Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cica!ctrsol!ginosko!uunet!microsoft!t-jondu
From: t-jondu@microsoft.UUCP (Jonathan Dubman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Graphics info wanted for the NeXT...
Keywords: graphics hardware, rumors, color, NEW FACTS
Message-ID: <7360@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 14 Aug 89 22:11:08 GMT
References: <10727@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Reply-To: t-jondu@microsoft.UUCP (Jonathan Dubman)
Distribution: na
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 64

In article <10727@boulder.Colorado.EDU> hunt@tramp.Colorado.EDU
(Lee Cameron Hunt) writes:
>   A few CS and EE friends and I have postulated from pre-release
>news/magazine articles that originally the NeXT was intended to have much
>faster graphics in color.  The emphasis on custom DMA hardware for very fast
>system throughput seems to imply that this is true.  The
>"color-for-the-NeXT-perhaps-by-Pixar" rumor may vindicate this assumption, but
>will also raise the price by, we expect, say $4000 (estimating $2000 for a
>very good display and $2000 for the color graphics board -- not at all a small
>piece o' change).
>   We also hope (almost pray :-) that something is done to speed up Postscript
>display.  (Could this be easily done by a color graphics board?  Or would
>rewriting the current Postscript UI for an add-on dedicated Postscript engine
>be a monumental task?)

"Fixed in 1.2"?  Last week's InfoWorld had an interesting tidbit that I'm
surprised noone has commented on here.  Apparently Steve Jobs has undergone
preliminary negotiations to use IBM's new ROMP-II RISC processor in "an
even nexter" version of the cube, and IBM's new graphics chip.  Whether he
will go through with this remains to be seen, but the InfoWorld reporter
suggested that this was a ploy to reduce prices for the Motorola 68030,
68040 and 88000 for NeXT.

>   So, before I go out and get an Amiga 2500, would someone try to convince me
>that the wait for the rumored color board would be worthwhile?

Well, you can't go too wrong with an Amiga 2500.  If there's one thing it does
well, it's color animation.  There's already lots of software.  Depends on
on your budget and how much time you're willing to wait for NeXT to leapfrog.
Rumor has it an Amiga 3000 with 68030 will be available very soon...
But the NeXT might be worth the wait- it's a gamble.

>Further, do our raw assumptions seem to hold water?  Does 1.0 plan on
>speeding-up some of the Postscript graphics?  Is the NeXT ever going to be a
>"real" graphics monster (with colors and graphic coprocessors and hardware
>windowing and ...)?  (Graphics hardware combined with the DSP sure would be
>a pleasant combination...  :-)
>   I realize that I'm strictly operating in the "Land of Rumors," but I'm
>still eager to hear what all of you NeXTophiles think.

Apparently 0.9 is not really performance tuned, but I wouldn't count on too
much of a speedup for PostScript.  I don't have any real info on future
graphics hardware, but my Amiga 1000 says it'll be there by the time I can
afford it.

>P.S.  I'm probably paranoid, but I keep thinking that the price of $6,500 for
>a NeXT offered to academia is too good to hold out for long.  Especially
>since now, I'm told, the NeXT is selling to the business sector for $10,000.
>Any indications either way about this?

NeXT is not going to raise the price for anything, anytime.  Look what happened
to Apple.  Steve Jobs has become a supply-bargaining wizard, and won't buy
any RAM chips for $37 a shot.  The cost of the parts should be monotonically
decreasing.  I expect he'll keep the business price where it is and lower
the academic price in a year or two.  Intuition says it'll bottom out at
about $4000 for the current model.  The RAM will come way down, but the
monitor ain't cheap and I think he's already getting a bargain on the optical
drive.

> -Lee

< -Jonathan Dubman

Disclaimer: Microsoft has nothing to do with this letter.