EDN — 06.20.96 Computers & Peripherals

Computers & Peripherals: June 20, 1996

SCSI flash disk stores as many as 800 Mbytes.

M-Systems' fast flash disk (FFD) offers reliable data storage in rugged, demanding environments. The solid-state SCSI flash disk sustains a 3-Mbyte/sec read rate and a 1-Mbyte/sec write rate. The FFD serves as a drop-in replacement for a 3.5-in. magnetic disk drive and offers storage capacities ranging from 16 to 800 Mbytes. An 80-Mbyte version costs <$1200 (1000). M-Systems Inc, Santa Clara, CA. (408) 654-5820.

Industrial portable computer has color display,

CD-ROM. A Pentium processor running at either 90 or 120 MHz powers the IP Lite industrial portable computer, which contains a backlit 9.4-in. STN, a 10.4-in. thin-film transistor VGA, or a 12.1-in. XVGA color display. The unit also comes with as many as 128 Mbytes of DRAM, a 1-Gbyte EIDE drive, a 2- or 4-Gbyte SCSI hard drive, and an optional CD-ROM or optical disk drive. Five AT/PCI-expansion slots are available for upgrading. Prices start at $10,000. Kontron Electronik Corp, Newport Beach, CA. (714) 851-1872.

Ultra SCSI adapters support 40-Mbyte/sec data rates.

Three 16- and 8-bit Ultra SCSI adapters improve I/O performance in PCI-based server environments, transferring data at rates as high as 40 Mbytes/sec. The 16-bit ultra-wide BT-958, 16-bit ultra-wide BT-958D with differential termination, and 8-bit BT-948 come with an onboard I/O processor that offloads SCSI management tasks from the host CPU. The BT-958D's differential termination provides higher noise immunity on the SCSI bus, allowing for longer cable lengths and better connectivity at Ultra SCSI speeds. Respective prices for the BT-958, BT-958D, and BT-948 are $289, $459, and $229. BusLogic Inc, Santa Clara, CA. (408) 492-9090.

PC board offers 3-D animation, digital-video playback.

The Stealth 3-D 2000 multimedia accelerator delivers 2-D graphics, 3-D animation, and 30-frame/sec digital-video playback for PCs running under DOS and Windows 95, 3.1, and NT. The board provides bilinear filtering, mixed-integer-program (MIP) and trilinear-MIP mapping, and complex perspective-corrected texture mapping. The board is compatible with the PCI bus. The Stealth 3-D 2000 comes with 2 Mbytes of DRAM and a split between display memory and the Z buffer and provides 256 colors at 1600×1200 pixels or 16.7 million colors at as many as 800×600 pixels. The board costs approximately $199. Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc, San Jose, CA. (408) 325-7000.

ATA flash card stores as many as 20 Mbytes.

A series of PCMCIA Type II flash-memory cards works with standard PCMCIA software and is compatible with any standard ATA interface. Offered in densities of 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 Mbytes (unformatted), the ATA flash cards transfer data at 8 Mbytes/sec in read mode and 1.4 Mbytes/sec in write mode. The data-interface rate is 8 Mbytes/sec. Respective prices for the 4-, 8-, and 12-Mbyte versions are $172 (100), $244 (100), and $320 (100). Smart Modular Technologies, Fremont, CA. (510) 623-1231.

PCI board packs four 40-MHz SHARC DSPs.

Megamouth is a full-length PCI-bus board with four ADSP21060 or ADSP21062 SHARC DSPs that run at 40 MHz and are connected by a pair of 40-Mbyte/sec link ports to form a ring. A single-cluster, shared-processor bus gives each processor access to two optional 16-Mbyte banks of shared DRAM. The company provides eight link ports on SHARCNET connectors for linking multiple Megamouth clusters. The DRAM comes configured as a ping-pong buffer, which allows the SHARCs access to one memory bank, while the host accesses the opposite bank across the PCI bus. Prices range from $7995 (ADSP21062 with no DRAM) to $13,695 (ADSP21060 with 32-Mbyte DRAM). BittWare Research Sys-tems, Concord, NH. (603) 226-0404.

366-MHz Alpha CPU powers Windows NT workstation.

Incorporating an Alpha 21164 CPU running at 366 MHz, the Raptor ReFlex workstation is a fast, single-processor Windows NT workstation. The Raptor ReFlex delivers high-level performance for 3-D animation and rendering, nonlinear video editing, compositing, real-time object man- ipulation, and CAD/ CAM. Prices start at <$15,000. DeskStation Technology Inc, Lenexa, KS. (913) 599-1900.

PC workstations boast powerful 3D graphics.

A single or dual Pentium processor and the vendor's G95 graphics accelerator power the TD-300 and TD-400 personal workstations. The devices provide PC-level 3-D graphics and display as many as 190,000 Gouraud-shaded 3-D polygons/sec, using a 16-bit Z buffer. Both the single (TD-300) and dual (TD-400) workstations offer 150-, 180-, and 200-MHz configurations and run under Windows NT. Company designers directly integrated the graphics accelerator, which provides dual-screen support at a 1600×1200-pixel resolution on the motherboard to free an expansion slot. The TD reserves as many as 10 slots (six PCI and four ISA) for future expansion. Prices start at $5495. Intergraph Computer Systems, Hunts-ville, AL. (800) 763-0242.

PCI-bus card serves as high-speed T1/E1 router.

The WAN Master, a two-channel PCI bus embedded router engine, allows a PC to communicate at 6 to 15 Mbps over a T1 or other high-speed digital telephone line. Equipped with a 512-kbyte buffer and an onboard channel service unit, the WAN Master uses standard TCP/IP with raster-image-processing routing via a Microsoft NT Server. Other routing protocols are available through third-party software, such as RouterWare. The board costs $995 (OEM). Computer Modules Inc, Santa Clara, CA. (408) 496-1881.