Implementation of a distributed interactive graphics system

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · Int. J. Supercomput. Appl.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/109434208700100406· OSTI ID:6984801

Choi, D; Levit, C

The design, implementation, and performance of a distributed interactive graphics software system are described. The software is distributed between two machines with very different capabilities, a supercomputer (CRAY-2) and a graphics workstation (Silicon Graphics Iris). Both machines run the same operating system (UNIX) and are programmed by the user. Three-dimensional graphical transformations, display updates, the user interface, and related operations are handled by the graphics workstation, while computationally intensive operations and some graphics are performed by the supercomputer. Three versions of this distributed graphics system are described; one builds display lists on the supercomputer, one builds them on the workstation, and one does not build them at all. Communication between the two machines consists of a remote graphics protocol built on TCP/IP. The performance of two distributed graphics programs - a test case and an application from computational fluid dynamics - is reported, and the timing results are analyzed.

• Research Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (US)
• OSTI ID: 6984801
• Journal Information: Int. J. Supercomput. Appl.; (United States), Journal Name: Int. J. Supercomput. Appl.; (United States) Vol. 1:4; ISSN IJSAE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990210* -- Supercomputers-- (1987-1989)
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
COMPUTERS
CRAY COMPUTERS
DATA PROCESSING
DESIGN
DIGITAL COMPUTERS
DISTRIBUTED DATA PROCESSING
EQUIPMENT INTERFACES
MAN-MACHINE SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE
PROCESSING
PROGRAMMING
SUPERCOMPUTERS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS