Network Computing Devices Inc, the start-up Mountain View, California company dedicated to creating a new class of intelligent terminal based on the X Window System standard (CI No 1,017), yesterday announced its first product, the NCD16 Network Display System. It describes the NCD16 as a network peripheral that provides workstation-like display capability – including a windowed interface, high resolution and advanced communications for about $2,500, or half the entry price of a typical workstation. It is designed to operate in a network of computers supporting X Window under either Unix or DEC’s VMS, and the X user interface can access multiple host computers, presenting the data from each in a separate display window. It combines a monochrome monitor with single-board electronics located in the monitor base, keyboard, mouse, software and two communications interfaces. The 16 diagonal square-format monitor has a 105-dot per inch resolution, putting up 1,024 by 1,024 pixels so as to provide the same million-pixel cability as the 19 monitors typically used with workstations, but taking up only about half the desktop space. The processor is a 12.5MHz 16-bit MC68000 microprocessor to run the X Window System software and TCP/IP communication protocols, while a graphics co-processor assists in display functions. The board also contains 1Mb to 4.5Mb of mem ory, and the station comes with one asynchronous RS232 serial interface with a choice of Ethernet and thin Ethernet interface, or a second RS232/RS422 port. The the NCD16 also offers network management and administration features, including name server support and a menu-driven set-up utility. Available on 60 days delivery in the US, the NCD16 starts at $2,550 with 1Mb of memory and one Ethernet interface.
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