Peter:

Re my previous msg: the vis5d doc says:

"Note that on systems which don't have 3-d graphics hardware
or OpenGL, all 3-d rendering is done in software using Mesa
(an OpenGL work-alike). Be aware that software rendering is
rather slow. 3-d graphics hardware is recommended."

This sounds like I need both OpenGL and 3-d graphics hardware
for fast 3-d hardware rendering.

The OpenGL at hao announcement from Leonard says:
"The implementation which we are installing is called "Mesa".  
It is a free implementation of OpenGL 1.1.  The API is very 
similar to OpenGL."

Does this mean we have only Mesa GL, not OpenGL proper? If so
that might mean 3-d rendering in vis5d would be in software 
even if we do have 3-d graphics hardware.

I recall from CAG meeting that only 1 of the 3 tiso upgrades
(the one to go in the cedar analysis room) was part of the
10 Sparc20 Sun promo machines, so we can choose sparc5 or
sparc20 for the remaining 2 machines bought w/ Ray's ONR money.
If $$ is an issue, only 1 of these would need to have the 3d
hardware.

I can't remember which machine you had decided on, but the info
I have indicates that the Sparc5S24 does *not* have 3-d graphics
so we should go w/ sparc5ZX, sparc20ZX, or sparc20SX. The lit I
got from Leonard does *not* include OpenGL in the list of "Graphics 
Software Interfaces" supported by the sparc20SX, so if that is
true I would think the ZX buffer would be best (however, this info
is dated Nov 95, so yours is more up to date).

--Ben