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> I didn't see how all the different CAD, EDA, etc. packages worked, but sometimes the workstation was pretty much an appliance for running a single program, an

> I didn't see how all the different CAD, EDA, etc. packages worked, but sometimes the workstation was pretty much an appliance for running a single program, and on occasion would even be branded with a physical badge for the application software on it. So true. One of my first jobs was installing/supporting some big CAD/CAM/CAE software package; mainly for the automotive industry but also a lot for toy factories and some others. The thing is not only was the workstation an appliance for our software, but many times Sun, SGI, HP, IBM, they actually sold their workstations through us. We'd sell the software and offer the client, if they didn't have the appropriate stations, to get them a nice deal. We'd be the ones doing the hardware delivery and set-up, in exchange for the deal, I guess. I particularly remember one such delivery. It was a fancy design studio where they did like perfume bottles, luxury products' packaging, etc. They were running everything on Macintosh boxes. Around that time, Apple design was all curves and cool colours and all that. The office itself was quite well decorated and also focused on curves and nice colours. Anyway, I got there with a very rectangular, very grey-and-ugly-purple, very heavy HP box. All the designers were pretty appalled that I would set that thing right there in their office just because some "stupid software" needed to run on it. It was even worse when they finally saw the actual, rather industrial, software running xD

neilv 5y ago
Sun was making an effort, like when they went from sturdy industrial/utilitarian Sun-3 looks, to the dimples and lavender accents of the SPARCstation 1 and 3/80. :) My first impression, back then: this is a 5-figure engineering workstation running 5-figure engineering software. Why are they trying to make it look like a $15 plastic consumer hair dryer. I think you have a plausible answer. :)
- genezeta 5y ago
  I actually like Sun boxes. They look simple but stylish enough. [Just in case] The box I dropped at that studio was, sadly, an HP. It may have been a Visualize X-Class [0], which was ugly but at least it was new and modern at the moment. But most probably it was just a Kayak XU [1]. Those things were ugly and they weighted a ton and we dumped them everywhere with some 3D card and a RAM upgrade. [0] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-PC-Workstations-X-Class-Workstations_02.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-PC-Workstations-X... [1] https://imgur.com/gallery/iGWCK5m https://imgur.com/gallery/iGWCK5m
  - neilv 5y ago
    To a designer, I would guess those really look like midtower PCs someone was told to spiff up, and they came out looking... much like midtower PCs, with powder blue and other bits. :) HP also made some other attempts... Our HP 9000/3xx HP-UX porting workstations had a decent very sturdy lab HP modular/stackable boxes, with a reasonably stylish grill that unified them. It also wasn't a mismatch, now that I think of it, for some other HP gear I had personally, like a 2392A terminal I had. HP 9000/7xx (HP-UX on the hot new HP-PA architecture) were different, and not as carefully standardized-looking that I recall. I once saw some very interesting minicomputer(?) design in a museum that might've been HP? It was built into a desk. For targeting cosmetic-sensitive designers, pivoting engineering workstation vendors could've taken a cue from Next, or some of the more clean white Macs over the years (even the Apple IIgs). Or gone wild and daring like SGI (which was maybe analogous to the fruit iMacs, in that it might look cheap if you didn't know what it was, and it really wanted attention). Update: Here's what Sun did with the PC midtower, when they made the 386i to run SunOS 4 with SunView, and possibly be a gateway for PC users to migrate. I used one of these for a while as my main workstation, and it was nice. It looked a bit like a PC midtower that had been refined and had high build quality. https://web.archive.org/web/20160402201116/http://sites.inka.de/pcde/site/sun386i_files/sun386i_1_1.JPG https://web.archive.org/web/20160402201116/http://sites.inka...

neilv 5y ago

Sun was making an effort, like when they went from sturdy industrial/utilitarian Sun-3 looks, to the dimples and lavender accents of the SPARCstation 1 and 3/80. :) My first impression, back then: this is a 5-figure engineering workstation running 5-figure engineering software. Why are they trying to make it look like a $15 plastic consumer hair dryer. I think you have a plausible answer. :)

genezeta 5y ago
I actually like Sun boxes. They look simple but stylish enough. [Just in case] The box I dropped at that studio was, sadly, an HP. It may have been a Visualize X-Class [0], which was ugly but at least it was new and modern at the moment. But most probably it was just a Kayak XU [1]. Those things were ugly and they weighted a ton and we dumped them everywhere with some 3D card and a RAM upgrade. [0] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-PC-Workstations-X-Class-Workstations_02.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-PC-Workstations-X... [1] https://imgur.com/gallery/iGWCK5m https://imgur.com/gallery/iGWCK5m
- neilv 5y ago
  To a designer, I would guess those really look like midtower PCs someone was told to spiff up, and they came out looking... much like midtower PCs, with powder blue and other bits. :) HP also made some other attempts... Our HP 9000/3xx HP-UX porting workstations had a decent very sturdy lab HP modular/stackable boxes, with a reasonably stylish grill that unified them. It also wasn't a mismatch, now that I think of it, for some other HP gear I had personally, like a 2392A terminal I had. HP 9000/7xx (HP-UX on the hot new HP-PA architecture) were different, and not as carefully standardized-looking that I recall. I once saw some very interesting minicomputer(?) design in a museum that might've been HP? It was built into a desk. For targeting cosmetic-sensitive designers, pivoting engineering workstation vendors could've taken a cue from Next, or some of the more clean white Macs over the years (even the Apple IIgs). Or gone wild and daring like SGI (which was maybe analogous to the fruit iMacs, in that it might look cheap if you didn't know what it was, and it really wanted attention). Update: Here's what Sun did with the PC midtower, when they made the 386i to run SunOS 4 with SunView, and possibly be a gateway for PC users to migrate. I used one of these for a while as my main workstation, and it was nice. It looked a bit like a PC midtower that had been refined and had high build quality. https://web.archive.org/web/20160402201116/http://sites.inka.de/pcde/site/sun386i_files/sun386i_1_1.JPG https://web.archive.org/web/20160402201116/http://sites.inka...