---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunPHIGS 2.0 SunFLASH Vol 35 #24 November 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *********************************************************************** * * * Open Windows Version 3 Support * * * * Support for the GX, GXplus, GS and GT Accelerators * * * * Direct Graphics Access (DGA) for Optimal Performance * * * * PEX Protocol Support * * * * Toolkit independence allows choice of user interface toolkits * * * * Supports latest ANSI/ISO standard C and FORTRAN PHIGS bindings * * * * High Quality * * * *********************************************************************** Open Windows Support SunPHIGS 2.0 is the first release of SunPHIGS to run in the OpenWindows environment. This allows development of X windows based PHIGS applications. 24 bit graphics are available through TrueColor X Visuals. Support for the GX, GXplus, GS and GT Accelerators SunPHIGS 2.0 applications can run across the full family of accelerators offered by Sun. This includes the GX accelerator offering high performance for 8 bit color, 3D wireframe applications, the new GXplus accelerator with hardware double buffered 8 bit color graphics and higher resolution 1280 by 1024 framebuffer, and the GS and GT accelerators with 24 bit color graphics and hardware support for lighting, shading, hidden surface removal, depth cueing, and in the case of the GT, antialiasing, transparency and stereo. SunPHIGS - Sun's standard based 3D graphics API SunPHIGS is an ANSI/ISO standard 3D display list based graphics environment which supports advanced 3D rendering primitives. SunPHIGS is optimized to take maximum advantage of Sun's complete family of graphics accelerators. SunPHIGS includes many PHIGS PLUS features, including lighting, shading, 24 bit true (RGB) color, depth cueing, Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS), hardware double buffering support on GXplus, GS and GT systems, and extended input support such as mouse, keyboard, buttons and dials. Markets best addressed by SunPHIGS include MCAD, AEC and scientific research applications developers. SunPHIGS is well suited for customers who are new 3D graphics application developers or who want the highest 3D performance possible through a graphics standard. FEATURES AND BENEFITS --------------------- Direct Graphics Access, PEX and Xlib rendering support Sun's Direct Graphics Access (DGA) is used to provide SunPHIGS application acceleration for local rendering in the OpenWindows environment. Remote rendering is supported through PEX (version 5.0), the 3D extensions to the X protocol, to PEX servers and through Xlib to X servers. Sun's soon to be released PEX product will provide a PEX capable server which will allow PEX communication between Sun workstations. Toolkit independence allows choice of user interface toolkits SunPHIGS 2.0 supports two workstation models, tool and X drawable. The tool model provides full PHIGS input and output and is implemented with the OLIT toolkit. The X drawable model allows integration of an application with any Xlib based user interface toolkit but requires input to be handled through an Xlib interface. Supports latest ANSI/ISO standard C and FORTRAN PHIGS bindings SunPHIGS 2.0 adheres to the latest ANSI/ISO C and FORTRAN bindings for PHIGS. SunPHIGS code will compile with both ANSI C and Sun C compilers. High Quality Many fixes to reported problems have been incorporated. A great deal of effort has been spent to ensure the high quality of this SunPHIGS release. Converting SunPHIGS 1.X applications to SunPHIGS 2.0 Porting an application to SunPHIGS 2.0 from an earlier release of SunPHIGS will require that both PHIGS code and window system code be ported. Applications must be modified to match the new ANSI/ISO C bindings. To make this easier, a script is provided which will handle most of the conversion automatically and will notify the programmer about code which requires further attention. A porting guide is also provided which explains the PHIGS porting process. As the FORTRAN bindings have not changed a great deal, applications using FORTRAN will only require minor modifications. In moving to the OpenWindows environment, it will also be necessary to port an application's SunView based window system code. Scripts and porting guides are provided with OpenWindows to assist in this task. SunPHIGS 2.0 will only be available on CD-ROM. Please verify that your customer understands that they will need a CD player to be able to install SunPHIGS 2.0. SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE CONSIDERATIONS ------------------------------------ o SunPHIGS 2.0 supports the following hardware and software: CPUs: Sun 4 OS: SunOS4.1.1 GFX rev 2 Window System: OpenWindows Version 3 Accelerators: GX, GXplus, GS, GT o SunPHIGS 2.0 supports OpenWindows Version 3 *ONLY* -- the SunView environment is not supported. SunPHIGS 1.4.1 is still orderable for customers who must use SunView. o SunPHIGS 2.0 supports SunOS4.1.1 *ONLY* -- GXplus, GS, and GT customers need SunOS 4.1.1-GFX Rev.2 to run SunPHIGS 2.0 applications on these systems o SunPHIGS 2.0 supports cg3 (dumb color), GX, GXplus, GS and GT frame-buffer configurations. o SunPHIGS customers will need to recode their existing SunPHIGS application to run using SunPHIGS 2.0. o SunPHIGS 2.0 does *NOT* support the VX/MVX, CXP, GXP and TAAC accelerators o SunPHIGS 2.0 supports SunFORTRAN Version 1.4 -- customers using the SunPHIGS Fortran bindings should upgrade to SunFORTRAN Version 1.4 o SunPHIGS 2.0 is distributed on CD media only. U.S. PRICING AND ORDERING INFORMATION ------------------------------------- THE FOLLOWING ITEMS APPEAR ON THE END USER AND RESELLER PRICE LISTS Description Order List Discount Same Day Number Price Category ServicePrice ============================================================================== CD-ROM, single RTU, docs PHI-2.0-4-4-21 $3,600 A $20 SunPHIGS Manuals PHI-2.0-X-X-9 $ 250 A N/A Single RTU PHI-X-X-X-0 $3,300 A N/A ORDERING INSTRUCTION -------------------- - Order only for use with SunOS 4.1.1 - Make sure customer has appropriate GFX, if needed: o GFX-4.1.1-02 is required to support GXplus, GS and GT systems. CONTRACT CUSTOMERS AND UPGRADES ------------------------------- Current SunPHIGS customers which have purchased a maintenance contract will receive SunPHIGS 2.0 automatically through normal upgrade channels. Current SunPHIGS customers which are not under maintenance contract can purchase an upgrade to SunPHIGS 2.0 using the following order numbers: Description Order Number Price Category --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upgrade manuals & tape PHI-2.0-4-4-21U $1050 A Upgrade RTU only PHI-X-X-X-0U $ 750 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.