sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Third Party Announcements SunFLASH Vol 57 #3 September 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstracts 57.03.A Multi Player SimCity Released SimCity for Unix was awarded product of the year 1992 by Unix World. Now it runs on standard X11 servers, and supports multiple players. You can retrieve the fully functional demo distribution via anonymous ftp. 57.03.B Cranel's Network Optical File Server (NOFS) product family now includes systems that employ the Metrum half-inch data cartridge (18.1 gigabytes of data on a single cartridge) with autochangers capable of holding 48 or 600 cartridges. The AMASS filesystem and library management software implements a true virtual filesystem (VFS). 57.03.C O'Reilly Internet magazine "THE GLOBAL NETWORK NAVIGATOR" O'Reilly launches experiment in online publishing. GNN is a free Internet-based information center that will initially be available as a quarterly. 57.03.D Du Pont Pixel to port OpenGL to Sun's SPARCstation ZX Sun is to assist Du Pont Pixel port a highly optimized version of the OpenGL(tm) application programming interface to SMCC's SPARCstation(tm) ZX and SPARCstation 10ZX. 57.03.E SBus Directory "THE SBUS PRODUCT DIRECTORY", "The most complete guide of currently available products for SPARC based systems" is now available from Novation Data Services. Sections include: INTRODUCTION TO SBUS SBUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS WORKSTATION INTERFACES SPARC HOST COMPUTERS UPGRADE GUIDELINES MANUFACTURERERS INDEX HOW TO OBTAIN SBUS PRODUCTS PRODUCT INQUIRY SERVICE 57.03.F Artecon, Inc. and SunService join forces Artecon announced their commitment to the SunPartners reseller support program offered by SunService. 57.03.G Book: "MULTIPROCESSOR SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES" A technical survey of Multiprocessor/Multithreaded Systems using SPARC, Multi-level Bus Architectures and Solaris (SunOS) A SunSoft Press/PTR Prentice Hall Publication -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Details -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Multi Player SimCity Released From: boba@dux.dux.com (Bob Adams) Org: DUX Software Address: 4906 El Camino Real Suite 1 Los Altos, CA 94022 Email: simcity@dux.com Phone #: 415-967-1500 FAX #: 415-967-5528 Or: SunExpress Multi-Player SimCity for X11, is now available on SPARC from DUX Software! Description: Multi-Player SimCity for Unix is now available for X11! The original award winning city simulation game from Maxis Software has now been ported and enhanced to run on powerful Unix workstations. SimCity for Unix was awarded product of the year 1992 by Unix World in the January 1993 issue, and reviewed in the April 1993 issue. Now it runs on standard X11 servers, and supports multiple players! SimCity is an colorful animated interactive system simulation game, providing a set of rules and tools for planning and building a complex dynamic simulated city. Several people on different workstations can participate in the same game, cooperating and coordinating their actions over the network. Working together, you can zone land use, hook up the power grid, build roads, bridges, parks and stadiums, raise taxes, and even summon disasters, causing the city to grow and thrive, or crumble and die. Requirements: Run it on SPARCs, X terminals and other workstations. Play it locally or remotely on most 8 bit color X11 displays. Hear it on supported sound devices, or NCD's Network Audio Server. Options: Supports but does not require an audio device, the NCD audio server, the X11 shapes extension, and X11 shared memory extension. Features: Multi Player SimCity for X11 has the Motif look and feel, and features multiple city views and maps with overlays, engaging sound effects and fast colorful animation, gestural pie menus and direct manipulation interaction, simultaneous multi player editing, communication and annotation features, and "voting panels" for group decision making, Availability: SimCity is available from DUX Software. You can retrieve the fully functional demo distribution via anonymous ftp from ftp.uu.net, in the "vendor/dux/SimCity" directory. Pricing: Single Player License: $49 (One license playable on one workstation) Single Player Floating License: $129 (One license playable by anyone alone) Multi-Player License: $89 (node-locked, yet others can join in if invited by the owner) Multi Player Floating Network License: $149 (One license playable by anyone alone or with invited guests) All major credit cards accepted -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Cranel NOFS/Metrum/AMASS - 10,000+ Gb near-line storage From: Dan Butzer Phone: 1-800-288-3475. Cranel, Incorporated, a Sun OEM, has announced the recent expansion of its Network Optical File Server (NOFS) product family to include servers with capacities up to 10.8 terabytes of directly accessible near line tape storage. These servers are, in addition to Cranel's previously announced NOFS products, based on rewritable optical drive libraries featuring capacity ranging from 20 gigabytes to 5.4 terabytes. These new NOFS systems employ the Metrum half-inch data cartridge drives which are capable of storing 18.1 gigabytes of data on a single cartridge. They provide a sustained raw data throughput rate of 5 megabytes per second. These drives are then placed in a autochanger library capable of holding 48 or 600 cartridges. NOFS systems include the AMASS filesystem and library management software for effective operation of the tape libraries. AMASS implements a true virtual filesystem (VFS). This allows the users of the system to view the systems capacity as a single large (or optionally partitioned) hard drive based filesystem. In order to speed file access and reduce drive contention, a SQL database for the storage of all filesystem directory information directly on the system's internal hard drives. In addition, read ahead and write behind cacheing on magnetic disk is exploited to insure maximum possible throughput for multiple simultaneous users. All tape drive and library control is managed without user knowledge or intervention, making the collection of the database, cache disk, tapes, and robotics appear to users as a normal filesystem. Since NOFS is based on a VFS filesystem, all NOFS filesystems are fully accessible via NFS. NOFS systems are in use today for such varied applications as CAD/CAM, telemetry storage and analysis, service bureaus, diagnostic radiology, document image processing and medical record retention. Cranel's NOFS product family is available as a complete network ready server including a built in Sun SPARC processor. It is also available in a SCSI connect configuration for those wishing to connect directly to Sun Enterprise servers. NOFS systems run the industry standard Solaris Operating System (versions 1.1 and 2.2). NOFS is a registered trademark of Cranel Incorporated. AMASS is a registered trademark of Advanced Archival Products, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Brian Erwin Subject: O'Reilly Internet magazine "THE GLOBAL NETWORK NAVIGATOR" Org: O'Reilly & Associates Phone: 707-829-0515 Fax: 707-829-0104 e-mail: info@gnn.com THE GLOBAL NETWORK NAVIGATOR An Internet-based Information Center O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Free Subscription (send mail to info@gnn.com) Next month, we will launch a new experiment in online publishing, _The Global Network Navigator_ (GNN), a free Internet-based information center that will initially be available as a quarterly. GNN will consist of a regular news service, an online magazine, The Whole Internet Interactive Catalog, and a global marketplace containing information about products and services. Keep Up with News of the Global Network The Global Network News provides a continuously updated listing of interesting news items by and about the users of the Internet, including announcements of new information services. Discover New Interests in GNN Magazine Each issue will present articles developed around a common theme, such as government or education. Regular columns will cover such topics as how to provide information services on the Internet or help for new Internet users. It will have several innovative departments, such as Off The Wall Gallery, that exhibits in digital form the works of new artists, and Go Find Out, a section containing reviews of the Internet's most interesting resources. How to find resources on a particular subject One of the most popular features of O'Reilly's _The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog, by Ed Krol, is the catalog of information resources on the Internet. GNN features an expanded, interactive version of this resource catalog that can be used online to navigate to the Internet servers containing those resources. The Online Whole Internet Catalog organizes Internet resources in the following categories: - The Internet - Arts - Current Affairs - Libraries, Reference & Education - Science - Government and Politics - Technology - Business - Humanities - Work and Play In the Online Whole Internet Catalog, subscribers can not only read about these resources, they can actually connect to them with a click of the button. Participate in the GNN Marketplace Getting good information from a company about their products or services is almost as valuable as the product or service itself. The Global Marketplace provides referrals to companies providing this kind of information online through the Internet. The Global Marketplace also contains commercial resource centers in which subscribers may find white papers, product brochures or catalogs, demo software or press releases for the companies advertising in GNN Marketplace. GNN and The World Wide Web Global Network Navigator is an application of the World Wide Web (WWW), developed at CERN in Switzerland. Users can choose any WWW browser, such as Mosaic (available for UNIX, Windows, and the Mac) from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. In addition, O'Reilly & Associates will make available Viola, an X-based hypermedia software environment in which we've developed a sophisticated WWW graphical browser. Viola makes it possible to distribute object-oriented documents that use formatted text, graphics, icons, and scripts. All World Wide Web browsers can be used to access network services such as gopher and WAIS, independent of the Global Network Navigator. How To Subscribe The Global Network Navigator is available over the Internet as a free subscription service during its launch. GNN will be funded by sponsors who provide commercial information of interest to our readers in GNN Marketplace and through advertising in GNN News, GNN Magazine and the Online Whole Internet Catalog. To get information on subscribing to Global Network Navigator, send e-mail to info@gnn.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Du Pont Pixel to port OpenGL to Sun's SPARCstation ZX From: Mike King Org: Du Pont Pixel Contact: Neil Trevett Ann Hawkins VP Marketing, Du Pont Pixel Brodeur & Partners Tel: 408-436-3455 Tel: 617-894-0003 Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. is to assist Du Pont Pixel port a highly optimized version of the OpenGL(tm) application programming interface to SMCC's SPARCstation(tm) ZX and SPARCstation 10ZX. The engineering teams of SMCC and Du Pont Pixel will cooperate closely to enable Du Pont Pixel's SPARC(r) optimized implementation of the OpenGL application programming interface (API) to take full advantage of the 3D hardware acceleration offered by the SPARCstation ZX and SPARCstation 10ZX. First software shipments resulting from this agreement are expected in the fourth quarter 1993. The SPARCstation ZX and SPARCstation 10ZX provides state-of-the-art graphics acceleration for excellent 3D performance. The graphics accelerator is a dual slot SBus card that provides 310K 3D shaded polygons/sec, and is a key accelerator for CAD and other graphics applications on the SPARC platform. "Du Pont Pixel have a deep understanding of OpenGL, and are technically advanced in implementing IRIS GL(tm) and OpenGL on SPARC" commented Bob Pearson, Director of Advanced Desktops and Graphics at SMCC. "Du Pont Pixel's implementation of OpenGL on the SPARCstation ZX and SPARCstation 10ZX will complement their implementation on the GX - providing a high quality OpenGL across the full range of SMCC's graphics accelerators. We welcome the addition of OpenGL to the range of 3D APIs available for SMCC's platforms, and the graphics applications that it will enable on SPARC". Du Pont Pixel is working closely with a growing number of third party software developers to enable 3D applications previously only available on Silicon Graphics platforms to be shipped on SPARCstations, including Grade Cube - a major 3D CAD application from Hitachi Zosen in Japan. "We will be fully supporting Du Pont Pixel in their efforts to work closely with ISVs to enable the maximum number of 3D applications on SPARC. We are pleased that the Open Graphics Initiative (OGI) continues to add value to our customers" stated Pearson. Du Pont Pixel specializes in bringing Silicon Graphics' 3D graphics functionality and cost effective 3D graphics performance to SPARCstations. Its product range includes a highly functional and conformant version of the IRIS GL API that is optimised for SMCC's GX family of graphics accelerators. Du Pont Pixel has also licensed Silicon Graphics' high level 3D toolkits and environments such as IRIS Inventor(tm) and IRIS Explorer(tm) and publishes them on SPARC. In addition, Du Pont Pixel sells a range of GLengines - SBus boards that offer cost effective 24 bit accelerated 3D graphics - that are fully integrated into SUN's Solaris(r) VISUAL architecture. "Du Pont Pixel are fully committed to SMCC's Open Graphics Initiative (OGI), and this latest project is an excellent example of SMCC enabling third parties to add real value to their platform", said Neil Trevett, Vice President of Marketing at Du Pont Pixel. "This new accelerator really puts the SPARCstation on the map in terms of 3D graphics performance, and Du Pont Pixel will provide a high quality implementation of one of the industry's key 3D APIs - OpenGL". "By carefully optimizing GL for the SPARC CPU and the GX we achieve useful 3D model animation rates in pure software. We are excited by the opportunity of working with a high speed accelerator like the graphics workstations like the SPARCstation ZX and SPARCstation 10ZX. We think they will be key OpenGL platforms for our own GL based applications, and those of other ISVs", noted Trevett. OpenGL is an openly licensed version of the GL 3D API developed by Silicon Graphics. OpenGL has been licensed widely in the UNIX(r) community, including IBM, DEC and UNIX Systems Laboratories, and has been adopted by Microsoft as the 3D API for Windows/NT. More than 1300 3D applications have been developed using IRIS GL - the forerunner to OpenGL - and many of these applications will be ported to OpenGL in the near future. "We are working to establish OpenGL as the 3D industry standard interface", said Mason Woo, Graphics Technology Marketing Manager at Silicon Graphics. "We have found Du Pont Pixel to be a valuable partner for us in publishing IRIS GL, IRIS Inventor and IRIS Explorer on SPARC. We welcome the news that Du Pont will provide native OpenGL on the SPARCstation ZX and SPARCstation 10ZX". Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. is the world's leading supplier of open client/server computing solutions. An operating company of Sun Microsystems, SMCC has its headquarters in Mountain View, California. Du Pont Pixel is a subsidiary of Du Pont (Wilmington, Delaware) and is based in San Jose California. Du Pont Pixel specialises in supplying OpenGL and IRIS GL based 3D graphics tools and applications on SPARC in areas such as CAD, visualization, medical imaging, simulation, and earth sciences. Du Pont Pixel is a founding member of Sun's Open Graphics Initiative, one of the first licensees of OpenGL, a member of SPARC International, and has been offering IRIS GL based hardware and software products for the past three years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: SBus Directory From: nev@dux.dux.com (Neville Griffin) Org: Novation Data Services Contact: Nev Griffin Address: 4906 El Camino Real Los Altos, CA 94022 Tel: (415) 967-1500 Fax: (415) 967-5528 email: nev@dux.com Now available in North America ** THE SBUS PRODUCT DIRECTORY ** The most complete guide of currently available products for SPARC based systems _______________________________________________________________________________ After achieving wide distribution in Europe, this independently produced publication is now available in North America from Novation Data Services. The SBus Product Directory serves the buyers and sales organizations of SPARC based computers by providing comprehensive up-to-date information on products, suppliers and likely technical problems. With over 1200 subscribers, the SBus Directory has become the standard reference guide used by workstation manufacturers, systems integrators, resellers and large end-user sites in Germany, the UK, France and most other countries in Europe. The Sun UK User magazine calls it an "essential" reference in every organization using SPARC compatible workstations. The key element to its reputation as the SPARC bus "Bible" is its objective of presenting only currently available products with manufacturer and reseller information for immediate buying opportunities. The SBus Directory benefits the END USERS providing them up-to date information on SPARC technology trends, a guide to currently available products presented in a concise format and what companies provide them. Purchasers of the SBus Directory may also avail themselves of an inquiry service providing them the location of the nearest reseller RESELLERS & SYSTEM INTEGRATORS with an easy to use, concisely written reference information source to quickly serve their customers configuration requirements. The SBus Directory also serves the SYSTEM & PERIPHERAL MANUFACTURERS by providing them, at no charge, a listing of their currently available products thus augmenting the efforts of their marketing departments. CONSULTANTS & OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS who wish to keep abreast of current technology and available products. The SBus Directory is a comprehensive guide that covers a wide range of topics including: INTRODUCTION TO SBUS SBUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS WORKSTATION INTERFACES SPARC HOST COMPUTERS UPGRADE GUIDELINES MANUFACTURERERS INDEX HOW TO OBTAIN SBUS PRODUCTS PRODUCT INQUIRY SERVICE Purchasers of the SBus Directory will find profiles of a wide range of interfaces including VME, SCSI, IEEE-488, Multibus, Q-bus, Scanner, Ethernet, Video, etc. and of products such as Graphics Adapters, Co-Processors, Memory Expansion, Extender Boards, etc. The profiles are easily accessible through a keyword index and cross reference table. The SBus Directory costs $79 plus $6 for shipping and handling. For about the same price as a shielded SCSI cable, the user gets over 200 pages of up-to-date concisely presented data, assistance in finding new products and suppliers via a quick response fax forms found in the Directory. The SBus Directory may be purchased via check, company purchase orders or, after requesting an order form from Novation Data, through Visa or MasterCharge credit cards. In addition, for those interested in developing or expanding their European market, please contact Novation Data Services for information on the European reseller and end user mail list rental service. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Artecon, inc. and SunService join forces From: Gerry.MacDonald@artecon.com (Gerry MacDonald) Contact: Artecon, Inc. SunService Bob Ference Hi-Tech Communications (619) 931-5500 Jeremy Barnish (415) 904-7000 ARTECON, INC. AND SUNSERVICE JOIN FORCES TO SERVICE CUSTOMER BASE San Diego, CA -- August 17, 1993 -- Today, Artecon announced their commitment to the SunPartners reseller support program offered by SunService. Artecon's participation in the SunService Manager level of this program will add the availability of SunService resources to Artecon's current support capabilities thus providing its U.S. customers with a comprehensive support solution for all its products. The SunService Manager program allows Artecon to maintain the management of their end-user accounts while retaining the flexibility to initiate service or support requests with SunService as needed. "The end-user receives one-stop shopping by dealing directly with Artecon for all service requests and contractual issues. Artecon receives full backup support from SunService. A key benefit is that our customers may now receive SunService on-site support for our entire product line," stated Bob Ference, Artecon's plant manager. "We developed some very aggressive reseller support programs by listening to what our resellers really needed," stated Mike Huddart, SunService vice president, North American and Australia Field Operations. These programs allow our resellers to better support their end-user base. It's a winning situation for all parties involved." The SunService Manager program with Artecon will be activated this month. In today's ever changing computing environment, this program will enable Artecon to better meet the needs of its customers with simple ordering and pricing policies as well as on-site service by highly qualified technicians. Founded in 1984, Artecon is a leading UNIXR systems integrator and manufacturer of value-added hardware and software products for Sun, HP and IBM workstations. SunService, a Sun Microsystems, Inc. business, provides systems and network support, education and value-added services worldwide to end-users of all Sun products. SunService has the largest number of UNIX experts in the industry and is the industry's largest UNIX training organization. Headquartered in Milpitas, California, SunService began operating on July 1, 1993. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Book: "MULTIPROCESSOR SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES" A technical survey of Multiprocessor/Multithreaded Systems using SPARC, Multi-level Bus Architectures and Solaris (SunOS) Available October 1993 A SunSoft Press/PTR Prentice Hall Publication ISBN 013-089137-1 Price $42.00 500 pages =========================================================================== Multiprocessor System Architectures by Ben Catanzaro - is the first of its kind to bring together in one volume a coherent description of the elements that provide for the design and development of multiprocessor systems from Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation. It is the first book to introduce new technology in the area of packet switched buses and multithreaded application environments integrated in the implementation of high performance multiprocessor systems. Multiprocessor System Architectures - is a reference text for design engineers as well as a hands-on design guide to multiprocessor systems that provides both hardware and software engineers with a coherent understanding of the problems and solutions to multiprocessor system design. This book is also appropriate as a supplemental text for a graduate-level computer architecture class or as the primary text for a class on multiprocessor system design utilizing a behavioral simulator. ============================================================================= About the book's contents: . Reviews design considerations associated with multiprocessor systems and presents practical solutions . Provides an in depth study on the Scalable Processor ARChitecture (SPARC) . Details the various SPARC implementations available today and provides details of Sun system designs using chosen implementations . Introduces and details various multi-level bus architectures including MBus (a processor-level interconnect bus) and XBus/XDBus (packet switched buses) . Details practical approaches to multiprocessor system implementation and issues related to multiprocessing, cache coherency and cache protocols . Discusses the use of the SPARC MPSAS Behavioral Simulator to model SPARC multiprocessor systems with many design examples . Focuses on the software aspects of multiprocessor system implementations through the Solaris/SunOS two-level multithreaded model . Introduces and details components of the Solaris/SunOS multithreaded architecture such as threads, lightweight processes, synchronization, scheduling, preemption, and real-time facilities . Introduces multithreaded programming and examines the various programming facilities available to software developers along with numerous application code examples . Examines several multiprocessor system implementations by highlighting tightly coupled, shared-memory model architectures and the performance enhancements furnished through multi-level bus implementations such as MBus and XDBus . Offers a glimpse of future technology . Provides the latest MBus specification that includes all the electrical and mechanical specifications needed for the design of MBus based systems . Provides an MBus Design Guide that conveys significant aspects of designing MBus modules ============================================================================= Book Order Information: Multiprocessor System Architectures by Ben Catanzaro ISBN 0-13-089137-1 $42 U.S. Pub date Oct 1993 Published by SunSoft Press/PTR Prentice Hall CUSTOMERS can purchase SunSoft Press books through: 1) their local bookstores worldwide 2) SunExpress at 1-800-USA-SUNX 3) PTR Prentice Hall/Neodata at tel 515-284-6751, fax 515-284-2607 DEPARTMENT and COMPANY orders greater than 10 copies, please contact: Corporate Sales Tel: (201) 592-2498 PTR Prentice Hall Fax: (201) 592-2249 Prentice Hall Bldg. 113 Sylvan Avenue Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 For international orders, please call: Simon & Schuster International Customer Service 200 Old Tappan Road Old Tappan, NJ 07675 USA Attn: Joanne Edwing Tel: 201-767-4990 FAX: 201-767-5625 SPARC is a Registered TM of SPARC International. Sun is a Trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Solaris is a Registered TM of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunSoft is a TM of Sun Microsystems, Inc. XDBus is a Registered TM of Xerox PARC ********************************************************************** For information about SunFlash send mail to info-sunflash@Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@Sun.COM. Archives are on draco.nova.edu, ftp.uu.net, sunsite.unc.edu, 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. Send brief articles (e.g. third party announcements) and include contact information (non-800#, fax #, email, etc) to: John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@Sun.COM. +1 305 351 4909