| When the first computers based on the new PowerPC chips
debut early next year, they'll be able to run
character-based Unix and graphical Motif applications
concurrently with existing Macintosh programs. Multiple
Mac sessions can run side by side in their own Motif
windows, and the system Clipboard will let users cut and
paste between the Mac and Unix environments. MS-DOS and
Windows 3.x programs will run atop an optional software
emulator from Insignia Solutions. Details of the PowerPC's PowerOpen operating system were revealed at the March Uniforum show in San Francisco. Seven companies — led by the original partners, IBM, Apple, and Motorola — formed the PowerOpen Association to promote the new RISC-based platform. Other founding members are Groupe Bull, Harris, Tadpole Technology, and Thomson-CSF. Motorola officials say they expect the PowerPC 601 to deliver about the same integer performance and a 30 percent to 40 percent floating-point performance improvement over Intel's Pentium — at about one-third the price. In quantities of 20,000, the 50-MHz chip will cost $280; the 66-MHz chip will sell for $374. PowerOpen's chief architect, Stephen P. Cummings of IBM, says hardware and software development are both on track. Tom Whiteside, manager of VLSI technology at IBM's Advanced Workstation Division, says the PowerPC 603 chip currently under development "is intended to be roughly the performance of the 601, but really, really cheap." He did not disclose specific prices for the 603. PowerOpen is built on AIX/6000 (IBM's Unix for RS/6000 workstations) and the X Window System. It natively runs Unix applications compiled for AIX, Groupe Bull's BOS/X, and Thomson-CSF's Uni/XT, as well as future programs for PowerOpen. It will also support COSE (Common Open Software Environment), the "unified Unix." Apple has ported the Mac OS Toolbox to the PowerPC, so that Toolbox calls execute natively. Because Mac programs typically spend most of their time in the Toolbox, this minimizes the usual performance penalty for software emulation. Photograph: "We're entering a new frontier...we intend to price the PowerPC aggressively." — Tom Whiteside Copyright 1994-1997 BYTE |