Unix-based workstations for digital image processing and analysis

Abstract

The modern workstation, with its inherent high speed and massive memory, allows the use of complicated image analysis and processing algorithms and artificial intelligence programs not available to current PCs and mini-computers.There is no single feature that differentiates the UNIX based workstation from a PC. Rather, it is its fundamental design that gives the workstation superior performance. This superiority in no small part is the result of the UNIX operating system. UNIX is a word that sometimes strikes fear into the hearts of mortal men! There is no reason to fear, however. Users of UNIX-based systems have no more interaction with the operating system than say users of WordPerfect running on a MS-DOS or MAC OS machine.UNIX is the only operating system that runs on a wide range of systems from laptops to mainframes. It is unique in at least five areas: 1) massive data sets handling, 2) multitasking, 3) multi-user, 4) security, and 5) networking. Let me give you what I think are usable descriptions for these five areas.