---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Sun's Hottest, Volume 1, Number 4 SunFLASH Vol 29 #6 May 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the text of a newsletter, "Sun's Hottest", that is being mailed to Sun customers. It is an excellent summary of the products that have been announced over the last few months. This article was provided by Lance Lawson - thanks! -johnj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun's Hottest, Volume 1, Number 4 In this Issue: VideoPix sends the right image Delivering the industry's best NFS price/performance NETWORKING NEWS Integrating PCs into your enterprise network Transitioning to OSI Enhancing DEC connectivity Faster, better, cheaper network management Updating Sun's Graphics Software Family SunGKS 4.0 SunPHIGS 1.3 Power tools for developing SPARC applications Opening Window to a wider world IN SHORT SunOS 4.1.1 Rev B DeskSet 1.1 for SunView DOS Windows 1.0.1 SPARCengine(TM) 1E Eurocard family "Excellent Product Award" from Nikkei Sun-3 and Sun386i upgrades + VideoPix sends the right image You already know that images often are the most effective way to communicate information. Adding an extra dimension to this communication, Sun's VideoPix(TM) video capture card lets you and up to three other users easily and inexpensively capture, manipulate, store, and share high-quality -- 8- or 24-bit color or grayscale -- video images, alone or integrated with other applications, across your local- or wide-area networks. Consisting of a simple-to-install, postcard-sized add-in board and software for your desktop SPARCstation(TM) system, the new VideoPix product lets you crop, resize, remove motion blur, and adjust brightness and contrast of video images. And since the VideoPix video capture card supports both NTSC and PAL international video standards, you can input the images from just about any video still camera, camcorder, TV tuner, video disc player, satellite receiver, or VCR. Just plug in the input device and go. Using the OPEN LOOK(R) menu-driven, point-and-click graphical interface, image capture is quick and easy. Then integrate the images into existing applications, such as Frame Technologies' Frame Maker desktop publishing package or Clarity Software's Rapport multimedia e-mail. The VideoPix card also comes with an extensive software library that allows developers to write their own applications or integrate VideoPix software with other applications. For example, you can use it to create a database of images for company directories, real estate listings, parts catalogs, or insurance records. An insurance claims agent can capture an image of a client's damaged car and send it with the claim form and medical records -- all online -- to another network location for inspection and processing. Images can also be used to enrich business presentations and training materials. Other possible applications include medical imaging, GIS/remote sensing, and computer-integrated manufacturing. Save images in SunRaster, PostScript(R), Encapsulated PostScript or TIFF file formats. Support for the emerging industry-standard Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) compression algorithm reduces storage requirements by up to 20 times. Sun's NeWSprint(TM) printing software lets the stored images be printed anywhere on the network. So what do you need to use our new VideoPix product? A single slot in any SPARCstation system, OpenWindows(TM) Version 2 operating under SunOS(TM) 4.1. Not bad for enhancing your image. + Delivering the industry's best NFS price/performance Get Sun's SPARCserver(TM) 470 or SPARCserver 490 to deliver the industry's highest NFS performance at the lowest price among comparable systems by configuring these already high-performance SPARCserver systems with two NC400 network coprocessors and a Sun Prestoserve accelerator. While Sun Prestoserve reduces I/O bottlenecks, the NC400 coprocessors offload the server's CPU by transparently handling network communications, reducing network and CPU bottlenecks. The NC400 boards and Sun Prestoserve improve SPARCserver NFS performance - as measured by operations per second and response time - by 300 percent. For details and special pricing information, see your Sun sales representative. + NETWORKING NEWS Sun is continually improving our integrated networking solutions, enabling you to leverage your existing computing environments and investments as you share, access, process, and distribute information globally in the multivendor arena. Here's a quick look at some of our recent networking news. + Integrating PCs into your enterprise network The industry-leading PC-NFS(R) family of networking products now provides even tighter integration of DOS-based PCs into enterprise-wide networks. Part of Sun's ONC(TM) platform, the family's latest releases include PC-NFS 3.5 and PC-NFS LifeLine(TM) Mail and Backup 2.0, as well as a new add-on application called PC-NFS Advanced Telnet. In addition to compatibility with Microsoft Windows 3.0, PC-NFS 3.5 features support for SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), enabling networked PCs to be monitored along with other networked systems. PC-NFS 3.5 also supports the 3Com/Microsoft NDIS standard, providing compatibility with virtually all vendors' Ethernet boards. The new release allows simultaneous access of up to 14 network devices and lets you access PC- based printers in addition to printers attached to ONC/NFS(R) servers. With the advanced capabilities of PC-NFS LifeLine Mail and Backup 2.0, an add-on application, you can communicate fully with international locations and backup local or distributed files to a designated server, tape, or disk anywhere on the network. An automated scheduler lets you preset your PC to perform time-consuming tasks, such as backing up extensive files, during off hours. A new add-on application, PC-NFS Advanced Telnet, expands the existing VT100 terminal emulation capabilities of PC-NFS, enabling you to access IBM mainframe, DEC VAX, and Tektronix applications. Advanced Telnet's session management lets you establish up to three simultaneous terminal sessions on one or more hosts. For ordering information, contact your local Sun distributor. + Transitioning to OSI Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) has become a key open standard that offers diverse computing systems the potential to share resources and information across departmental, organizational, and international boundaries. The SunNet(TM) family of standard networking products, including SunNet OSI 7.0, SunNet X.25 7.0, and SunNet MHS 7.0, allows network administrators to move from TCP/IP to OSI with little or no disruption to users who can then benefit from OSI's rich application services. The latest release of SunNet OSI supports international OSI services and protocols such as U.S. and U.K. GOSIP (Government OSI Profile), which, along with its other features, makes it one of the most complete OSI transition solutions in the industry. The latest version of SunNet X.25, compliant with the 1984 CCITT X.25 definition, can be easily incorporated into transitional OSI networking environments because it can route TCP/IP or OSI packets over X.25 connections. This enables you to communicate cost-effectively over WANS. The latest release of SunNet MHS fully adheres to the CCITT X.400 international mail standard and allows you to transparently connect to global mail networks. + Enhancing DEC connectivity The latest versions of our SunLink(R) DNI and SunLink TE100 connectivity products broaden and simplify interoperability of Sun workstations and servers linked to DEC VAX/VMS-based systems. For end users, SunLink DNI 7.0 allows application, data, and management-level interoperability between Sun and DECnet-based VAX systems. The new version's added support of Sun's X11/NeWS(R) window system provides transparent access to DEC Windows applications. And the VMX mail gateway facility enables seamless mail exchange between Sun and DEC machines. Developers will like the new release's two programmer interfaces that permit program-level interoperability. They can use the session-layer interface and file access routines to write new distributed applications for Sun and DEC systems and port existing distributed applications from DEC environments to mixed Sun and DEC environments. Network administrators will appreciate the inclusion of the SunNet Manager proxy agent, which collects data from all DECnet nodes on the network. This information is forwarded to the SunNet Manager console so network managers can easily manage heterogeneous environments and share network management information between Sun and DEC systems. With SunLink TE100 6.1, Sun workstation users can interactively access applications on systems from DEC or other vendors that support VT100 terminals. + Faster, better, cheaper network management Sun is making open network administration easy and affordable. Last year, SunNet Manager became one of the first open network management systems to support SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and to be fully extensible -- letting you quickly add existing equipment, new devices, or more networking protocols. It was also the first to include development libraries and APIs, allowing you to customize the platform to your unique requirements. The result? You liked it so much that SunNet Manager already outsells any of the competition by a factor of 4 to 1. This year, we've enhanced this best-seller and slashed its price by two-thirds, making sure it's affordable for workgroups of any size. With SunNet Manager 1.1, you can view managed objects and their status on the network as simple icons. This new version runs in the OpenWindows environment and uses the intuitive OPEN LOOK graphical user interface. For easy set-up, SunNet Manager 1.1 automatically discovers the configuration of TCP/IP-based networks and sets up network maps. Support has been added for printers, disks, and route discovery. Events are now distinguished by color changes for easy network administration and performance monitoring. Added SNMP features ensure that you can continue to use popular and emerging network protocol standards. SunNet Manager's architecture is protocol independent, allowing you to customize your system as your needs expand. And since SunNet Manager is also highly scalable, protocol handling work can be offloaded to servers around the network, leaving client systems available for other tasks. + DEVELOPERS' UPDATE Updating Sun's Graphics Software Family Sun continues to offer the widest range of graphics software choices in the industry. Now you can take advantage of two new SPARC graphics software releases: SunGKS(TM) 4.0 and SunPHIGS(TM) 1.3. + SunGKS 4.0 We brought out SunGKS 4.0 to provide support for OpenWindows Version 2, but while we were at it we thought we'd deliver the best possible solution for those of you who need an industry-standard, high-level 2-D graphics library to meet your graphics requirements in the X11R4/OpenWindows Version 2 environment. SunGKS 4.0 provides input and output routines that are fully compliant with the OPEN LOOK specification, and allow the execution of SunGKS applications across the network using the X11R4 protocol. The new version's 4-bit plane masking reduces redraws by utilizing two 4-bit (16-color) plane groups. Multiprimitive batching enables SunGKS applications to batch primitives, accelerating rendering speed. If you're a current SunGKS customer with a maintenance contract, you'll receive SunGKS 4.0 automatically. Otherwise, contact your authorized Sun reseller. + SunPHIGS 1.3 Delivering optimal GS performance on SPARCstation platforms, SunPHIGS 1.3 achieves more than 20,000 polygons and 150,000 3-D vectors per second through GS acceleration. For solids modeling, SunPHIGS 1.3 is up to 65% faster than SunPHIGS 1.2. The new release also enables your applications to link dynamically to PHIGS libraries. Improving GS performance, SunPHIGS 1.3 also supports the GX and CXP accelerators and provides higher overall quality than SunPHIGS 1.2 for all SPARCstation platforms. In fact, Release 1.3 obsoletes Release 1.2. But since the API has not changed, existing customers linked to SunPHIGS 1.2 only need to relink to the new 1.3 libraries. + Power tools for developing SPARC applications With the SPARCompiler(TM) family of language products, the SPARCworks(TM) family of software development tools, and the Network Software Environment 1.3, Sun gives you the tools you need for developing sophisticated, state-of-the-art UNIX(R) software. + The SPARCompiler family delivers on its promises We told you we'd track industry standards, provide increased speed, and add new products and tools. We've kept our promises. All our compiler products support industry standards. Sun C now gives you the best of K&R plus ANSI C, offering function prototyping. Optimized for the SPARCsystem(TM) architecture, SPARCompiler products now deliver a 10-18% improvement in SPECmark performance. New compiler releases include C1.1, C++ 2.1, FORTRAN 1.4, Pascal 2.1, and Modula-2 2.3. Sun Ada, Sun COBOL, and Sun Common Lisp are the latest product additions to the SPARCompiler family. SPARCworks tools enhance productivity An integral part of the SPARCompiler product family, SPARCworks provides an OPEN LOOK programming environment for developing sophisticated C, C++, FORTRAN, Pascal, and Modula-2 applications on Sun workstations. In addition, SPARCworks/Ada provides a powerful set of tools for Ada programmers. SunCOBOL ANIMATOR(TM) and FORMS-2 allow interactive control and execution and form code generation for COBOL programmers. Sun's Symbolic Programming Environment (SPE) offers Lisp developers a complete exploratory environment. A rich set of utilities for debugging and analyzing applications, SPARCworks tools are integrated with the OpenWindows DeskSet(TM) environment. Drag-and-drop interaction supports quick focus change and text editing. You get remote development and debugging because of the OpenWindows distributed window system. The SPARCworks dbxtool symbolic debugger provides superior execution control and better data display capabilities than standard UNIX debuggers. Its OPEN LOOK interface simplifies and accelerates the debug-edit-recompile cycle. And the SourceBrowser adds powerful browsing and searching functionality to further increase your productivity. Network Software Environment for workgroup software development Complementing the SPARCompiler and SPARCworks products, NSE 1.3 further increases productivity of software development by supporting and automating group-oriented tasks. NSE's built-in support for workgroup software development sets it apart from the competition. Version control and configuration management facilities provide a mechanism for handling multiple versions of files and complete projects. You can now access NSE 1.3 tools through the OPEN LOOK graphical interface or through a command line interface that lets you incorporate NSE operations into your own command scripts. + Opening Window to a wider world Sun's three portable OPEN LOOK toolkits -- XView, OLIT, and TNT -- are based on industry standards and are part of the OpenWindows development environment. So many people appreciate the ease and power of the OPEN LOOK graphical user interface that Sun has now made it available for IBM, DEC, and HP UNIX workstations. Software developers can port applications to OPEN LOOK on non-Sun platforms with Sun's XView Developer's Kit Version 2, a user-interface toolkit for developing interactive, graphics-based applications running under the X window system. The product comes with a full year of technical support from Sun. With OPEN LOOK on multiple platforms, you can design a single application for many different systems quickly, easily, and cost-effectively. Third-party vendors have already ported OPEN LOOK products to more than 35 systems, including IBM, DEC, and DOS platforms. In fact, OPEN LOOK has become the leading UNIX user interface in electronic publishing as well as a leading interface in the financial services market. For an intrinsics solution that lets software developers produce MIT Xt intrinsics-based OPEN LOOK applications, Sun offers the object-oriented OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit (OLIT). OLIT is the default toolkit for SVR4. And because OLIT is based on the platform-independent Xt intrinsics layer, it ports easily to any system where the Xt intrinsics already exist. You can also take widgets from other Xt-based toolkits for use within an OLIT application. The latest release, OLIT 2.5, offers full 3-D support. More good news for developers is Sun's introduction of The NeWS Toolkit (TNT) 2.0, a PostScript tool for creating OPEN LOOK applications. This toolkit takes full advantage of the benefits of PostScript imaging and the X11/NeWS window system, providing true WYSIWYG display, client-server load-balancing for better resource allocation, and superior performance over low bandwidth networks. With its extensible, object-oriented development environment, TNT minimizes coding and speeds development. Ideal for developing multimedia and ISDN applications, TNT 2.0 has already been used to create wide-ranging OPEN LOOK applications by a variety of customers, including Argonne National Labs, Frame Technologies, Kodak, the New York Stock Exchange, Ontario Hydro, and Trading Desk Systems. IN SHORT All new diskfull SPARCstation systems now come preinstalled with SunOS 4.1.1 Rev B. Rev B makes OpenWindows the default window system and includes an online "Introduction to Your Sun Desktop" to guide you through basic window system procedures. The introduction can be viewed in English, French, or German. If you're a new user, you'll appreciate the way Rev B gets you up and running at your desktop and on the network. But if you're already using SunOS 4.1.1, there's no reason to install Rev B on your system. DeskSet 1.1 for SunView(TM) is now available. It includes changes to Calendar Manager and Calculator which now run like their OpenWindows counterparts, allowing users in either environment to communicate with one another over the network. DOS Windows 1.0.1 is now shipping. This new version of Sun's extremely popular PC emulation product for the SunView windowing system environment is in response to customer requests. Sun's SPARCengine(TM) 1E Eurocard family's five new hardware and software products boost the performance and functionality while lowering the entry-level cost of systems based on these products. They include: 1) 4E60-GX graphics expansion board; 2) SunOS 4.1e, an enhanced operating system; 3) SPARClusters software; 4) 4E60-SRX SBus/RAM expansion board; and 5) 4E60-16 memory board. Sun's board-level products are widely used in factory automation, medical instrumentation, telecommunications, and command and control. Our best-selling SPARCstation family of RISC workstations received the prestigious "Excellent Product Award" from Nikkei, the leading industrial newspaper in Japan. The Sun systems were among 36 winners selected from over 14,000 new products and services -- including products from IBM, HP, DEC, and Sony. Easy, cost-effective upgrades are now available for Sun-3(TM) desktops and Sun386i(TM) systems. Upgrade to SPARCstation 2, Sun's newest power user desktop system or to SPARCstation IPC for a significant performance boost. Upgrades are available for both monochrome and color systems and offer both Sun-3 and Sun 386i monitor support. [Trademark block] Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, PC-NFS, NFS, NeWS, and SunLink are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. VideoPix, SunVision, NeWSprint, OpenWindows, SunOS, ONC, PC-NFS LifeLine, SunNet, SunGKS, SunPHIGS, DeskSet, SunView, Sun-3, and Sun386i are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. SPARCstation, SPARCompiler, SPARCworks, SPARCsystem, SPARCengine, and SPARCserver are trademarks of SPARC International, Inc., licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing the SPARC trademark are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX and OPEN LOOK are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe also owns copyrights to the PostScript language and the PostScript interpreter. The trademark PostScript is only used herein to refer to material supplied by Adobe. All other products or services mentioned herein are identified by the trademarks, service marks, or product names as designated by the companies who market those products. Inquiries concerning such trademarks should be made directly to those companies. This product is protected by one or more of the following U.S. patents: 4,777,485; 4,668,190; 4,527,232; 4,745,407; 4,679,041; 4,435,792; 4,719,569; 4,550,368 in addition to foreign patents and applications pending. To add a colleague's name and address to Sun's HOTTEST mailing list or if you have comments on "Sun's Hottest," please send electronic mail to: comments@joes.Sun.COM