---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunGKS 4.0 SunFLASH Vol 25 #21 January 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW SunGKS RELEASE FOR OPENWINDOWS VERSION 2 AND SPARC... + X11R4 SUPPORT ARRIVES! + 4-BIT PLANE MASKING! + MULTI-PRIMITIVE BATCHING! + HIGHER QUALITY! On January 11, 1991, Release 4.0 of SunGKS begins shipping to customers. This release is SPARC only and provides: o OpenWindows Version 2 Support - SunGKS applications can now be developed for the industry standard X11R4 environment and utilizing the OpenWindows Version 2 windowing environment o 4-Bit Plane Masking - SunGKS applications can now be optimized for fewer redraws by utilizing two 4-bit (eg. 16 color) plane groups o Multi-Primitive Batching - SunGKS applications can batch together primitives to accelerate rendering speed o Higher Quality - Several high priority bugs found in SunGKS 3.0 have been fixed! o Price Change - SunGKS prices have been increased Support for OpenWindows Version 2 was the primary reason for introducing SunGKS 4.0. SunGKS 4.0 provides input and output routines which are fully compliant with the OpenLook specification, and allow the execution of SunGKS applications across the network using the X11R4 protocol. (SunGKS applications executed remotely do not benefit from DGA acceleration, and consequently will be slower than SunGKS applications executed locally.) All SunGKS customers should order SunGKS 4.0 unless they require Sun3, 386i or SunView support, in which case they should order SunGKS 3.0. Since binary compatibility is not possible in the transition of applications from SunView to XView (OpenWindows), SunGKS customers will, at minimum, have to recompile their SunGKS applications with the new SunGKS 4.0 libraries. Customers who have developed their own window system I/O routines for SunGKS under SunView will also have to rewrite calls pertaining to input and output within the new windowing environment. In general, porting applications from SunGKS 3.0 to SunGKS 4.0 is expected to be relatively simple and straight-forward. SunGKS 4.0 achieves improved overall rendering performance when compared with SunGKS 3.0, but in certain instances the performance achieved may be slightly lower than previously experienced. Further performance optimizations are being evaluated for future SunGKS releases. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS ------------------------------------ o Supports SPARC (Sun4 and Sun4c) *ONLY* - order SunGKS 3.0 for Sun3 and 386i support o SunGKS 4.0 supports OpenWindows Version 2 *ONLY* - order SunGKS 3.0 for SunView support o Supports SunOS4.1 and SunOS4.1.1 *ONLY* - SunOS4.0.3 customers should upgrade to SunOS4.1.1 or SunOS 4.1 o Supports monochrome, cg3 and cg4 (dumb color), and GX frame-buffer configurations o SunGKS 3.0 will remain orderable for those customers who require Sun3, 386i or SunView support o Existing SunGKS 3.0 customers will need to, at minimum, recompile their existing SunGKS application to run using SunGKS 4.0. In some instances (specifically, when the customer is using the Canvas Model of SunGKS I/O support), the rewriting of window system input and output calls will also be necessary o SunGKS 4.0 does *NOT* support the GS, GT and CXP accelerators (SunGKS 4.0 utilizes XGL 1.0 as a rendering engine, and consequently provides supports for only those accelerators supported by XGL 1.0) A future release of SunGKS will support both the GS and GT accelerators o SunGKS 4.0 supports SunFORTRAN Version 1.3.1 *ONLY* - customers using the SunFORTRAN 1.2 bindings should upgrade to Version 1.3.1 U.S. PRICING AND ORDERING INFORMATION ------------------------------------- New order numbers and prices for SunGKS 4.0 are: List Discount Description Order Number Price Category ----------- ------------ ----- -------- Media, Docs, RTU GKS-4.0-4-4-5 $2000 A Documentation only GKS-4.0-X-X-9 $350 A RTU only GKS-X-X-X-0 $1700 A RTL* GKS-X-X-X-RT $150 N/D Revised pricing for SunGKS 3.0 is: List Discount Description Order Number Price Category ----------- ------------ ----- -------- Media, Docs, RTU GKS-3.0-4-34R-5 $2000 A Documentation only GKS-3.0-X-X-9 $350 A RTU only GKS-X-X-X-0 $1700 A RTL* GKS-X-X-X-RT $150 N/D *=An RTL (Run Time License) *MUST* be purchased for each workstation running applications using SunGKS. A single RTL is included as part of an RTU (Right-To-Use) License, which allows developers the right to run applications developed with SunGKS on one Sun platform *ONLY* CONTRACT CUSTOMERS AND UPGRADES ------------------------------- Current SunGKS customers who have purchased a maintenance contract will receive SunGKS 4.0 automatically through normal upgrade channels. Current SunGKS customers who are not under maintenance contract can purchase an upgrade to SunGKS 4.0 using the following order numbers: Description Order Number Price Category ----------- ------------ ----- -------- Upgrade manuals & tape GKS-4.0-4-4-5U $810 A Upgrade RTU only GKS-X-X-X-0U $510 A ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.