Santa Clara, California-based Kubota Pacific Inc, the US subsidiary of Japan’s Kubota Computer Corp, has delayed the release of its plug-in graphics subsystem for the MIPS Computer Systems Inc R3000 RISC-based Titan 1.0 it sells, and the Digital Equipment Corp Alpha-based Titan 2.0 machine which it is readying. It was due to have been launched at this month’s Siggraph show in San Francisco, and Kubota attributes the delay to the over-optimistic attitude of management, and a too-tight timescale. However Kubota promises to demonstrate what it has of the subsystem at a series of private viewings during the show. Vice-president of marketing and sales Greg Hopwood says we’ll be showing whatever the engineers have ready. Whether it’s circuit boards or diagnostic imaging, there will be something on show. The graphics subsystem is built around custom chips and plugs into the TurboChannel of the host processor: it’s intended for the Alpha-based Titan 2.0 – a multi-processor graphics workstation – but it will also run on the MIPS R-seriesbased Titan 1.0. Kubota has at least half a dozen Alpha chips in the labs, but says it still has a long way to go before there is sufficient software support to bring out the Titan 2.0. The delayed Subsystem is now scheduled to be generally available in the first quarter of 1993.
