From: jyang@cs.berkeley.edu (Joel Yang)
Subject: Re: Radius RocketWare
Organization: none in particular 
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 05:58:22 GMT

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO ME VIA E-MAIL -- I'M POSTING THIS FOR A FRIEND WITH
NO USENET ACCESS -- e-mail timmbake@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu INSTEAD

In article <1681@radius.com> Pierce T. Wetter III, pierce@radius.com writes:

>>>That is, you have TWO macintohes.
>>>
>>>RocketWARE 2.0 will allow you to use your Rocket 33 as an accelerator
>>>(that is,
>>>you have ONE FAST macintosh), its in beta test right now.
>>>
>
>>Excuse me, but what exactly do you mean use the Rocket 33 as an
>accelerator?
>>Already the Rocket is an accelerator, so do you mean that it+native
>processor
>>splits up the work on an application, so that it becomes, in effect,
>faster
>>than the Rocket 33 _BEFORE_ RocketWare 2.0?
>>
>'WARE, takes your first Rocket, and uses it to accelerate. 'WARE 2.0 is a
>complete
>overhaul of the 1.x software. Sound is MUCH improved, it uses the
>"Macintosh 
>Software Technology" we licensed from Apple, and in general works much
>better then
>1.x.

This sounds great.  When can we upgrade to 'WARE?

>
>'SHARE launches each Rocket as a seperate computer. For each Rocket in
>your system,
>you effectively have another macintosh. Each Rockets appears as if it
>
>Using 'WARE 2.0 & 'SHARE, lets you use the first Rocket as an
>accelerator, and the
>other Rockets as 'SHARE Rockets.

OK slowdown.  I've got a IIx+Rocket25.  If I get 'SHARE, then why would I "use
the first Rocket as an accelerator"?  Wouldn't it always be more beneficial --
in _any_ rocket configuration -- to use any and all rockets as separate macs?
Using the first Rocket as an accelerator in a 'SHARE setup implies that you're
not using the original Mac CPU separately with the first Rocket as a separate
Mac.  In other words, isn't the best solution to have x+1 CPUs acting
separately under 'SHARE, where x=number of Rockets?

>
>Now, to answer your question, if you have RocketShare, you can
>parallelize your
>work in three ways:
>
>1. By hand. (Just as if you had two computers.)
>2. Automatically using a program that can distribute its workload using
>IAC.
>    (StrataVision, RayDream, Infini-D, NetBuild)
>3. Using Publish & Subscribe.

Bravo!  Hopefully people can share over the net their successes (and failures)
here.

>
>>Also, does RocketWare 2.0 correct any of the incompatibilities running
>certain
>>sound programs, Quicktime 1.5, or Macintosh Common Lisp 2.0?  In

>   MCL 2.0: Don't know.

In the rare case that any Lispers are reading, I do know that MCL 2.0 does not
run on the 25i, since like many programs it requires an FPU.

Otherwise, I've read that sometimes doing goofy things like starting apps in a
certain order helps remedy incompatibilies, and also switching nuBus boards

I must admit that I love my Mac+Rocket25 -- I often use Quadras at work, and
they're great, but my system seems even more solid than the Quads.

I'm running a MacIIx w/ 8megs + Radius Rocket 25 + 7.0.1*.

digression -- WARNING :)

BTW I disagree with the widespread belief that 7.0.1 was an insignificant
upgrade for older Macs.  My experience, as well as many of my coworkers in our
lab, has been one of a more solid system than 7.0 (and 6.x.x for that
matter).  More people should upgrade to it, especially since it's free from
ftp.apple.com.  Even using the (notoriously?) buggy MountImage to install it
(since I have no high density floppy) has given great results -- no crashes,
even with two rows of inits!  In short, whenever I have to work with 6.07
equipped macs, I feel hindered.