From: pmagrude@tusol.cs.trinity.edu (Patrick Magruder)
Subject: Re: I DID giev up on the Amiga!
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 17:59:12 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.075402.28943@utstat.uucp>, philip@utstat.uucp (Philip
McDunnough) wrote:
> 
> In article <33215@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes:
> 
> [ ]
> >
> >Apple came out with a new Quadra this year.  Those, and the laptops, were
> >reasonably interesting.  Things like LCs and Classics are just powered down
> >rehashes of old Mac IIs.
> 
> I don't quite agree with this. The 33MHz Quadra is a fast Mac with nice
> graphics running the same OS. The power dictates that its main OS should
> be A/UX3.0, but few people have accepted Apple's Unix.
>  
> In fact, I feel Apple has pretty well given up on the high end and has
> had to make the choice of becoming more of a consumer company. The
> laptops are very nice, except for the weight and the ghosting on the 
> lower end ones. The LC and ClassicII (and IIsi) probably indicate where
> Apple is heading more than do the Quadra's. Unless something strange 
> comes out of the IBM/Apple alliance, I doubt that Apple will even bother
> entering into the Unix workstation world.
>  
> [ ]
> 
> Philip McDunnough
> philip@utstat.toronto.edu

Well, I have to say something about this:  (my sources are mostly MacWEEK
issues, but in particular, the July 13, 1992 issue)

Apple and IBM are working on a UNIX system called PowerOpen.  By combining
the
features of IBM'S AIX and the core technologies of Apple's A/UX, they are
going
to  enable people running on a 680x0 (I would expect an '020 w/ PMMU to do
it, but not a 68000) to run OSF/Motif as well as the Mac interface.  Still
running on schedule, it's slated for release in early '93.

Regarding the high end machines which everyone wants.

Coming in Spring '93 -- Cyclones.  Get a load of this:  a Mac with a DSP.
This 32 bit computer, running on the fastest '040 (probably a 50 MHz)
available
at the time, will have on board 32 bit video on 21" monitors (the Quadras
already support 32 bit video for 16" monitors).  Full SCSI2.  The best is
yet to come.  There will be an integrated DSP on the board to drive a few
things that people have wanted:
   16 bit, 44KHz stereo sound in & out
   S-Video Input and Output (!)
   built in Fax modem
   other stuff I can't remember

Coming summer/fall '93:  PowerPC Chip 601
This RISC chip will be approx. 3-4 times more powerful than the '040.  This
chip
is an amalgam of the RS/6000 chipset combined with the bus of the Motorola
88100 chip .. quite a punch in such a small chip.  Systems will follow
within 6 months (i.e. late '93).  The RISC Macs are coming!!

PowerPC 603 -- designed for small size, low cost and low power
consumption... i.e. made for a portable.  Should show up in laptops and
portables sometime in
'94.

PowerPC 604 -- second generation 601.  Clock speeds could reach 100MHz

PowerPC 620 -- Designed for servers/high end workstations and
multiprocessor systems.  Will be offered in 64- and 32-bit versions.

OK, enough spouting.

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