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Semiconductor industry

Digital Equipment Corp. Introduces Starion Personal Computers

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Digital Equipment Corp. has introduced the Starion 400 and Starion 500 Pentium multimedia desktop computers, which feature Chips and Technologies' Wingine DGX 64300 graphics accelerator and the 82C721 universal peripheral controller. The new Starion family is targeted at the small office/home office (SOHO) market, representing one-third of all annual personal computer sales. The Starion systems bundle Lotus ScreenCam to support multimedia applications and provide users with application-specific ScreenCam screen demos.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Starion 400 and 500 models feature Chips and Technologies' Wingine DGX 64300 graphics accelerator, which provides superior graphics performance at a competitive price.
  • The Wingine DGX accelerator enables OEMs and add-in board makers to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, managing power consumption and reducing costs.
  • The CHIPS 82C721 universal peripheral controller is a proven single chip, software-configurable I/O solution, supporting features such as a floppy disk controller, digital data separator, UARTs, parallel port, and IDE interface control logic.
  • The new Starion family represents Digital's initial entry into the U.S. PC retail business, targeting the emerging small office and home computer market.
  • Digital Equipment's Starion systems aim to provide maximum performance on a tight budget, appealing to users seeking efficient and cost-effective solutions.

Statistics:

  • The Starion personal computer family represents one-third of all annual personal computer sales in the SOHO market.
  • The Wingine DGX accelerator is designed to enable OEMs and add-in board makers to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program.
  • The CHIPS 82C721 universal peripheral controller supports data transfer rates up to 500 Kb/sec.
  • The Wingine DGX chip incorporates a video cache technology, overcoming bandwidth limitations of traditional 32-bit DRAMs.
  • The Starion machines are targeted at a market where users want maximum performance while working on a tight budget.

Sources:

  • Digital Equipment Corp.
  • Chips and Technologies Inc.

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