As predicted last week, (CI No 1,345) Network Computing Devices Inc, Mountain View, California is to introduce the first colour version of its X Window System display station at UniForum this week. The 17 flat screen NCD17c, which has a 1,024 by 768 pixel resolution and 70Hz refresh rate, can display up to 256 colours simultaneously and has a starting tag of $5,000. It is built around a 20MHz Motorola 68020 microprocessor and two custom graphics chips with 2Mb RAM – Network Computing claims it is the first colour device designed from the ground up to be an X-Window terminal, rather than having colour capability patched onto a monochrome unit. Supporting Ethernet, TCP/IP and concurrent DECnet protocols, the system allows simultaneous access to X and DECwindows applications from networked systems running Unix, VMS and Ultrix. For the future, Network Computing is in the middle of beta testing new X software Release 2.1 – it has some of the X11 Release 4 features in it, including SHAPE and XDMCP, and will be out in the middle of February. The rest of the new features in X11 R4 are in the area of performance enhancements and memory usage, which Network Computing wants to test more thoroughly before introduction – Bill Carrico said that he expected them to go in the company’s 2.2 Release, out in June. From the applications point of view, the new release is 100% compatible with previous versions, said Carrico. Network Computing is also working on top-end terminals incorporat ing the PEX, X Window System extension to the PHIGS graphics environment, as well as low-end products likely to see the light of day during the third and fourth quarter of this year. Network Computing’s current OEM customers include Tektronix Inc, Pyramid Technology Corp, MIPS Computer Systems Inc, Bull HN, Software Research Associates Inc, Eastman Kodak Co’s Legal Systems division, Data General Corp and Nokia Oy’s Nokia Data, which distributes the X terminals in Scandinavia. Network Computing also has a new 97-key keyboard designed specifically for Unix users, in which the most frequently used function keys have been relocated to more strategic positions on the board. The Unix keyboard is bundled in with any Network Computing X terminal at no extra charge, but costs $150 bought separately.
