Subject: Re: NEC Vr4400 and ARC manufacturing kits

From: [email-masked] (6692)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1993 12:48:08 -0500 (CDT)

> 
> I would imagine that the design from NEC is copyrighted such that we wouldn't
> make it generally available.  So it would take a company to buy the design
> and manufacture it.  Its then up to that company to make the price right
> for linux people to be interested.

Isn't this contrary to the whole point of this project?  Or have I
misunderstood what the goal was?

I thought the point was a computer distributed under the Free
Software Foundation General Public License.  I interpreted that to
mean that all the 'sources' had to be available to anyone who has
the board, and that no one could prevent anyone from copying the
sources for anyone else.  By sources I understood schematics, parts
list, board etch and drill drawings, whatever anyone skilled in the
art would want to have to change the design and post the patches in
Usenet News, or have any board fab shop make a batch of 'em.  Have I
missed the boat again?

'Free' is not the price tag.  If you want lots of MIPS cheap, buy a
three year old workstation [I just bought a DECstation 3100 for US$1250
:-) ].  If you want more MIPS less cheap, buy a new 486PC.  If you have
an even bigger appetite, and bigger pockets, get a new workstation from
a high-volume manufacturer.  You're still bound to get a lot more for
your money than a DIY project built in prototype quantities.

I never imagined that 'cheap' was the goal -- it's just not a
reasonable goal.  I thought the goal was freedom.

-- 
Ted Spradley   Recognition International, Inc.  Opinions are mine, not theirs.
2701 E Grauwyler Rd. |Your productivity is not enhanced when you're staring
Irving TX 75061      |at that thing.  Your productivity is enhanced when
214-579-6692         |the computer is working and you're doing something else.

---

From: Alan Krantz <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 02:52:31 MDT

From [email-masked] Tue Jul 20 23:39:28 1993
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  From: [email-masked] (Jeremy Fitzhardinge)
  Message-Id: <[email-masked]>
  Subject: Re: NEC Vr4400 and ARC manufacturing kits
  To: [email-masked]
  Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1993 13:36:54 +1000 (EST)
  In-Reply-To: <[email-masked]> from "Alan Krantz" at Jul 20, 93 09:57:53 am
  Organization: Softway Pty Ltd
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  Alan Krantz bubbles:

  > Three things: 
  >     1) It seems that the video should be a local bus card instead of
  >        on the mother board (given the rapidly changing/availbility) of
  >        cheap accelators (S3 boards are now around $130)
  >     2) Is the SCSI on the isa bus or main cpu board ?

  Video and scsi are on the main board.  Read the list's archives before
  commenting further, to save more noise.

I saw the original blurb that said this was the case - though it did not
explain why. Can someone give me an update why this option is better and 
what type of performance is expected from the built in video controller
(and compare it to some of the popular video cards). Also, will the built in 
video support a mono-chrome (only) frame buffer in addition to a colour one?

(I just joined the list the other day so if there was a long discussion on 
 this i did not see it)

Thanks,
Alan