Digital Equipment Corp is expected to bury the release of Digital Unix V4 in next week’s announcement of new Alpha machines (CI No 2,866). As well as Unix 95 branding, LP64 (Aspen) compatibility, an advanced file system parallelized for symmetric multiprocessing, increased logical storage manager capacity (512 disks, 1Tb per volume), key new functionality is said to include a new graphical user interface-based SysMan for easy installation and system management. DEC watcher Terry Shannon expects these new features to reduce competitive knock-outs, especially among Unix vendors trying to migrate VAX/VMS customers to their systems. Apparently only 18% of OpenVMS emigres chose Digital Unix 18 months ago; today 65% of customers leaving OpenVMS choose Digital Unix. It costs from $800 for a two-user license. Meanwhile there are three new PowerStorm boards are designed for two- and three-dimensional wireframe and solid modeling graphics applications. An 8-bit 3D10 with 1,280 by 1,024 resolution for two- and three-dimensional vector processing is from $400. The 3D30 adds a dithering algorithm said to display virtual 24-bit images in color; it’s $800. The 4D20 has a 24-bit frame buffer for image processing, medical imaging and desktop publishing and includes color maps and support for 1,600 by 1,200 resolution with 75Hz refresh rates. It costs $2,500. 3D30 and 4D20 also support video playback. DEC will offer PowerStorm 4D60T with 32- bit texture maps including 32Mb graphics memory and support for 24-bit buffering in the summer.
