From: newton@neworder.ils.nwu.edu (Dave Newton)
Message-Id: <9110240039.AA01148@neworder.ils.nwu.edu>
Subject: Re: Transputers...
To: glove-list@karazm.math.uh.edu
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 91 19:39:33 CDT
In-Reply-To: <9110231931.AA19069@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca>; from "Dave Stampe-Psy+Eng" at Oct 23, 91 3:31 pm
In a previous message, Dave Stampe-Psy+Eng said:
> Actually, VPL is just sending world database updates by Ethernet, which
> is OK.  But we're talking about sending rendered pixels to the video board,
> which, for a 500x500x24 bit picture, needs 6 Mbits/sec times the frame rate!
> Can the video board handle this data rate???  If ypu use 4 transputers, can
> they SEND this rate???  For our purposes, I think the world database
> could reside on one transputer, which does preliminary clipping and
> sends polygon and attribute lists to the other transputers.  IF the
> video board can handle the input speed, this idea will work.  But not
> if you have to design a custom video buffer... Or, how about using
> 4 video boards, genlocking them, and switching between them as their 
> video segments occur???

   Each set of transputers that is doing rendering would have a copy of
the world in it, so theoretically all it would have to do is blob-move
that memory into whatever yo uwere using for output.  If I'm going the
cheap eye-phone route, I'll probably not have 500x500x24 in the near
future.