---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Third Party Product Announcements 3 SunFLASH Vol 39 #21 March 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nth PortableGL: Silicon Graphics compatible GL 4.0 Softare SBus Add-in Modules Now Support New Sun 600MP SPARCserver EMPOWER Remote Terminal Emulator from PERFORMIX EMPOWER/MONITOR EMPOWER/X EMPOWER/XMONITOR EMPOWER/GV -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Nth PortableGL: Silicon Graphics compatible GL 4.0 Softare RUN SILICON GRAPHICS APPLICATIONS ON ANY SPARCSTATION --- NOW! Nth PortableGL(tm) software lets a SPARCstation mimic a Silicon Graphics (SGI) workstation. With it, your SPARCstation can access the world of high-performance, 3-D visualization applications. This remarkable product is the cornerstone of Nth's GLware(tm) product line, giving Silicon Graphics compatibility to Sun workstations without requiring specialty or proprietary graphics hardware.(1) NPGL(tm) for SPARC is compatible with IRIS GL 4.0 (2) from SGI. "GL" is the most popular 3-D graphics interface in the world and is the same graphics library currently used on all IRIS 4D-class SGI workstations. Nth PortableGL is available now, and it does not require any modifications to the application's source code. A recompiled SGI application will run on any standard or enhanced SPARCstation with the Nth PortableGL software. Your Sun has almost instant access to GL's 3-D transforms, lighting, shading and other sophisticated graphics operations, including NURBS, without requiring special graphics hardware. (3) Nth's GLware is a flexible choice of SGI-compatible software, workstations and graphics enhancements which provide end users and software developers full and easy portability and hardware independence for demanding graphics applications. GLware lets you: o Add Sun-based graphics workstations (GLstations(tm)) to your Sun network. o Add SGI-compatibility to any existing Sun SPARCstation with NPGL. o Upgrade the graphics performance of existing SPARCstations with GLoption. REAL PORTABLILITY Nth PortableGL is hardware-independent, and it uses Sun's XGL language to take full advantage of the native Sun graphics environment and X-Windows. This means that GX, GS and GT acceleration are automatically supported. Third-party and future Sun graphics hardware are also fully supported through NPGL's XGL connection. NPGL's hardware independence makes its applications portable to other platforms, too. In addition to SPARCstations, NPGL is currently available on i860-based workstations, with other platforms to be announced soon. Nth has taken great care to apply its extensive graphics software and hardware experience to ensure that portability does not come at the cost of performance. NPGL's portability and hardware independence give you maximum flexibility: run the same SGI-compatible application on many platforms. You're no longer restricted to one brand of hardware: run what you want, where you want. SIMPLE SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE Software developers are impressed with NPGL's completeness and simplicity. An entire port takes only a couple of days, often just hours. In many cases, simply recompiling the same source code used on SGI platforms with NPGL (instead of IRIS GL) produces a bug-free executable which runs on all SPARCstations, regardless of graphics hardware. Nth PortableGL is fully compatible with GL- and X-style windowing operations. Since NPGL uses X-11, any window manager, including Motif and OPEN LOOK can be applied to enhance the user interface of GL applications. NPGL applications can be ported from C or FORTRAN source code developed in an SGI-compatible environment. With NPGL, software developers simply maintain one set of source code for several platforms with maximum graphics performance on each. We don't think there is another way for both real portability and performance. IT'S AFFORDABLE, TOO A single-seat NPGL SPACstation developer's license sells for $3600. Volume discounts and special ISV and OEM pricing are available. GLstations and GLoptions are competitively priced. Please call or fax us for details. (1) Applications must be compiled with NPGL first. The Sun Workstation must have at least GX color graphics, XGL 2.0 and Open Windows 3.0. (2) SGI has announced plans for a GL 5.0 specification which is different from the current 4.0 version. A version of NPGL will be available to support the new applications written under GL 5.0. (3) Some hardware limitations exist. Applications using overlay planes must be modified to recognize that some systems have no overlay capabilities. The performance of animation programs will be limited unless at least GXplus graphics is used for double-buffering. Finally, alpha blending abilities will not be available under XGL until later. NTH GRAPHICS 1908-A Kramer Lane, Austin, TX 78758 512-832-1944 800-624-7552 FAX 512-832-5954 email:npgl@nth.com All prices are U.S. suggested retail prices. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Nth is a registered trademark and NPGL, Nth PortableGL, GLstation, GLoption and GLware are trademarks of Nth Graphics, Ltd. SPARC and SPARCstation are registered trademarks of SPARC International. IRIS Graphics Library and IRIS-4D are trademarks of Silicon Graphics Inc. OPEN LOOK is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. XGL is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Copyright (c) 1992. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dlt@pt.com (Don Turrell) Newsgroups: comp.newprod Subject: SBus Add-in Modules Now Support New Sun 600MP SPARCserver Organization: Performance Technologies, Incorporated -------------------------------------------------------------- PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGIES ADD-IN SBus PRODUCTS NOW SUPPORT NEW Sun 670MP AND 690MP SPARCservers -------------------------------------------------------------- Performance Technologies, Incorporated has announced Sun 600MP SPARCserver support for a variety of their add-in SBus products. The 600MP compatible SBus products include the necessary hardware and software to allow the PTI expansion products to be "plug and play" in the MP's SBus slots. The Performance Technologies products that now support operation in the 600MP SPARCservers include: SCSI-2 Adapter (Model PT-SBS430) This is the FIRST add-in SBus module providing a fully compliant SCSI-2 "Narrow/Fast" interface for Sun SPARCstation and SPARCserver 600MP platforms. The adapter achieves a true 10 MBytes/sec SCSI performance level in conjunction with SCSI-2 Narrow/Fast disks, now available from a variety of vendors. This PTI product is supplied with a complete "plug and play" Sun Compatible SCSI Architecture (SCSA) driver for the 600MP that includes the unique PTI Asynchronous Serial Negotiation (ASN ) feature. This adaptive driver software dynamically tunes the SCSIbus operation to assure maximum throughput. 3 Serial and 1 Parallel I/O Port (Model PT-SBS515) This module provides 3 Asynchronous Serial I/O and 1 Centronics Parallel I/O SBus expansion ports for the 600MP product. The product includes a complete "plug and play" Streams 600MP driver for both the Serial and Parallel functions. 4 Serial Ports (Model PT-SBS530) This module is similar to the 3 Serial/1 Parallel product. It, however, offers 4 Asynchronous Serial ports for expansion via the 600MP SBus. List price for the PT-SBS430 (SCSI-2) Adapter is $995ea. Pricing for the PT-SBS515 (3SIO/1PIO) and the PT-SBS530 (4SIO) is $550 and $540ea respectively. Delivery of the MP version of these SBus products will begin in early March 1992. Performance Technologies designs, manufactures and markets a variety of products for SBus, VMEbus, VERSAbus, Qbus and Multibus I. The Company has sales offices throughout North America and is represented by agents throughout the world. Performance Technologies, Incorporated Computer Products Division 315 Science Parkway Rochester, NY 14620 USA Tel: 716-256-0200 Fax: 716-256-0791 internet: wpg@pt.com Contact: Don Turrell Trademarks: ASN is a trademark of Performance Technologies, Incorporated. Performance Technologies acknowledges that the product and company names mentioned in this document are the trademarks or registered tradenames of their respective holders. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: wayne@performix.com (Wayne R. Lewandowski) Product description: EMPOWER EMPOWER, the Remote Terminal Emulator from PERFORMIX, is available to meet your benchmarking requirements. EMPOWER is a powerful, flexible and efficient tool that can play an important role in performance studies, benchmarks, product demonstrations and quality assurance testing. Using EMPOWER, keystrokes of real users are recorded to produce scripts that are easily modified and played to emulate multi-user operation of a System Under Test (SUT). EMPOWER can run on a separate system or on the SUT itself. EMPOWER measures the time required by the SUT to complete transactions and quickly summarize the results into meaningful reports. EMPOWER is a state-of-the-art emulator that includes features such as: Emulation of users executing both command line and full screen applications. Completely automated script development Extensive script command set Embedded C language interface Script interpreter and script compiler Communication through RS-232, TCP/IP, X.25, SNA, DECNET, LAT, and others Product description: EMPOWER/MONITOR EMPOWER/MONITOR, available from PERFORMIX, is software that works with EMPOWER in emulations of ASCII users. With the help of EMPOWER/MONITOR, an EMPOWER user can view the progress of a multi- user emulation from a single terminal. The progress of scripts can be verified and debugged easily and efficiently. EMPOWER/MONITOR is comprised of seven screens which offer information about each emulated. EMPOWER/MONITOR has proven to be an excellent tool in the verification of multi-user emulations. Some of the features of this tool are: Identification of the current state of each script Display of last characters sent to and received from the SUT Ability to change the sampling period Ability to sort (ascending or descending) on any field Count of warnings and timeouts for each user Ability to pause the monitor without affecting scripts Statistics for each user (I/O, response times, elapsed times) Control of emulated users (Suspend, Resume, Kill, Delete) Ability to trace and edit a script directly from the monitor Ability to capture screens Comprehensive help information Product description: EMPOWER/X EMPOWER/X, available from PERFORMIX, is software designed to emulate the activity of X-window users. EMPOWER/X, like its ASCII counterpart EMPOWER, is a powerful, flexible, and efficient tool that can play an important role in performance studies, benchmarks, product demonstrations and quality assurance testing. EMPOWER/X permits you to capture and replay the keystrokes and mouse activity of users with X-Window applications. The scripts that you create can be modified and played to emulate multi-user operation of a System Under Test (SUT). EMPOWER/X can run on a separate system or on the SUT itself. EMPOWER/X measures the time required by the SUT to complete tasks and quickly summarizes the results into meaningful reports. EMPOWER/X is a unique, state-of-the-art emulator that includes features such as: Automated Script Development Extensive Script Command Set Embedded C Language Interface Script Interpreter and Script Compiler Server-less Emulation Independent of X terminal or X workstation X11/R3 and X11/R4 OPEN LOOK, OSF/Motif, DECwindows, Uwm, and others Communication through TCP/IP and DECNET Compatible with EMPOWER and EMPOWER/GV User's guide, hotline assistance, and on-site support Product description: EMPOWER/XMONITOR EMPOWER/XMONITOR, available from PERFORMIX, is software that works with EMPOWER/X in emulations of X-Window users. With the help of EMPOWER/XMONITOR, an EMPOWER/X user can view the progress of a multi-user emulation from a single terminal. EMPOWER X/MONITOR is comprised of ten screens which provide different information about each emulated user. EMPOWER/XMONITOR is an excellent tool for verifying and debugging the progress of a multi-user emulation. Some of the features of this tool are: Identification of the state of each user Display of last events and last requests sent between clients and servers Ability to dynamically change the sampling period Ability to sort (ascending or descending) on any field Count of warnings and timeouts for each user Ability to pause the monitor without affecting the scripts Statistics for each user (I/O, response times, elapsed times) Control of emulated users (Suspend, Resume, Kill, Delete) Ability to trace and edit a script and to view a log Screen capture ability Comprehensive help screen Product description: EMPOWER/GV EMPOWER/GV, available from PERFORMIX, is software that works with EMPOWER and EMPOWER/X in emulations of ASCII and X-Window users. EMPOWER/GV allows scripts to synchronize and exchange data during multi-user emulations. EMPOWER/GV provides a simple interface for script writers. Writers can add commands to create shared variables, read and write values, perform arithmetic and string operations on the global variables. Variables can also be protected and unprotected, allowing writers to create regions of critical code. All operations provided by EMPOWER/GV are atomic. EMPOWER/GV permits you to control the values of global variables from the command interpreter and from MIX as well. You can change think times, typing rates and transaction types while an emulation proceeds. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Pricing for the products ranges from $2,000 to $40,000 US, depending on the products purchased and the machine used as the RTE. There is no limit to the number of users that a single copy of the software may emulate. Contact Wayne Lewandowski, PERFORMIX, for further information. Voice is 703-448-6606, FAX is 703-893-1939, Email is wayne@performix.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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, paris.cs.miami.edu, uunet.uu.net, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au 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.