Graphics meeting report
RFC 282
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RFC - Unknown
(December 1971; No errata)
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2013-03-02
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RFC 282 (Unknown)
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Network Working Group M. A. Padlipsky
Request for Comments: 282 Project MAC
NIC: 8164 December 8, 1971
GRAPHICS MEETING REPORT
The second Network Graphics Group Meeting was convened at the
Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab at 6:00p.m. Sunday, November
21st. (Attendees are listed in the Appendix.) Jim Michener served
as chairman, and I either volunteered or was volunteered to serve as
recording secretary, with Karl Kelly's assistance in keeping notes.
An agenda was agreed upon for the meeting, covering three major
topics: 1) reports on the experiments which had been set up at the
July meeting, 2) prepared talks by attendees who had general points
to raise about Network Graphics, and 3) specification of a "first-
pass" graphics protocol. Before the reports were given, some general
discussion was held on two important topics: the "context" problem
(just how, in the Network sense, are graphics connections
established, and who is supposed to do what for whom), and what might
be called the "console types" problem (should there be a separate
protocol for inherently static storage tube type devices and one for
inherently interactive refresh type devices which have their own
processors, or can we come up with some sort of continuous -- or
layered -- single protocol which covers both). Both points were
noted as being necessary to keep in mind for the protocol
specification phase of the meeting, an apparent consensus emerged
that a single protocol would be preferable, and the reports on
experiments were turned to.
REPORTS ON EXPERIMENTS
RAND - UCSB
Eric Harslem of RAND and Ron Stoughton of UCSB reported on their
experiment, which entailed use of the UCSB On-Line System (OLS) from
RAND Videographics terminals. As demonstrated by a videotape which
was shown, the experiment was successful. An RFC describing the
simple protocol they used is forthcoming. As noted in their
discussion and in the RFC, the experimental protocol is not being
proposed as a Network standard. In addition to using OLS from RAND,
a subsidiary experiment tested the sensitivity of the hook-up to
variations in the size of the allocations (in the Host-to-Host
Protocol sense) given at the RAND end. It seemed clear from the
videotape of the same pictures being drawn at various allocation
levels that larger allocations allow for noticeably smoother
Padlipsky [Page 1]
RFC 282 Graphics Meeting Report December 1971
"drawing" at maximum allocation, the picture essentially appeared all
at once, whereas at minimum allocation, NCP-NCP overhead was
sufficiently large that the picture appeared a portion at a time.
SDC - DMCG
An experiment intended to input tablet data collected at MIT Project
MAC's Dynamic Modeling/Computer Graphics Group's PDP-10 to a
character recognizer package at SDC was reported on by Jean Saylor of
SDC and Jim Michener of DMCG. Problems ranging from
hardware/software difficulties at both ends (and in the middle) to
time zone-induced system availability conflicts retarded the
experiment's progress, although some transmission of data has been
achieved.
ILLINOIS MULTICS
Also plagued with problems was the attempt to drive a console at U.
of Ill. from the Multics Graphics System. This experiment was
reported on by Jack Bouknight (Illinois) and Ed Meyer (Multics). An
NCP bug at the Multics end and a machine switch at the Illinois end
combined to prevent the carrying out of the experiment.
DIGRESSION
During his report, Bouknight expressed concern as to whether the
Network as a whole is as yet sufficiently reliable to support
graphics work. As the ensuing discussion focused on the frequent
unavailability of a host other than Multics, I feel that it is within
my province to draw the curtain of anonymity over it without
prejudice. However, I feel that mention of the discussion need not
be suppressed as well, in view of the fact that most of the attendees
shared Jack's concern. The apparent consensus, reached after
considerable conversation, is that the present reliability level of
the Network server hosts is not crippling to graphics work, but can
be quite hampering.
SEX - NIC
Jon Postel (UCLA) and John Melvin (SRI) gave the last experiment
report, on an attempt to make an IMLAC on the SEX system look like a
local NLS console at the Network Information Center. The experiment
has not yet been performed, but UCLA has ordered the necessary
equipment to modify their IMLAC.
Padlipsky [Page 2]
RFC 282 Graphics Meeting Report December 1971
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