CAD in industry
Number of new products at CADCAM 'INI exhibi on
CADCAM '88 (National Exhibition
Centre, Birmingham, UK, 22--24 March
1988) was the venue for releases by a
number of companies. A selection is
given here.
Cambridge Computer Graphics
The Xcellerator 1600 range of graphics
display systems was shown by Cam-
bridge Computer Graphics. The range
is aimed at CADCAM, graphics arts,
and electronic publishing markets.
The systems use the Texas 34010
32-bit graphics system processor,
giving a displayable resolution of
1600 x 1200 pixels on a 20 in diagonal
screen. The capability of using display
list techniques provides infinite virtual
resolution.
Three operating modes are possible:
• 1600 x 1200 pixels, with 16 colours
from a palette of 4096, pixel fre-
quency of 160 MHz, and horizontal
frequency of 75 MHz
• 1024 x 768 pixels, with 256 colours
from a palette of 16.7 million, pixel
frequency of 66 MHz, and horizon-
tal frequency of 48 MHz
• VGA, EGA, and CGA display reso-
lutions at 640 x 480, 640 x 350,
or 640 x 200 pixels
Random access memory of I Mbyte
is standard and can be expanded to
8 Mbyte.
Xcellerator 1600 systems from Cambridge Computer Graphics
302
The Xcellerator 1600 range caters
for IBM PC AT and PS/2 microbus
architectures.
(Cambridge Computer Graphics,
Convent Drive, Waterbeach, Cam-
bridge CB5 9Q~ UK)
Cambridge Micro Computers
The Vitesse V683 computer was
shown by Cambridge Micro Com-
puters. The V683 is based on the
Motorola 68030 processor, which runs
at a clock rate of 20 MHz, and offers
an operating performance of 8 MIPS
(million instructions/s).
It features 4 Mbyte of random
access memory (RAM) as standard,
expandable to 16 Mbyte via an
internal bus. High-speed disc drives
offer storage capacity of 300 Mbyte,
expandable to 1 gigabyte, with an
average access time of 16 ms.
System architecture is based on the
VME bus, and a typical configuration
keeps five backplane slots available for
system expansion and customization
for special applications.
The V683 is supplied with a 19 in
screen with resolution of 1024 x 800
pixels, and graphics software includes
GKS, DI3000, and Tektronix 41010
emulation. A built-in communications
controller allows multiuser systems to
be configured in multiples of 16, to a
maximum of 128 concurrent users.
Two operating systems are sup-
Vitesse V683 from Cambridge Micro
Computers
ported - the OS-9 real-time operating
system or Unix System V.2.2. Unix
software includes NFS and X-Windows
and is upgradable from 68020-based
systems. Software from the Vitesse
V682 range will run on the V683.
The V683, with 20 MHz 68030
processor, floating point coprocessor,
4 Mbyte of RAM, 300 Mbyte of hard
disc, nine VME slots, 16 RS-232C
ports, and multiuser Unix licence is
£35 000, and with the OS-9 system
is £34 000.
(Cambridge Micro Computers,
Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road,
Cambridge CB4 4BN, UK)
Ferranti Infographics
Ferranti Infographics launched Pro-
Engineer, an interactive, feature-based,
parametric solid modeller for mech-
anical computer-aided engineering.
Pro-Engineer offers flexibility of
definition and modification during
product conceptualization, allowing
models to be constructed and modi-
fied dynamically. Its feature-based
data structure is associative, and its
parametric oescription captures the
general shape of both component and
assembly models. Dimensions can be
modified whether by entering a value,
establishing a relationship with other
parametric dimensions, or defining a
relationship to a table of parts. Geo-
metry is modifiable at any stage.
Any number of planar, cylindrical,
conical, spherical, toroidal, or sculp-
tured surfaces can be handled. Fully
associative and automatically dimen-
sioned 2D drawings can be produced
computer-aided design