Fantastic video and work! The immense boards and 3D molecular software are very impressive! Marc
> On Nov 25, 2018, at 6:42 AM, Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctech > <cct...@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > Now that my mousepad problem has been solved, and I have a fully working > Ardent Titan with some interesting software on it – the bundled version of > MATLAB, and BIOGRAF, a molecular modeling application – I decided to make a > short video about this system in which I show the hardware and demonstrate > some of the software: https://youtu.be/tMSnnt3iFz0 > > > > For those who haven’t heard of the system; the 1987 Ardent Titan (later > renamed the Stardent 1500) was the first system that combined vector > processors (as in a Cray-like architecture) and a graphics engine on the same > backplane, and was the highest-performing graphics supercomputer for a short > while. In the end, however, a longer than planned time to market and a forced > merger with Stellar Computer caused the premature demise of the company. > > > > Cleve Moler, the inventor of MATLAB, worked at Ardent for three years, which > is one of the reasons the Titan was the only computer ever to come with > MATLAB as part of its bundled software. As I found out later – after creating > this video – the version of MATLAB on the Titan was unique, because it > included a “render” command, which would plot a 3D surface using the Doré > graphics library. On other platforms, MATLAB could only render mesh plots. It > wasn’t until 1992 that the mainstream version of MATLAB gained 3D surface > rendering. > > > > Cleve wrote a number of articles on his blog about the Titan, one of which > (https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2013/12/09/the-ardent-titan-part-2/) > describes how the Titan was used to create a video of a vibrating L-shaped > membrane. With a little help from Cleve, I’m trying to recreate this video. A > first effort – which isn’t quite right yet – can be seen here: > https://youtu.be/-XeabDqRAG8 > > > > I hope some of you enjoy these! > > > > Camiel > > > > >
