From: sorrow@maple.circa.ufl.edu
Subject: Re: TECH: Using TI340x0
Date:    , 28 Nov 1858 06:34:58 GMT
Organization: The CIRCA Underground


In article <1992Apr5.235558.23138@watserv1.waterloo.edu>, dstamp@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Dave Stampe-Psy+Eng) writes:
|>>My question is, these boards are popular for CAD, but has anyone used
|>>them for VR?  If not, why not?  It seems that a TI34020 based system
|>>with a TI34082, along with a 486 and an i860, would make a fairly
|>>inexpensive and EXTREMELY fast VR system.  Cost would be around 15,000
|>>dollars for the hardware ( i.e. processors ).  The TI34020 board
|>>can be had for a bit over a 1000, and the FPU is something like 200 0dolalrs.
|>>the i860 would be the most expensive processor.

|>Why use the TI chip at all, if you're going to use an i860?  It does
|>the floating point far faster and supports Z-buffering and Gourand
|>shading in hardware.  While the TI chip only does trapezoid fills
|>w/o Z-buffering.
|>
|>Speed is pretty good on the i860 too.  For "photorealistic" type
|>VR work (as opposed to flat, depth-sorted polys) I'd prefer the
|>i860 myself.  But of course the TI chip IS cheaper.


Well, I was thinking of using the i860 for doing all numerical calculations
and using the TI chip strictly for output.  However, the TI TMS34082 FPU
is capable of executing a single floating point instruction per cycle.
As far as I know, the i860 does not support any graphics output -- it is
strictly a number cruncher.  The TI chip is a good all around processor
since it does support standard processor instructions, and is heavily
optimized for graphics processing.  A TI34082 w/ TI34020 seems to be a very
cost effective graphics solution, however I have not heard of anyone actually
using this in VR.  Or the i860 as a matter of fact.  I am getting the tech
sheets from TI and Microway.

Speaking of Microway, has anyone used their Quadputer, Monoputer, or
Videoputer for doing VR work?  Four 80386 chips w/ 4MB of RAM a piece running
in parallel seems like it would work very well -- or, the Inmos T800?

Brian