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> That said, it seemed to me that longer cabling was less in use with G- and I-machines, but that's just me looking over scraps that went onto internet. The XL
by lispm 2y ago
> That said, it seemed to me that longer cabling was less in use with G- and I-machines, but that's just me looking over scraps that went onto internet.
The XL400 and XL1200 were large & loud beasts. You would not want to have them near you.
> Symbolics also definitely had an edge in graphical processing, though I've seen mentions suggesting that for pure CAD works that didn't require high-definition video output Explorers sold quite well?
Symbolics was also widely used in HDTV quality productions.
For CAD work I have no idea how big the market was. But for example iCAD was probably one of the applications that were making new stuff possible via parametric CAD. Then there was CAD in electronics and chip design...
- p_l 2y agoHDTV, to which I referred as the requirement for high definition video output, was definitely Symbolics niche. I think HDTV-capable gear sized as individual workstations and not custom niche (even more niche than lisp machines, that is) systems only as pricy addons on SGIs and similar around ~1994, though some of the 1990~1994 Sun gear could do a lot there but AFAIK was geared more towards CAD clients than HDTV. Unfortunately it seems like Explorer software is way less documented :/
- lispm 2y agoBesides all the animation stuff, a prominent application was for the Space Shuttle. NASA bought a bunch of Symbolics XL Lisp machines, to process HDTV video feeds to monitor the Space Shuttle launches. From 1990: "Recently the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) used Symbolics' high-definition technology to analyze HDTV video images of the Discovery launch in real-time. This high-definition system enabled NASA engineers to get an instant replay of critical launch systems. The engineers were able to enhance and enlarge high-resolution images of the lift-off in order to analyze the condition of and spot potential problems with space shuttle tiles."
- p_l 2y agoNASA's STS seemed to be full of very eclectic setup - I mean we had Symbolics machines running video analysis, Amigas running telemetry, I think Explorer's might have been involved in early days of Hubble scheduling software (that now runs on Unix with X11), etc. etc.
- lispm 2y agoyes, the early SPIKE software for Hubble was on TI Explorers.