From: hsr4@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.fractals
Subject: Re: Hardware Fractal Engine
Date: 16 Apr 92 11:43:53 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAXcluster

In article <3971@mercury.brunel.ac.uk>, ee88jmf@brunel.ac.uk (J M Fielder) writes:
> In article <gate.oR23iB1w164w@toz.buffalo.ny.us> cyberman@toz.buffalo.ny.us (Cyberman) writes:
>>WJE> [Stuff about a hardware mandelbrot machine]
>>Steve Ciarcia had a series of articles in Byte [Oct/Nov/Dec 1988]
>>entitled A Supercomputer.  He tied together 64 8751's so they
>>could calculate the mandlebrot set in parallel this is a VERY
>>expensive way to go.  :)  It was tied to an AT via the serial
>>port.
> 
> From what I rember it took masses of power, and it wasn't really that
> quick.
> 
> If WJE can find one, find an Archimedes computer. There are various
> programs available for that that do mandelbrots in about 7 seconds on
> an ARM2 machine (8Mhz device) or will 'pan around' the mandelbrot set if
> running on an ARM3 (25Mhz).
> 
> The people that wrote the program are willing to divuldge the algorithms
> for academoic purposes from what I have heard. You could just build a board
> with an ARM3 and a physical memory controller and run those programs :-)
> 
> I have lost the origianl posting, but if WJE (or anyone else) wants to mail
> me I will find out more.
> 
>>You will probably have to take a similiar approach. You probably
>>could use a microcontroller to control your calculation hardware.
>>That would simplify a lot of things and make controling processor
>>states much easier. Have fun, you have taken on a massive
>>project.
> 
> Massive? Monstrous I would call it...
> 

I don't have the references (and at present don't have the time to chase them,
I'm afraid - 16 hour days don't leave much room for anything other than food or
sleep :-)), but...  About 4-5 years ago, Inmos ran a demo using a pair of
Transputers (attached to an AT as I recall) which showed Mandelbrot computed in
real time (i.e., at a frame rate rapid enough to produce 'live' animation) -
and in colour (about the same time that they showed the butterfly demo - one in
which an animated, high resolution, butterfly flits between two monitor screens,
which doesn't sound too impressive to speak about, but which was to watch).

Even Acorn's earlier beast, in its better-known form as the BBC-B, when attached
to a Transputer, was able to compute Mandelbrot in minutes (instead of 30 hours
per frame when used without).

If anyone has Inmos' current whereabouts (again, I'm afraid I don't - not being
much help today) perhaps they could post.  I gather they've just launched
another upgrade to the original T series, with increased memory and faster
execution time.  I'm still puzzled why no-one is putting together a massively
parrallel system based on them - maybe Occam is still too flakey...

+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Peter G. Q. Brooks HSR4@UK.AC.OX.VAX |   "If we get the technology right,  |
| Health Services Research Unit        |  then for male pattern baldness it  |
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