4 ms·

The point was the OS, that is what let you run workstation software of the time. Being able to add a lot (for the time) of RAM was important too, your A310 doe

by rjsw 4y ago

The point was the OS, that is what let you run workstation software of the time. Being able to add a lot (for the time) of RAM was important too, your A310 doesn't seem to be able to have 16MB. EDIT: This is a thread about UNIX.

lproven 4y ago
I see. I never considered that especially important then, and I don't now, but OK then. In that case, I submit the Acorn R140 workstation running RISC iX. http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/3639/Acorn-R140/ http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/3639/Acorn-R140/ RISC iX is broadly BSD 4.3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC_iX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC_iX A contemporary news story: https://techmonitor.ai/technology/acorn_fleshes_out_its_unix_workstation_with_peripherals_four_port_expansion_card https://techmonitor.ai/technology/acorn_fleshes_out_its_unix... Here is what BYTE thought of the successor model, the R260: https://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/mags/byte/Acorn_R260_review.pdf https://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/mags/byte/Acorn_R260_revi...
- rjsw 4y ago
  Not really workstation-class graphics.
  - lproven 4y ago
    They were. The close integration of a fast RISC chip and a framebuffer meant astonishingly good graphics performance for the late 1980s. Bear in mind, this was before VESA local bus existed, before NeXTstep, anything like that. With a 4 MIPS CPU in 1987, you didn't need a dedicated GPU for blazingly-fast graphics. This interactive graphics demo was supplied on a floppy with the machine. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFwpsb75omg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFwpsb75omg Realtime 3D shaded graphics in 256 colours, with no hardware assistance? I'd rate that as workstation class, certainly. This is 2 years before the first SPARCstation, which shipped with a monochrome framebuffer as I recall. The R140 had 1152x900 mono but could display 4096 colours at VGA resolution. http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP216_AWorldOfStandardsAcornR140Jan89.pdf http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochu...

by rjsw 4y ago

lproven 4y ago

I see. I never considered that especially important then, and I don't now, but OK then. In that case, I submit the Acorn R140 workstation running RISC iX. http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/3639/Acorn-R140/ http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/3639/Acorn-R140/ RISC iX is broadly BSD 4.3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC_iX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC_iX A contemporary news story: https://techmonitor.ai/technology/acorn_fleshes_out_its_unix_workstation_with_peripherals_four_port_expansion_card https://techmonitor.ai/technology/acorn_fleshes_out_its_unix... Here is what BYTE thought of the successor model, the R260: https://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/mags/byte/Acorn_R260_review.pdf https://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/mags/byte/Acorn_R260_revi...

rjsw 4y ago
Not really workstation-class graphics.
- lproven 4y ago
  They were. The close integration of a fast RISC chip and a framebuffer meant astonishingly good graphics performance for the late 1980s. Bear in mind, this was before VESA local bus existed, before NeXTstep, anything like that. With a 4 MIPS CPU in 1987, you didn't need a dedicated GPU for blazingly-fast graphics. This interactive graphics demo was supplied on a floppy with the machine. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFwpsb75omg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFwpsb75omg Realtime 3D shaded graphics in 256 colours, with no hardware assistance? I'd rate that as workstation class, certainly. This is 2 years before the first SPARCstation, which shipped with a monochrome framebuffer as I recall. The R140 had 1152x900 mono but could display 4096 colours at VGA resolution. http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP216_AWorldOfStandardsAcornR140Jan89.pdf http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochu...