DOCID 4010025 Hardware Review Defining a new standard for workstation computing Computer The R535 P L The NeXT Computer is the product of Steve Job's endeavors since leaving Apple Computer It was designed after interviews with numerous universities and research organizations on what their needs and desires were for workstation computing Initially it was to be offered only to educational institutions arrangements have since been made to market it commercially through Businessland Computers The computer embodies new and diverse technologies which have the potential to define a new standard for high performance low-cost interactive workstation computing In sum it appears to offers a refreshing alternative to many workstation solutions which seem to stress only computational performance This paper discusses the important features of the NeXT Computer and will attempt to assess the impact of this technology on Agency applications It will present the important hardware features that were designed into the architecture and how they could be exploited it will the describe robust and dynamic software environment which appears at first glance to be superior to others currently on the market today and finally it will speculate on the significance of this technology for NSA computing architecture l' a high resolution 1120x832 17 2-bit deep monochrome display SCSI peripheral interface 5 25 winchester disk and keyboard with mechanical mouse Though there are many vendors who sell systems with the same basic components they do not offel' the additional hardware features that the NeXT machine provides These features allow for significant functionality not typically included by competitors in standard units MAGNETO-OPTICAL DISK DRIVE The NeXT C jmputer incorporates a magnetooptical disk drive which provides a removable optical disk with up to 256 megabytes of data This is the first instance of optical technology incorporated into the base platform of workstations The drive is slow by comparison to winchester disk technology 96-ms average seek time as compared to 18-ms average times for 5 25 winchester drives but the increased capacity on a random access removable medium is very impressive The complete operating system very rich with bundled software is available on one optical disk The disks are rather expensive about $50 00 per disk but that will probably decline as the device becomes more popular INTEGRATED AUDIO HARDWARE At first glance the NeXT Computer looks just like any other UNIX-based technical workstation It consists of a 25 Mhz Motorola 68030 CPU with a Motorola 68882 floating point unit an Ethernet interface with TCPIIP and Network File System NFS 4-6 Megabytes of RAM memory 32-bit NuBus system bus with 4 slots It provides for high quality audio input and playback with a built-in microphone jack that accepts a high impedance microphone signal The microphone jack is connected to an analogto-digital converter known as the CODEC The CODEC converter produces 8-bit mulaw-encoded samples at a sample rate of 8 kHz CODEC CRYPTOLOG page 21 FOR OFFUJlt 1 lJSIi l ONI JPY 3rd Issue 1989 86-36 4010025 input is roughly equivalent to telephone quality speech and is suitable for a number of sound applications such as voice mail where limiting the size of sound objects is important applications this becomes a serious performance problem which vendors usually address by higher bandwidth busses faster CPU clock cycles and somewhat faster I O controllers While incremental gains are made it still can be a bottleneck especmlly when considering signal or image processing applications NeXT decided that a major emphasis would be to significantly improve sustained system throughput To accomplish this within the defined architecture required two special I O processors whose function was to offload as The NeXT Computer also integrates a Digital much I O from the CPU as possible These two Signal Processor 20 MHz Motorola DSP56001 custom VLSI chips- manage the SCSI interface to process high-quality stereo sound Its the optical disk drive including error-correction primary function is to minimize system the serial ports and the Ethernet logic overhead while processing sound but it can also transfers be programmed to process any type of digital data including signal filtering or image data To make efficient use of these components The DSP can record and play back up to 44 1 kHz samples per second in both the left and required custom DMA hardware between the CPU board and the I O processors There are right channels with 16-bit quantization The currently 12 DMA channels on the CPU board DSP can also process 24-bit image data and is able to perform multiple arithmetic functions on to facilitate I O throughput between devices and data within one instruction cycle of the DSP processors To attain designed performance rates required enhancing the RAM memory to Applications which require real-time data CPU data transfer rates The NeXT computer capture such as voice input can be effectively can perform these transfers in burst mode twice addressed with this processor as fast as other Motorola CPU-based systems The types of sound format currently supported under version 0 9 of the operating system are ERGONOMIC FEATURES The CODEC mu-law encoding is used to save storage space required for storing sound The mu-law encoding allows a 12-bit dynamic range to be stored in only 8-bits The 8-bit mu-Iaw encoded sample will yield the same amplitude resolution as a linear 12-bit sample 16-bit Linear mono or stereo 22 5 kHz or 44 1 kHz 16-bit linear mono 8 kHz 8-bit mu-Iaw mono 8 kHz 8-bit linear mono 22 5 kHz DSP load image was very conscious about the system size and ergonomic features The system consists of a I-foot cube a 17 monitor and a keyboard with a mechanical mouse The system has one power plug which takes standard 1l0-120V power and is sufficient to supply the complete For sound playback the system contains a system There is one 10 ft cable from the speaker built into the NeXT monitor with left system cube to the monitor and one cable from and right channel line-out jacks on the back of the monitor to the keyboard The cube to monitor cable provides power the video signal the monitor Sounds are sent to both the builtin speaker and to the stereo jacks during and audio signals for speaker output and playback microphone input The limited number of cables makes for quick and easy installation The keyboard has keys to control power to the VLSI I O PROCESSORS system video display intensity lighten and The custom VLSI processors handles I O between darken and audio volume This allows all the different system components NeXT studied system interaction to take place from the keyboard and for the remoting of the cube away workstation architectures and discovered that from the desktop if that is desired one significant limitation was in data throughput In most workstations the CPU is The hardware components are very cleanly interrupted to perform I O operations on the integrated into a compact yet expandable cube system bus including network transfer and Few systems available today offer the powerful storage medium interactions In I O-bound 3rd Issue 1989 NeXT CRYPTOLOG page F6R 6FFICIAL USJt3 6NLY 22 4010025 compute platform with the compact packaging that NeXT provides The ultimate criterion will be the effectiveness of the software interface in developing applications which advantage of the unique hardware THE NeXT SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT research communities This allows theNeXT Computer access to many existing applications and experienced personnel in these communities Second NeXT sought a smaller kernel eliminating functionality that was not pertinent for their environment They also preferred having the ability to extend the system without adding to the kernel which Mach allows Third with the major emphasis on maximizing data throughput the ability to share memory was extremely attractive And finally support for multiprocessing provides NeXT with the possibility of adding more processors to its cube there are three unused bus slots without having to rewrite the operating system The software environment provides an exciting first glance at the future for operating systems and the users' interaction with the system NeXT has pushed the state of the industry by providing one of the first commercial offerings of the MACH operating system It includes several important third party development tools and a user interface with development toolkits to assist in faster application development The Even though the emphasis is placed on Mach the user's perception will still be that the net effect is a dynamic extensible and robust operating system is UNIX The many traditional environment which will appeal to both methods for UNIX hackers to interact are programmers and users provided including the structure and access to the file system When interacting with the We will discuss the software in three phases operating system the commands behave as a the Mach operating system the NextStep Berkeley UNIX system including the network environment and two of the application toolkits support for remote operations NeXT was able to which are available for development take advantage of the work pioneered at Sun Microsystems with the Network File System and THE MACH OPERATING SYSTEM the Yellow Pages utilities to ease the integration into existing network environments The Mach operating system was developed in 1986 at Carnegie Mellon University It was NeXTStep USER ENVmONMENT originally intended as a multiprocessor operating system compatible with Berkeley 4 3 NeXT believes that powerful user interfaces are UNIX It has received significant backing from critical for systems of the nineties Its DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects proprietary interface called NextStep uses Agency the major funding source for this Display Postscript from Adobe systems for all effort It also developed a mechanism for text and graphics written to the display It making extensions to UNIX without adding to embodies a proprietary window system NeWS the kernel This allows for a smaller kernel similar to the Apple Macintosh in interaction base with system-specific functions executing and behavior which is currently not compatible outside the UNIX kernel It also provides with X-windows or any postscript-based window support for sharing memory between processes system This significantly improves performance when multiple processes are accessing large volumes There is a complete graphical interface to the of data In traditional UNIX these processes operating system and application toolkits would be copying data into each processs' Applications are invoked by double clicking with memory space before accessing In Mach the the mouse on displayed icons and window data is copied once into memory and copied manipulation is performed with the mouse again only when one of the processes attempts pointing to specific areas in the window The to modify it It has been claimed that Mach window system supports hiding applications outperforms UNIX by 15 to 25 percent because which transforms the process into an icon on of these modifications the lower part of the display where it continues to execute The application can be recalled by NeXT adopted Mach for several reasons First double clicking the icon Mach is based on Berkeley UNIX which is widely used in the academic and scientific 3rd Issue 1989 CRYPTOLOG page FOR OFFIGlA b YEll 9Jtll JPY 23 DOCID 4010025 Simplified file system riew dejallltJ Browser with expert view enahled y-si The NextStep environment also provides a directory browser which displays the contents of directories and subdirectories side-by-side as shown in Figure 1 The user selects an item with the mouse if it is a subdirectory its contents will be presented in the column to the right of the current column A graphical icon depicting the selected item is also displayed in the area immediately to the right of the columns A user can easily use this tool to navigate through directories looking for files Windows are manipulated from the border area along the top edge There can be several different icons within the border depending on the type of window used These icons allow for functions like window resizing moving the entire window pane to a new area on the screen or terminating the window Although it is not intuitive for novice users to immediately understand how to manipulate windows it is easy to learn and users very quickly become adept at window interaction The NextStep environment with release 0 9 can be customized by users using the preference tool This tool allows for setting user preferences for such things as key repeat rates mouse scaling etc through a graphical ' 3rd Issue 1989 o CRYPTOLOG o page 24 FeR eFFIGlAEa IJSB eNhY aCID 4010025 Preferences Panel interface and 3 yet it does not limit the complexity of interfaces that can be built APPLICATION TOOLKITS An interface designer builds the visual component of the user interface by picking a graphics object from a set of available objects and then dragging it to the interface building workspace Once an object is in the workspace one can modify it in various ways For example an object can be resized moved copied cut pasted grouped or ungrouped with other objects Grouped objects can all be set to the same size and can be moved together as a single block Tools are provided for aligning objects in rows columns or matrices A major advantage of the NeXT software environment is the inclusion of toolkits to aid developers in building applications on the NeXT Computer These toolkits consist of objectoriented function libraries which perform lowlevel object manipulation Developers use these functions to define new objects required for the application This process takes advantage of the desirable features of object-oriented programming namely extensibility and software reusability NeXT provides an object-oriented language ObjectiveC as part of the standard environment to encourage development with object-oriented programming Following are description of two toolkits provided Interface Builder The Interface Builder on the Next machine offers a powerful easy-to-use tool for constructing user interfaces It allows one to generate the visual component of a user interface without typing a single line of code The interface designer selects graphics objects for the interface either from a set of defined objects or by creating a new graphics object A system for creating and adding new graphical objects is provided although the method is neither defined nor documented well Examples of available graphics objects are buttons slide bars text areas boxes switches fields windows and panels A pop-up menu can also be included in a user interface The Interface Builder also allows one to associate a sound or an icon with most graphics objects This can be done by dragging the 3rd Issue 1989 o CRYPTOLOG o page 25 FOR OFF1SIAb aSH ONLJPY I POClO 4010025 i I Sample ofsiandardioed panels sound or icon object onto the top of the target object The system comes with a set of predefined sounds and icons which can be customized Once an interface has been built it can be easily tested without the associated application This allows one to work on the user interface without worrying about the actual application A programmer and an end user can work together on the user interface for a project They can completely build and test an interface before formally designing and coding the 3rd Issue 1989 application A complex user interface can be bujlt in about five to ten minutes Graphical tools are provided for connecting an interface to an application A programmer specifies how the interface and application components are associated Then the Interface Builder uses this information to generate header and Objective-C codefiles These files may be manipulated as the application is debugged This toolkit as well as others automatically generate UNIX make files to allow for easy compilation of the finished product This is CRYPTOLOG page 26 FeR OFFIEURlAb aSE ON'bJPY DOCID 4010025 extremely useful for developers as they maintain and rebuild software during the development process maximum and minimum amplitudes There are also methods provided for scrolling and zooming in and out of a displayed sound object and selecting portions of a sound with the mouse Sound Toolkit Other Toolkits The Sound Kit for analyzing and manipulating acoustical data consists of two Objective-C classes Sound and SoundView and a wide array of C functions to allow software developers to access the NeXT sound facilities with a minimum of effort The Sound Kit software manages the details of OS communication data access and data buffering that are required during recording and playing sounds The Sound Kit provides the software developer with full access to the digitized samples of a sound object Using the C functions provided simple programs can be written to alter the pitch of a sound or change the playback speed of a sound In addition sounds can he played backwards looped end-to-end or divided into segments and reassembled in a different order There are even software tools provided to digitally splice and mix together different sound objects The Sound class provides the facilities to create and manipulate sound objects Sound objects are manipulated by sending messages to them For example the following lines of code are all that is necessary to create and record 5 seconds of sound Those are just two examples of the powerful toolkits which are available to developers with the NeXT Computer Others provided are the text search toolkit which allows large bodies of text to be keyword indexed searched or scapned for pattern matches the Music Kit which allows for the generation and manipulation of synthesized music the Application Kit to aid in object-oriented software development and database management software Sybase which provides the tools to build and access relational databases CONCLUSIONS The NeXT Computer has the potential to make significant advances in workstation computing within the Agency It offers the most sophisticated integration of hardware and the most advanced software environments all of which are included in the delivered system in the smallest cleanest packaging available today Many of the important tools will be available on final operating system completion Version 1 0 is expected about mid-summer How do we assess this technology The general feeling of the programmers in R535 who have Create a new sound used the NeXT Computer is very positive There id mysound Sound new l Record a sound' is an extensive library of robust applications mysound record We believe that rebuilding the prototypes wait 5 seconds developed on Suns and Apollos would be easier sleep S to do and functionally richer because we would Stop recording begin building the application at a higher level mysound stop But to take advantage of these functionally There are routines to record and play back a sound as well as to read and write sound files rich libraries probably requires that applications be developed in Objective-C This may be a Facilities are also available for basic editing operations such as deleting a portion of a sound problem for those without experience programming with object-oriented languages or inserting part of one sound into another though it is easy to learn in the NeXt step environment A second potential problem might The SoundView class is provided to display be performance-related if the application is not sound objects in a predefined Soundview designed with object-oriented principles The window Soundview windows can be built NeXT software environment continues to evolve using the Interface Builder Using the and with that evolution comes changes to the SoundView class sound objects can be displayed system Applications being developed with the as continuous waveforms such as you would see current 0 9 software release will not be objecton an oscilloscope or as an outline of its code compatible with software release 1 0 3rd Issue 1989 ' CRYPTOLOG ' page 27 FeR eFFICIAJ gl ii QHJ JPY DOCID 4010025 Westpark Hotel Rosslyn Virginia This is an excellent opportunity to meet mathematicians scientists and engineers in other government agencies to network with them and to gain some perspective A highlight of the conference R535 believes the NeXT Computer is appropriate is an exhibit of science projects developed by 9th and 10th grade female students for science for many' types of applications at the Agency fairs held at their schools These students It clearly competes with Apollo and Sun workstations for applications that do not require represent the future NSA women should encourage them to pursue careers in math color displays The tools for managing and and engineering by taking the time to science searching large volumes of text powerful view their projects and yes even recruiting database support and graphical tools for analysis make it appropriate for most analytic and reporting functions The DSP processor and Concurrent workshops will be held Monday through Wednesday and a science tour is audio capabilities with the processing power available make it ideal for signals processing scheduled for Thursday morning Cost for the and transcription operations The numerous full conference which includes three luncheons and an evening reception is $275 One-day fee tools for the software developer including is $135 and two-day fee is $150 both include automatic generation of make files make it appropriate for software development and all events of the day P L 86-36 maintenance The unique capabilities it offers allows for innovative concepts and ideas to be For further iMformation please call or write explored from the research perspective For Federal Women's Program these reasons the real usefulness of the NeXT Manager D8 OPS 2B 963-1103 or your local Computer has yet to be discovered Interest in FWP representative the Agency is growing In the near future we will have a much better idea of how effective FREE LISP MACHINE these machines can be within the Agency P16 is offering a free LISP machine available computing architecture for the taking This is a classic LMI Lambda REFERENCES system The package consists of one processor two terminals a 6250 tape drive software Denning Peter J and Karen A Frenkel A documentation and a support contract Conversation with Steve Jobs Communications Software releases after 1 0 are supposed to be object-code compatible with applications developed at the 1 0 release Developers should be aware of that if developing at 0 9 I of the ACM April 1989 Volume 32 No 4 Fisher Sharon Mach The New UNIX UNIXWORLD March 1989 vol VI No 3 Thompson Tom and Nick Baran The NeXT Computer BYTE November 1988 Vol 13 No 12 NeXT 0 9 1 0 Release Description April 1989 BULLETIN BOARD WISE NATIONAL CONFERENCE The Interagency Committee for Women in Science and Engineering will hold its ninth annual National Training Conference Monday through Thursday 26-29 March 1990 at the The machine can be viewed in the PI machine room accessed through 2NOOI or 2N018 For information call Steve 963-1103 WRITING AND EDITING CRYPTOLOG receives many brochures about conferences seminars and courses on writing and editing The topics include manuals online documentation presenting science to the public newsletters slide and vuegraph presentations proposals procedures pamphlets and brochures proofreading layout interactive instruction handbooks multimedia presentations and so on They are available for consultation as are the textbooks references handbooks and conference proceedings in CRYPTOLOG's library The materials may be consulte1 in 2NOJ 8 an appointment call the Editor 1 963-1103 page 28 POR OPPIOIAL USB ONLY 3rd Issue 1989 o CRYPTOLOG P L For 86-36                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu