[rescue] Pixar Image Computer II on Ebay

[Joshua Boyd]

On Tue, Sep 07, 2004 at 12:41:10PM -0700, Francisco Javier Mesa-Martinez wrote:
> I don't know that much about the PIXAR hw, but I was under the impression
> that these were nothing more than a co-processor, all the I/O and general
> purpose stuff such as compiling and program setup had to be done through a
> host. I only read papers on the CHAP which are the guts of the system and
> they seem to be nothing more than a SIMD machine doing the gfx microcode.
> 
> The few online references I have found state that the pixar is/was used as
> a co-processor:
> 
> http://www.specktech.com/PixarImageComputer.html
> 
> I am pretty clueless about the differences between the PIXAR I and II
> though so you may be correct.

The page you link to notes near the beginning that it is talking about
the PIC2.

It talks about the machine running NeWS (I couldn't provide a source a t
the moment, but I thought the first machine didn't run that).  It also
talks about having RAID.  But, then near the end it does mention being
connected to a host.

There isn't much of substance on the www about those machines.  There
are a few more bits and pieces to be found by searching google groups.
Overall, it is a sad state of affairs for such a once glorious machine.

Although, all it would take would be for one dedicated individual with a
scanner, web space, and time, to get lucky by finding a machine intact
with documentation, and an urge to document the machine for all to see.