Hewlett-Packard Co has again upgraded the Motorola 68020-based models in its HP9000 workctation line, enhancing further the graphics performance of two models, and responding to the pressure from Sun and Apollo at the low end with a new entry-level colour model. The enhanced graphics models are the 330CHX and the 350CHX, which add a 68020-based graphics accelerator to the proprietary graphics processor of the predecessor 330CH and 350CH models, an enhancement claimed to boost graphics performance 15-fold. The increase in speed comes from the fact that the dedicated 68020 accelerator runs graphics control software that has to be handled by the main 68020 processor in the earlier models. They come with 19 or 16 monitors putting up 1,280 by 1,024 pixels and sell for $22,250 and $38,550 respectively with HP-UX Unix, 8Mb memory and no disks. They are on two months’ delivery and existing models can be upgraded with the 68020 accelerator board for $6,000. The new entry model is the 319C+, a colour version of the 318M station. It comes with 16 or 19 1,024 by 768 pixel colour screen, 4Mb memory and HP-UX for $9,500. Main memory on the 16.7MHz 68020 CPU goes to 16Mb. There is also a new release of HP/UX, 6.0, for the HP9000 Series 300s, adding support for diskless workstations, Network File System, and VME interface boards.
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