Texas Instruments Inc is now sampling a new chip that it says will enable colour X-terminals to be sold below the $1,000 price line – its first product specifically aimed at the X market. The 340X – a streamlined version of the established Texas TM34020 graphics chip, offers, according to Texas, all the processing horsepower of the 32-bit TM34020, but has been stripped of the 34020-based peripherals designed specifically for personal computer-based graphics subsystems. The result is significantly lower pricing – $75 for samples and below $40 in volume. Used with the TLC34075 palette chip, supporting various colour combinations and resolutions – including 1,600 by 1,200 at 60MHz refresh rates – the 32MHz part can be used as the basis of low-cost colour terminals. For mono and greyscale models, there is an optimised version of the palette chip, the TLC34074. Faster clock speeds are expected later this year. At Xhibition, Tektronix, a Texas user for its low-end systems, cut the price of its 77,000 Xstones-rated X11 with 15 mono monitor to $1,000, and the 14 colour XP17 to $2,000. Colour systems below $1,000 could be feasible within a year. NorthWest Digital Systems, Seattle, California, was demonstrating an X Terminal design based around the new chip, called Wildcat 2 – the second generation of its original Wildcat design launched at last year’s show. It is said to be the smallest complete X Terminal design available, covering just under 50 square inches of broad space. NorthWest Digital has signed a licensing agreement for the technology with X Terminal manufacturer Hyundai Electronics Corp of Seoul, South Korea. Other Texas partners likely to take on the new technology for X-terminals include C Itoh & Co, which launched the CIT-XE+ range at the show, NCR Corp’s Applied Digital Data Systems, Digital Equipment Corp, IBM Corp, Megatek Corp, Princeton Graphics Inc, Sun River Inc, Tandberg Data A/S, Visual Inc and Zentec Inc.
