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PC Card handles MPEG-2 video decompression. The Zantares PCI bus card performs real-time MPEG-2 decompression of video files in a scalable window from 1603120 to 7203480 pixels. The card also provides simultaneous full-screen video output on an NTSC monitor and a continuously variable window on an SVGA display. The card costs $1500. Paragon Technology Inc, State College, PA. (814) 234-3335.
MPEG encoder sits on half-length ISA-bus card. The Video NT Pro provides real-time MPEG video- and audio-hardware encoding at speeds of 25 to 30 frames/sec. Occupying a half-size 16-bit ISA-bus slot, the card accepts all video formats, including NTSC, PAL, SECAM, and S-Video. You can use the board’s video-out port for monitoring or previewing. Supplied with the Video NT Pro is Video Clip MPEG-editing software, which supports I, P, and B frames, as well as system, audio, and video layers for cut-and-paste and basic editing. The encoder board costs <$2000. Vitec-HTS, Sarasota, FL. (941) 351-9344.
166-MHz Pentium single-board computer combines SCSI-2 interface, LAN adapter. Based on a Pentium processor running at speeds as fast as 166 MHz, the 2106 single-board computer carries a PCI-bus-integrated SCSI-2 interface that handles synchronous and asynchronous transfers as much as 10 Mbytes/sec. In addition, the 2106 offers an NE-2000-compatible LAN adapter, accessible through either 10BaseT or AUI (coaxial) connections. Memory options include as much as 128 Mbytes of 64-bit-wide RAM and 512 kbytes of synchronous L2 pipelined burst cache. List price is in the $1500 USD range. Toronto MicroElectronics Inc, Mississauga, ON, Canada. (905) 625-3203.
Portable workstation includes 12-in., high-resolution LCD. Powered by a 110-MHz SPARC II processor, the PowerLite ExtraView delivers workstation performance in a portable package. The system uses a 12.1-in., active-matrix display with a resolution of 10243768 pixels, 4096 colors, and 16 gray scales. Alternatively, you can choose a 12.1-in., 8003600-pixel display that produces 262,144 colors and 64 gray scales. Other features of the PowerLite include as many as three 1.2-Gbyte, 2.5-in. hard-disk drives, memory capacity of as much as 128 Mbytes, TGX graphics acceleration, and a fax/modem card. Prices start at $12,995. RDI Computer Corp, Carlsbad, CA. (619) 929-0992.
Desktop RAID system holds as much as 51 Gbytes. Requiring just 1 ft3 of desktop space, the Phalanx RAID system offers a disk capacity of as much as 51 Gbytes and a controller cache of as much as 256 Mbytes. You can select RAID Levels 0 through 5 in a multidirectional configuration. The system also features dual-redundant load sharing with hot-swappable power supplies and cooling fans. The all-steel housing is 10315312 in. Prices range from $0.32/Mbyte (51-Gbyte system) to $1.04/Mbyte (5-Gbyte system). Phoenix International Systems Inc, Orange, CA. (714) 283-4800.
Software for video card overlays graphics. The Precision V1.4 software de-velopment kit works with the vendor’s Imascan Precision PCI-bus video-capture board. The kit provides graphics overlay functions that let you draw rectangles, curves, text, vertical and horizontal lines, and grids over live video in a window. The package also includes AVI driver support, an external trigger for frame acquisition, low-light camera utilities, and secondary display control. Precision V1.4 runs under DOS and Windows 3.x and NT. The video-capture board lists for $1595. Imagraph Corp, Chelmsford, MA. (508) 256-4624.
MPEG-1 card offers output to TV monitors. The Realmagic Ultra MPEG-1 playback card combines high-quality video with built-in Windows PCM stereo sound and optional output to TV monitors for corporate training and education applications, presentations, and kiosks. The ISA-bus card provides 16.8 million 24-bit colors and horizontal and vertical interpolation for crisp video playback at any PC resolution. Plug-and-play compatibility eases Windows 95 installation. List prices are $399 for the standard board and $489 with the TV-output option (NTSC or PAL). Sigma Designs Inc, Fremont, CA. (847) 291-1616.
Bundle lowers machine vision costs. The IVS/Express combines an IVS multifunction sensor in a compact form factor with a complete accessories package to form a machine vision system. Based on a 32-bit microprocessor, the main vision processor board provides 6403480-pixel imaging and performs as many as 32 dimension checks and as many 64 assembly verifications or flaw detections. The package includes a camera with 25-ft cable, a lens, a lens-extension tube kit, a VGA monitor with 10-ft cable, and an eight-point discrete I/O board with three optically isolated modules. The bundle costs $9950. Acuity Imaging Inc, Nashua, NH. (603) 598-8400.
Authoring suite eases Web-site development. Web Office, a set of 32-bit Web-authoring and -publishing tools, includes everything needed to create and maintain Intranet/Internet Web sites. The software simplifies and shortens the Web-development cycle and the maintenance of Web sites. Web Office includes Web Doctor, Hotspot Studio, HTML Tool Kit, Help-to-HTML Converter, and Internet Assistant for MS Word for Windows. The software permits WYSIWYG HTML authoring inside Word and provides automatic link checking and diagnostic reporting of Web sites. Introductory price is $399 ($499 list). Blue Sky Software Corp, La Jolla, CA. (619) 459-6365.
21-in. color monitor displays 180031440-pixel resolution. The vendor’s P815, a 21-in. (20-in. viewable) flat-square-screen monitor, offers high resolutions and refresh rates. The P815 has a 250-MHz video-input bandwidth and a horizontal scan range of 30 to 115 kHz for resolutions of 180031440 pixels at 76-Hz refresh and 160031200 pixels at 90-Hz refresh. A super-fine 0.25-mm dot pitch and Invar shadow mask provide razor-sharp images. The P815 carries an MSRP of $2295. ViewSonic Corp, Walnut, CA. (909) 869-7976.
3.5-in. tape drives store 25 uncompressed Gbytes. The SDX series of tape drives and media achieve a native-storage capacity of 25 Gbytes (50 Gbytes compressed) and a native-transfer rate of 3.0 Mbytes/sec (6.0 Mbytes/sec compressed) in a compact 3.5-in. form factor. Based on 8-mm helical-scan recording, the drives come with the optional MIC and drive interface system. The MIC system comprises a 16-kbit memory chip built into the data cartridge that holds the tape’s system log and other user-defined information. MIC also speeds the mean time-to-data access to 37.5 sec. The SDX-300c drive with compression costs $4995; the SDX-300M drive with MIC will be available in the fourth quarter. Sony Electronics Inc, San Jose, CA. (800) 352-7669.
15-in. TFT LCD sports XGA resolution. Replacing conventional CRT displays in desktop PC configurations, the AngleView 15-in. color TFT LCD offers twice the luminance and 50% better contrast than a 17-in. CRT. The AngleView delivers XGA resolution of 10243768 pixels with a 0.3-mm dot pitch, as well as a typical contrast ratio of 150:1 and a typical brightness of 200 cd/m2. The display also provides a 50% wider viewing angle than LCDs for notebooks. Samples cost $4995. Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc, Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 774-3189.
Frame-grabber-and-camera bundle give PC vision. A package assembled by the vendor and Costar combines the latter’s CV-M10 progressive scan camera with two of the vendor’s PX500 frame-grabber boards. Aimed at machine-vision applications in manufacturing environments, the hardware/software bundle provides 5003485 TV lines of resolution at 60 frames/sec. The system is designed to fit into the high-speed PCI bus of a Pentium PC. The bundle costs $2995, including software libraries for integration. ImageNation, Beaverton, OR. (800) 366-9131.
Development tools manage big Java jobs. Rational Rose/Java and Rational Apex C/C++ offer development and maintenance for large-scale Java applications. Rational Rose offers tools for object modeling, controlled iterative development, and round-trip engineering that simplify the development process and improve application quality. The Java-ready extension of the Rational Apex C/C++ environ- ment lets you maintain application control and seamlessly melds Java with C and C++ code. Prices for Rational Rose/Java start at $2400 (Windows version). Rational Apex C/C++ prices range from $7500 to $12,500. Rational Software Corp, Santa Clara, CA. (408) 496-3600.
SPARC-powered workstation has 3-Gbyte main memory. Compatible with SPARC-computing environments and Solaris tools and applications, the Halstation 353 contains 3 Gbytes of main memory to accelerate the throughput of complex designs. Dynamic timing simulation and verification of a 5.3-million transistor design takes <90 minutes with the Halstation 353 (compared with about 40 hours with a 2-Gbyte workstation). The system is based on a 64-bit SPARC64 processor that can address 18 billion Gbytes. The Halstation 353 costs $106,695 with 1 Gbyte of RAM; additional RAM costs $87,950/Gbyte. Hal Computer Systems, Campbell, CA. (408) 379-7000.
Motherboard carries dual 133-MHz Pentium processors. Intended for compute-intensive applications running under such operating systems as Windows NT, the VMIPCI-7901 computer subsystem is powered by two Pentium P54C processors operating at 133 MHz. The board comes with 16 Mbytes of system memory (expandable to 256 Mbytes), a 512-kbyte secondary cache, Ethernet support, and a built-in audio interface. Three expansion slots are also provided: two PCI bus and one shared EISA/ISA, in addition to a Fast SCSI-2 disk interface and external Fast SCSI-2 expansion bus for as many as five external devices. Prices range from $5600 to $8800. VME Microsystems International Corp, Hunts-ville, AL. (205) 880-0444.
RAID array gives quick access to critical data. The StorageWorks RAID Array 310 delivers >3000 inputs and outputs/sec across a two-channel Fast Wide SCSI controller with 16 Mbytes of battery-backed cache. The pedestal array has seven drive bays and stores up to 30 Gbytes. An expansion enclosure increases total capacity to 60 Gbytes. Redundant and hot-swappable components, global hot sparing, automatic monitoring, and event notification keep data moving on Digital Unix, Sun Solaris, Windows NT, Alpha, and Intel platforms. Subsystem prices start at <$10,000. Digital Equipment Corp, Maynard, MA. (800) 786-7967.
167-MHz workstations join UltraSPARC-compatible line. Two 167-MHz UltraSPARC-based workstations, the UWS1/170E and the UWS1/170E-SYS, in-clude a chassis, a 180W power supply, four 64-bit SBus slots, and Fast Wide SCSI II and Fast Ethernet interfaces. The UWS1/170E-SYS also includes 32 Mbytes of memory, a 16-bit audio, a 6X CD-ROM drive, a 1.44-Mbyte floppy drive, and a 2.1 Gbyte hard drive. The UWS1/170E costs $12,500 for OEMs and integrators. Prepackaged for turnkey applications, the UWS1/170E-SYS costs $17,400. Integrix Inc, Newbury Park, CA. (805) 375-1055.
Surge suppressor guards RS-232C, RS-422, and EIA-530 ports. Acting in <5 nsec, the Model 27A lightning-and-surge suppressor protects all 24 signal lines in an industry-standard DB-25 connector from damaging transients. The device uses 600W solid-state protection circuits for each of the connector’s 24 lines. Because RS-232C and EIA-530 specify different voltage requirements, the device is offered in two versions. The Model 27A1 is used for EIA-530, which operates with RS-422 voltage levels; the Model 27A2 is used for RS-232C configurations. Additionally, the Model 27A1 accommodates MIL-STD-188-114. Each model costs $45. Telebyte Technology Inc, Greenlawn, NY. (516) 423-3232.
6x86 processor powers personal computer. The vendor’s flagship personal computer is based on its 6x86-P200+ processor. The basic 6x86-P200 PC comes preloaded with Windows 95 and includes 16 Mbytes of EDO RAM, 256-kbyte pipe-line-burst cache, 8X CD-ROM drive, 2.5-Gbyte hard drive, PCI-bus video card, Sound Blaster 16 stereo card, speakers, and a 15-in. monitor. Prices start at $2699. Cyrix Corp, Richardson, TX. (214) 968-8388.
Single-slot accelerator drives dual monitors. The Fire GL 2000 graphics subsystem controls one or two monitors, producing resolutions of as many as 160031200 pixels and refresh rates of as fast as 75 Hz simultaneously on both screens. Requiring only a single slot, the PCI-bus board employs Glint 300SX rendering and Glint Delta geometry engines from 3D Labs, and comes with software tools to enhance AutoCAD productivity. In its base configuration, the Fire GL 2000 has 4 Mbytes of video RAM and 8 Mbytes of DRAM, which you can upgrade for a combined total of 24 Mbytes. Prices start at $1995 (MSRP). Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc, San Jose, CA. (408) 325-7000.
Solid-state module records and plays audio. Built on a standard 1003200-mm Eurocard, the SSR3 digital message-repeater module records as many as 4096 messages that are randomly and instantly accessible for playback. The solid-state record-and-playback system has two independently controlled stereo channels for simultaneous playback and one stereo channel for recording. The module records analog and digital formats at all standard bit rates and provides efficient audio storage using MPEG-1 Layer II bit-reduction technology. The SSR3 costs $400 (1000). Philips Key Modules Group, San Jose, CA. (408) 453-7373.
340-Mbyte hard drive rides PC Card. A high-density hard-disk drive in a Type III PC Card format is rugged enough to withstand 750g of impact and still execute media transfer rates of as much as 6 Mbytes/sec and interface transfer rates of as much as 12 Mbytes/sec. The EHDD340, which has a 340-Mbyte storage capacity, works with the Apple Powerbook 500, 190, and 5300 series. The drive costs $395 (1000). Epson America Inc, Torrance, CA. (310) 782-0770.
Motherboard sports dual Pentium Pro CPUs. Built on a standard PC/AT form factor, the M6Me system board for high-capacity servers and workstations is powered by two Pentium Pro processors running at as high as 200 MHz. An integrated Ultra-SCSI interface achieves transfer rates of 40 Mbytes/sec. The M6Me also includes 64-bit ISA-bus video, three 32-bit PCI-bus slots, six 32-bit EISA slots, and one shared PCI/EISA slot. The board costs $527 (1000). Micronics Computers Inc, Fremont, CA. (800) 577-0977.
CD recorder comes with Windows-based software. The Explorer, an internal 5.25-in., half-height CD-R system for PCs, is bundled with an OEM configuration of Adaptec’s Easy-CD software, which lets you create data and audio CDs by simply dragging and dropping. This version of Easy-CD works with both Windows 95 and Windows 3.1X applications. It also comes with a backup utility to archive data under Windows 3.1X. The Explorer, which has 23 recording and as many as 43 playing speeds, has a caddyless loading tray and a 1-Mbyte cache buffer to enable constant data flow to the CD. The system costs $799 (MSRP). Pinnacle Micro Inc, Irvine, CA. (714) 789-3000.
Scanning keyboard turns printer into copy machine. Based on Visioneer’s patented scanning technology, this keyboard lets you scan documents and print them out on your PC’s printer. Xerox TextBridge OCR software, included with the keyboard, reads the scanned image and converts it to text for editing. The scanning keyboard requires a 386-based (or higher) PC running under Windows 3.1, 3.1.1, 95, or Workgroups. The unit costs $299.95. NMB Technologies Inc, Chatsworth, CA. (818) 341-3355.
3-D graphics accelerator runs under Windows NT. Bringing workstation-class performance to Windows NT environments, the AccelPro graphics accelerator delivers 550,000 3-D shaded triangles/sec and 900,000 3-D vectors/sec. The board comes in configurations with 8, 12, and 16 Mbytes of memory, all providing a smooth double-buffered display at resolutions of as many as 128031024 pixels and a minimum 16-bit Z buffer. An optional 4-Mbyte memory module increases Z-buffer depth to 24 bits. Prices start at $1795. AccelGraphics Inc, San Jose, CA. (408) 441-1556.
Big-screen color monitor resolves 0.25-mm dot pitch. As the latest addition to the PanaSync series of color monitors, the S21 offers a 20-in. viewable image size and delivers a resolution of 160031200 pixels at a 75-Hz refresh rate and 0.25-mm dot pitch. The monitor comes with a DQ-DAF gun that produces 20% less spot aberration than conventional guns, resulting in virtually perfect dot circles, even at the corners. The S21 has a factory-preset active display area of 14.963 11.22 in. and a full scan setting of 15.98312.01 in. The estimated price is $1699. Panasonic Communications & Systems Co, Secaucus, NJ. (201) 348-7000.
CD-R drives boast easy-to-use file system. Two CD-R drives, the Spressa 940 internal drive and Spressa 9411 external drive, provide 23 recording and 43 CD-ROM playback. You can record to a full 650-Mbyte disc in as little as 45 min. The drives use the vendor’s CD-R file system, which lets you save files to a CD-R disc without complicated commands or a storage-hungry staging process. You can also delete files as you would on a hard drive or floppy disk. Each unit comes with an SCSI-2 interface and Corel CD Creator mastering software. The Spressa 940 and Spressa 9411 cost $899.99 and $1059.99, respectively. Sony Electronics Inc, Component and Computer Products Group, San Jose, CA. (800) 352-7669.
Digital-input frame grabber for PCI bus. Designed exclusively for digital cameras, the DT3157 Mach frame grabber operates as a PCI-bus master, transferring images in real time to system memory or display. The DT3157 accepts 8-, 10-, 12-, 14-, and 16-bit digital images with pixel clock rates of as high as 20 MHz on a single channel and as high as 40-MHz aggregate on dual 8-bit channels. The DT3157 includes a selection of 32-bit Windows program examples, one of which demonstrates how to call DT-Open Layers directly from Visual Basic. The frame grabber costs $1495. Data Translation, Marlboro, MA. (800) 525-8528.
DRAM modules expand ThinkPad memory. Three families of memory upgrades for the 760C/CD, 820, and 850 models of IBM ThinkPad notebooks let you increase DRAM storage capacities in increments of 4, 8, 16, and 32 Mbytes. The 760C/CD upgrades come in an energy-efficient 88-pin small-outline DIMMs and operate in EDO mode to provide access to memory 10 to 15% faster than fast-page-mode operation. Prices range from $409 (8 Mbytes) to $1495 (32 Mbytes) for the ThinkPad 760C/CD, from $229 (4 Mbytes) to $725 (16 Mbytes) for the ThinkPad 820, and from $169 (4 Mbytes) to $1529 (32 Mbytes) for the ThinkPad 850. Centon Electronics Inc, Irvine, CA. (714) 855-9111.
Ultra-SCSI converter handles both single-ended and differential devices. A converter that allows single-ended and differential SCSI devices to share the same SCSI bus handles fast and wide 16-bit data transfers at a sustained rate of 40 Mbytes/sec. The Model SD16B, which conforms to ANSI specifications, comes in a small metal enclosure that is 4.137.532.5 in. and operates from a 115/230V-ac supply. A board version of the converter, the SD17C, is powered by 5V and mounts inside a computer or peripheral. The SD16B costs $625 and the SD17C costs $435. Paralan Corp, San Diego, CA. (619) 560-7266.
PCMCIA flash cards store as much as 80 Mbytes. Based on an ATA microcontroller from the vendor and high-density 32-Mbit flash memory from Toshiba, the vendor’s PCMCIA Type II solid-state file cards store from 3.5 to 80 Mbytes. Dual-mode operation allows the cards to function in PC Card ATA or IDE systems with a 3.3 or 5V supply. These cards also improve read/write performance and reduce power consumption by a factor of two over previous-generation cards. Both commercial and industrial temperature range versions are available. A 10-Mbyte solid-state file card costs $272 (1000). IBM Microelectronics, Hopewell Junction, NY. (800) 769-3772.
Development board employs 60-MHz TMS320C32 DSP. A speed-enhanced version of the Tiger 32 EVM, an evaluation and application board for the TMS320C32 floating-point DSP, uses a 60-MHz version of the DSP to achieve floating-point performance of as many as 60 Mflops. The zero-wait-state memory subsystem of the PC/AT board consists of two banks, configured as 32k332, 32k316, or 128k38 bits. It also includes two channels of 16-bit, 50-kHz CD-quality audio I/O, along with a standard analog telephone interface. The Tiger 32 EVM costs $1295. DSP Research Inc, Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 773-1042.
Optical drive puts 640 Mbytes on removable disk. The Tahoe 640, a 3.5-in., rewritable optical drive, stores 640 Mbytes of data on a disk that can fit in your pocket. Connected to virtually any PC using an SCSI, parallel, or PCMCIA interface, the Tahoe 640 complies with the major ISO, ANSI, and ECMA standards for data interchange between vendors and is downward-compatible with previous 128- and 230-Mbyte capacity formats. The drive has an average seek time of 28 msec and transfers data at rates of as high as 3.3 Mbytes/sec. The Tahoe 640 costs $799 (MSRP); removable cartridges cost $69. Pinnacle Micro Inc, Irvine, CA. (714) 789-3000.
SCSI adapter follows PCI-bus format. The AdvanSCSI ABP970 PCI-bus host adapter supports both the PC and Power Macintosh on a single board, allowing you to standardize a single SCSI product for both computing environments. Using only a simple jumper to select either PC or Power Mac capability, you can software-configure the ABP970, supporting plug-and-play and SCAM standards. The adapter is based on a dedicated 50-MHz RISC processor and transfers data at rates of 133 Mbytes/sec. The AdvanSCSI ABP970 costs $199. AdvanSys, San Jose, CA. (408) 383-9400.
Card imparts Pentium-based PCs with 3-D graphics. Requiring only a single PCI-bus slot in a host PC equipped with a Pentium or Pentium Pro CPU, the Intense 3D card draws as many as 810,000 25-pixel, lit, Gouraud-shaded 3-D triangles/sec. The board performs trilinear MIP-mapped hardware texture processing and 24- or 32-bit double buffering. Four look-up tables accelerate transitions between color schemes. Prices start at $2499; the hardware texture-memory module costs $425, and the geometry accelerator option costs $2790. Intergraph Computer Systems, Huntsville, AL. (800) 763-0242.
83 CD-ROM drives come in SCSI and ATAPI versions. The XM-5601 series of 83 SCSI CD-ROM drives includes internal and external configurations with a transfer rate of 1200 kbytes/sec, a random seek time of 130 msec, and a random access time of 145 msec. An ATAPI-interface 83 internal drive, the XM-5602B, also offers a 1200-kbyte/sec transfer rate with random seek and random access times of 120 and 135 msec, respectively. Both the 5601 and 5602 drives have 256-kbyte buffers to optimize data transfer rates. The internal XM-5601B costs $195, the external XM-5601D costs $295, and the internal XM-5602B costs $170. Toshiba America Information Systems Inc, Disk Products Division, Irvine, CA. (714) 457-0777.
Flat-panel terminal operates in hostile conditions. Consisting of a serial controller and a color or monochrome flat-panel display housed in a NEMA 4/12 enclosure, the ST-4500 terminal delivers VT-100 or VT-52 emulation in harsh industrial environments. The unit’s infrared touch screen performs under the most extreme environmental conditions and responds accurately even when touched with a gloved hand. Two serial ports provide data rates of 38.4 kbaud. The ST-4500 costs $5775. Lucas Control System Products, Hayward, CA. (510) 471-4700.
Ethernet adapter switches between 10 and 100 Mbps. Fully compliant with PCI local bus Rev. 2.0 and IEEE 802.3, 802.3i, and 802.3u specifications, the EtheRx Fast Ethernet adapter features N-Way auto-negotiation, which automatically configures the adapter for 10- or 100-Mbps operation, depending on the line speed. The QStart installation, configuration, and diagnostic utility that come with the adapter makes network operating system configuration virtually automatic. Driver software includes ODI for DOS, Novell server drivers, NDIS2 for DOS, NDIS2 for OS/2, NDIS3, packet drivers, and SCO LLI. drivers. Certification is pending for Novell Netware and Windows 95 and NT. The EtheRx costs $139 (MSRP). Kingston Technology Corp, Fountain Valley, CA. (714) 435-2600.
Fibre Channel hub al-lows mixed-media interchange. Interconnecting high-performance file ser-vers and storage subsystems, the IntraLink 1000 Fibre Channel hub provides a data rate of 1062.5 Mbps over distances as far as 500m using the short-wave 0E1063SW fiber-optic converter. You can also configure the hub with a copper media converter for shorter distances (as far as 30m) using twinax cable, or mix the hot-pluggable media converters within the same hub. The IntraLink 1000 implements clock and data recovery on each port, automatically bypassing unused ports. With seven fully configured optical ports, the system costs <$375/port and $250/port for copper. Vixel Corp, Broomfield, CO. (303) 460-0700.
Turnkey PC-based system captures images to disk. The RTD real-time disk system acquires, digitizes, and records video to a dedicated high-capacity hard disk at 30 frames/sec interlaced or noninterlaced with a resolution of 6403480 8-bit pixels. Recording times of 10, 30, or 60 minutes are possible depending on disk-array size. The system consists of a 133- or 166-MHz Pentium-based computer running under Windows 95, a PCI-bus frame grabber, an expandable 6.3-Gbyte hard disk, a CCD camera, and imaging and control software. Prices start at $25,995. MicroDisc Inc, Yardley, PA. (215) 321-9100.
Graphics workstation rivals UltraSPARC 1 performance. The COMPstation U170-ES graphics workstation offers a swappable UltraSPARC Port Architecture (UPA) CPU module that affords greater flexibility than the motherboard-resident UPA capability of the Sun Ultra 1. The workstation transfers data at rates as high as 1.3 Gbytes/sec to meet the demand of complex graphics applications. It uses a 167-MHz UltraSPARC 1 64-bit mP and provides drive bays for two 3.5-in. hard drives, one 5.25-in. CD-ROM drive, and one 3.5-in. floppy drive. Prices start at $19,325 with the 2-D Creator graphics card option and $21,995 with 3-D Creator graphics. Tatung Science & Technology Inc, Milpitas, CA. (408) 383-0988.
Floppy-compatible laser servo drive stores 120 Mbytes. With a formatted storage capacity of 120 Mbytes, the FD-3120A laser servo drive provides 803 the capacity and 53 the speed of a standard 1.44-Mbyte floppy-disk drive. The drive’s slim, 1-in.-high form factor fits standard PC drive bays, and an ATAPI IDE interface allows easy connection to any PC. The FD-3120A uses 3M LS-120 diskettes, which are the same size and shape as 3.5-in. floppies. However, a dual-gap head allows the laser servo drive to read and write both conventional floppy disks and LS-120 disks. The drive costs $210 (MSRP). OR Technology, San Jose, CA. (408) 441-0660.
21-in. color monitor meets graphics-intensive demands. The PR900, a 21-in. color monitor built around a Diamondtron 0.30-mm aperture-grill cylindrical CRT having a 19.6-in. viewable area, creates a sharp display for such applications as 3-D imaging and video conferencing. Maximum resolution is 160031200 pixels noninterlaced; recommended resolution is 128031024 pixels at 75 Hz. The monitor also accepts as many as 11523870-pixel formats at 75 Hz for Macintosh and 11523900 pixels at 76 Hz for SPARCstations. The PR900 automatically tracks signals from 30- to 85-kHz horizontally and 50- to 120-Hz vertically. The monitor costs $2025. CTX International Inc, City of Industry, CA. (818) 839-0500.
RAID controller yields 40-Mbyte/sec throughput. This half-height, 5.25-in. form-factor controller accepts RAID 0, RAID 1, and concurrent RAID 0 and 1 configurations without the need for on-board cache memory. The Ultra-Windjammer, which transfers data at 40 Mbytes/sec, provides a single-ended Ultra-SCSI host channel and two single-ended SCSI-2 fast and wide disk channels, as well as an optional differential Ultra-SCSI host channel. You can access drives not configured as part of a RAID set using the JBOD (just a bunch of disks) mode. The controller handles variable sector sizes of as high as 8 kbytes. Ultra-Windjammer costs $2185. Diverse Logistics Inc, Irvine, CA. (714) 476-7171.
Notebook employs 50% brighter XGA LCD. In addition to a 133-MHz Pentium processor, the PC-9080 notebook computer comes with a 12.1-in. TFT LCD that delivers XGA 10243768-pixel resolution. Super High Aperture screen technology increases brightness by 50% over previous-generation LCDs and improves the high color ratio with 256-shade gradation. Super High Aperture also decreases power consumption by 38%. The PC-9080 comes with 16 Mbytes of system memory, which you can expand to 48 Mbytes. Other features include a 1.3-Gbyte removable hard drive, a removable 6X CD-ROM drive, a 3.5-in. floppy drive, and a built-in fax modem. Windows 95 is preinstalled. The PC-9080 costs <$6000. Sharp Electronics Corp, Computer Products Division, Mahwah, NJ. (800) 237-4277.
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