palette panel. 9. If the color doesn't appear on your screen, click Ln1, Ln2, or Ln3 and then click Out1. To set the background gradation, complete steps 1 through 6 for setting a background color and then continue as follows: 1. Choose Tools from the NeXTtv menu. 2. Click Gradations to bring up the Gradations box. 3. Drag a swatch of the color you want from the Colors panel into either of the two small squares on the Gradations panel. ------------------------------------------------ 6.5 NeXTdimension FAQ's [oiks, I forgot where I got this; I think I downloaded it from sonata or orst. My apologies!] *** Subject: I4. How many colors can NeXT machines display? [...] NeXTdimension can combine 8 bits of red, green and blue for 16,777,216. There are not 16 million points on the display so all can not be displayed at once. Further display technology limits the usable color space. None of the NeXT products support color look up tables where the user can define their own color palette on a per window basis. This feature is useful for displaying images which have adaptive lookup tables, and display pure grayscale images on the color NeXTstation. On the NeXTdimension images can be converted to full 24 bit representation. *** Subject: I5. Why is my machine so slow when I run the monochrome and NeXTdimension displays? There is a bug with the window system in which if you select the monochrome display as your primary display the server will be much much slower. The solution for those wishing to use both displays is to select the color (NeXTdimension) display as the primary display. The most optimal configuration at present with the NeXTdimension is to run only the color display. *** Subject: R1. What type of memory may be installed in a NeXT? [...] NeXTdimension boards (i860): These boards have 8 SIMM slots. SIMMs must be installed in groups of four on the NeXTdimension board. Use 72-pin 1, 4, or 8 MB SIMMs with 80 ns or faster access time. The SIMMs are organized 256Kx32 or 1Mx32 for non-parity systems, and 256Kx36 and 1Mx36 for parity. [If 8 MB SIMMs are used in all 8 slots, then you can install 64 MB on the NeXTdimension board. While this was never suggested by NeXt to my knowledge, it seems to work fine.] _______________________________________________________________________________ T-t-that's all, folks!