3rd party RAM, disk, and software query

[Dave Ciemiewicz]

In article <8911131818.AA00479 at castor.wustl.edu>,
weinhous at CASTOR.BERKELEY.EDU ("Martin S. Weinhous") writes:
> We need to augment our two 4D120GTXs with ...
>   SOFTWARE:	C++, Pascal, LISP, and PHIGS+
>   RAM:		power series SIMMS
>   DISK:		ESDI and/or SCSI
>   MISC:		video frame grabber
> Given that SGI's present prices are ..., well "high," we would
> appreciate comments on 3rd party sources for the above.
> 
> Specifically:  Has anyone implemented any c++ on a power series
> Iris?  Which one?  How well does it work?  Is SGI's c++ their own?

The current C++ offering is a port of the AT&T C++ translator version
1.2.1 with some bug fixes by SGI.  We have also modified our dbx to
support unmangled
C++ variables and members of structures and classes which helps immensely in
the debugging of C++ code.

The translator works on all members of IRIS-4D series, including the 4D/120GTX.
The price is $1995.  I think AT&T charges $2500 for a source license. 
You won't
get the dbx mods with an AT&T source license.  Also, the C++ translator works
with all of the compiler tools including the profiling tools: pixie and prof.
Pixie and prof allow you to do a line-by-line execution analysis of your C++
application.

> How well does it work?

We have been using the C++ translator internally at SGI for over a year.
The IRIS WorkSpace (TM SGI), the visual systems administration tools, and
wsh were all written in C++.  The developers who wrote these applications
did it on just about every model of IRIS-4D.

Personally, I'm hooked.  Most of my own personal development projects have
been done in C++.

> Does the gnu c++ work on the power series?

The IRIS-4D compilers run on all SGI IRIS-4Ds.  If you find a port of
g++ for an IRIS-4D, it should run on any of the IRIS-4Ds including your
power series
systems.

> Any general comments on Pascal, LISP Phigs+?

The SGI Pascal is the MIPS Pascal compiler.  Currently, the compiler is an
ANSI/ISO Level 0 implementation with extensions from MIPS.  Look for more
extensions in the future.

For LISP, both Franz LISP and IBUKI Common LISP are available.  I don't
know the relative merits either one.  From the SGI Geometry Partners directory:

	IBUKI
	1447 North Shoreline Blvd.
	Mountain View, CA 94043
	(415) 961-4996

	Franz, Inc.
	1995 University Avenue
	Berkeley, CA 94704
	(415) 548-3600

For a PHIGS+ implementation, SGI offers Figaro from Template Graphics Software.
The upcoming 2.0 release includes the PHIGS+ extensions.  The price
for the development environment is $3000.  The price for the run-time
environment is $700.

I hope this is of some help.