Everex Systems Inc, Fremont, California duly introduced its variant of the Opus Systems system as the Step 8820, describing it as a 17 MIPS general-purpose Unix workstation. The Step 8820 uses the 20MHz version of Motorola Inc’s 88000 chip set on a co processor board – from Opus Systems – installed in an Everex Step 386 or 286 AT-alike, whereupon the Intel chip becomes a dedicated input-output processor, thereby optimising the throughput of the 88000, even in input-output-intensive graphics or multi-user environments. It complies with Motorola’s Binary Compatibility Standard for the 88000, so will run all Unix System V software developed for the 88000, and also includes most Berkeley system and library calls in its enhanced System V kernel – and you can run MS-DOS concurrently on the front end if you want. It comes with 4Mb to 20Mb, with a full range of fixed disk, tape backup, and high-resolution monochrome and colour graphics subsystems are amongthe options. Graphic user interfaces are supported by the X Window System, and the Step 8820 is also available with Network File System and TCP/IP for assimilation into Ethernetworks. First ships next week, production quantities follow in mid-April. Tags for high-resolution systems go from $13,000 – no configuration given.
