Opus Puts RISC CPU, 386SX in Transportable Unix/DOS System
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Earlier this year, Opus Systems introduced its Personal
Mainframe, a coprocessor card designed around the Motorola 88000
RISC CPU [see microbytes/items #28]. The card could plug into a
16-bit slot in any AT clone, allowing the AT to run Unix on a 17-
MIPS RISC processor, while the Intel 286 CPU could simultaneously
run DOS. Now Opus is back, this time with a faster (21 MIPS)
version of the card installed in a 22-pound transportable
computer.
 
The lunchbox-style computer, manufactured by NEC, is a
conventional AC-only transportable system with a 16-MHz 386SX
CPU, 2 megabytes of RAM, 40-megabyte hard disk, monochrome gas
plasma display (640 x 480), and 3 expansion slots. In one of
those slots is the Opus coprocessor card; it's got an 88000
running at either 20 or 25 MHz, from 4 to 24 megabytes of RAM,
and twin 16K caches for instructions and data. Prices start at
$13,995.
 
The Portable Mainframe can run all the usual DOS programs, while
the 88000 CPU can be simultaneously running Unix, with the 386SX
handling all I/O functions, including screen updates, keyboard
input, printer and serial ports, and disk drives. You can also
transfer files between Unix and DOS, "hot key" back and forth
between them, and execute commands and programs of either
operating system from the other.
 
Opus says the Portable Mainframe conforms to the 88Open
consortium's software specifications, which means it can run any
programs written for the 88000 CPU and is "88Open-compatible,"
roughly the equivalent of being PC-compatible for 80x86 CPUs.
 
In combining a PC-compatible CISC CPU with a workstation-style
RISC CPU, the Portable Mainframe presents at least one problem
that will concern people who currently use a RISC workstation.
The relatively slow 16-bit AT bus might not be fast enough for
them; for example, the AT bus would not be quick enough at
updating the large screens that workstation users need for heavy-
duty graphics operations. While the 88000 can rocket along at an
estimated 21 MIPS, the AT bus is limited to a throughput of
around 16 megabytes/second.
 
Contact: Opus Systems, 20863 Stevens Creek, Building 400,
Cupertino, CA 95014; (408) 446-2110.
 
                              --- Frank Hayes
 
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