Colour from DEC

Plotters for highway design South Glamorgan County Council is the fifth local authority to buy CI L intelligent plotters for computer-aided highway design and associated applications in recent months. The order is for one of its 4/74 intelligent flatbed graphics plotters, together with a 4/90 buffered magnetic tape drive. The plotter at South Glamorgan is to operate both offline, using the magnetic tape driver, and remotely online connected'to the Council's ICL 2972 computer. Other County Councils ordering flatbed plotters recently include Clwyd and North Yorkshire: Oxfordshire and West G lamorgan are using drum plotters. Level II plotter-resident intelligence, based on the TMS 9900 16-bit microprocessor, has been provided for all the County Councils, with the standard Series 4 driver software package for the host computer. The County Council applications are mostly in highway design and road net-

work plotting using BIPS-3, MOSS and TARA software suites. The plotters are required to produce complex drawings which include horizontal and vertical alignments, road cross-sections, perspective drawings and correlated maps. Other important uses include accident plotting to find 'black spots'

and to generate appropriate statistical information, and highway sign design. Overplot on the 4/74 flatbed machine is particularly useful in the latter cases, since it enables the user to update existing drawings accurately and to scale, irrespective of changes in the plotting media and positioning on the flatbed. (Computer Instrumentation

Limited, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, Hants 505 3YY, UK. Tel: (04215) 66321)

Colour from DEC DEC go into colour graphics with raster display systems for their LSI-11, PDP-11 and VAX-11/780 computers. The VSV11 and VS11 models are designed for LSI-11 bus microcomputers and PDP-11 UNIBUS computers, respectively. Modular in construction, the basic VSV11/VS11 comprises just three quadsized printed circuit boards. Extra modules can be added to give increased resolution or number of colours, or to

provide dynamic graphics. A rate-type joystick is supplied with the system. Using high-speed DMA (direct memory access) techniques, the image processor fetches graphic display instructions from a display file held in the host computer's memory, interprets these instructions and fills the image memory with the appropriate display data. The sync generator scans the image memory and converts the data into the appropriate form for display on the system monitor.

microprocessors

and microsystems .3

the authoritative international journal on microcomputer technology and applications for designers. Now ten issuesa year Further details, including subscription rates from: Christine Mullins, Microprocessors and Microsystems, PO Box 63, Westbury House, Bury Street, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5BH, England. Telephone: 0483 31261

Telex: 859556 SCITEC G

volume 12 number 5 september 1980

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Once a picture has been loaded into the VSVl 1/VS11 image memory, no further load is presented to the host computer or its data bus. A single LSI-11, PDP-11 or VAX-11/780 can, therefore, support many display systems. Picture refresh is performed automatically by the VSVl 1/VS11. As standard, DEC offers two monitors with the VSVl 1/VSl 1: a 12in monitor for black and white graphics, and 19in high-resolution colour monitor. A VT100 keyboard is supplied with each display. The output of the VSVl 1/VSl 1 can be connected to standard commercial television monitors of any size or manufacture (monochrome or colour) and other TV equipment. The VSV11/VSl 1 is supported by Digital's RSX-1 lS, RSX-11M and VAX/VMS operating systems. (Digital

Equipment Co Ltd, King's Road, Reading, Bet'ks, UK. Tel: Reading

583555)

Virt

grat

s

Developed for in-house use at BellNorthern Research, VGM (Virtual Graphics Machine) can be easily adapted to all mainframes and all terminal types. Totally incorporating the CORE system as defined by the Graphics Standards Planning Committee (GSPC)ofACM SIGGRAPH, this software package addressesthe portability problems previously associated with graphics software. Currently implemented on the DEC system 20 and IBM 3033, in ANSI FORTRAN, it includes a PLOT10 interface, for immediate conversion of existing applications packages. In addition to CORE, VGM incorporates an optional higher level command set, to provide both generalpurpose and application-specific commands, for applications ranging from architecture to business graphics. Lines, arcs, polygons and conics, as well as character strings, drawn to user-specified sizes and orientations, are all supported. These can be drawn in a choice of colour, in varying widths, either as solid lines or as user-specified combinations of dash/dot sequences. Areas may be filled and segments may be manipulated. The user can invoke any of these operations regard-

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less of device and VGM ensures a display. VGM handles storage-tube terminals, vector-refresh terminals "and rasterscan terminals as well as plotters. New device drivers can be written quickly. Input operations are flexible, and a user can switch between lightpen, digitizing mouse and joystick with relative ease. VGM can also support multiple terminals with different pictures from one application, or several different pictures on one screen.

The basic 2-D package for $5000 in the USA includes: source code, introductory manual, user's guide, implementation guide, skeleton driver, acceptance package, one device driver and 90 days of support. The options, starting at $450 include: extended support, additional driver, complete 3-D graphics, hidden-line removal, PLOT10 interface, GRAPPLE interface and businessgraphics. (Bell-

Northern Research, PO Box 3511, Station C, Ottawa, Canada KI Y 4H7. Tel." (613) 226-5400)

Archltectumteeqllmmri Interactive graphics systems designed for the architecture/engineering industry have been announced by Applicon. The A/E system and its applications software package BASE A/E, integrate into one system the design and drafting functions needed for architecture and engineering. Applications for the A/E system could include piping diagramming, layout and isometrics, electrical schematics and ladder diagramming; facility/plant layout and space management; and structural steel design, drafting and analysis. Using a dual-processor architecture, the system comprises a DEC PDP-11 working in tandem with Applicon's own 32-bit minicomputer. The system operates under DEC RSX-11M operating system. The A/E system is available with a full-colour video terminal as well as black and white video and storage-tube graphic display terminals.

AlE system from AppHcon Optional output devices include online flatbed and drum pen plotters.

(Applicon United Kingdom, Regent House, Heaton Lane, Stockport SK4 IDA, UK. Tel: 061-429 722Z Tx: 668697)

program for headers Flare headers are safety relief systems found in many refining and petrochemical complexes. TRI* FLARE now offers a rapid computer aid for this and similar tree-structured piping systems, such as cooling water return and condensate lines. Developed by CADCentre in partnership with Houston's AAA Technology and Specialties Co Inc, the program determines the flows throughout the header system and optimizes the

pipe diameter and hence the cost, Multiple casescan be considered and TRI*FLARE lists the results on a worst-case basis. Much engineering know-how has been built into the program which has its own physical properties databank. TRI*FLARE is available under licence or can be accessed on service bureaux.

(CADCentre, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HB, UK. Tel: (0223) 63125. Tx: 81420)

computer-aided design