Hi all,
We have two related problems that we somehow believe not to be unique.
At our department the demand for work places (i.e. screen + keyboard)
is somewhat out of sync with the demand for computing power so that at
some times we have more computers than we can place on desks and at
other times we are simply out of screens.
1) So, is it possible to attach more than one screen (with keyboard
and mouse) to an alpha and have them act independently (as if we
actually had more computers). I understand that you can put several
graphic cards in, but is it possible to hook up several keyboards to
one computer and make the computer associate them with different
screens?
2) The other problem is that for reasons of reliable electricity and of
cooling (and noise!) we try to keep the computers in the computer hall
instead of in the offices. Now, the video signal from the graphics
card doesn't travel far enough to pull the screens out far enough for
more than a few offices, closest to the computing hall. We have been
tinkering with the idea of building a video signal amplifier, but it
seems (to the lay man) somewhat more conservative to pull the digital
signals that go into the video card (from the bus) out and amplifying
them, rahter than amplifying analogue signals. I believe I have seen
Suns with graphic cards integrated into the screens where the graphic
signal was brought in digital form over ethernet (or similar) from
some distant computer hall where the actual boxes were stacked. Is
there something similar for alphas? Did anyone think about or solve
this problem before?
Many thanks in advance,
Simon.
Simon Tardell, voice +46 8 162688 fax +46 8 347817
Fysikum, Stockholms universitet simon_at_physto.se, tardell_at_particle.kth.se
Received on Sun Feb 18 1996 - 22:51:34 NZDT