<s>
Whitechapel	B-Device
Computer	I-Device
Works	I-Device
Ltd	I-Device
.	I-Device
(	O
WCW	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
computer	B-Device
workstation	I-Device
company	O
founded	O
in	O
the	O
East	O
End	O
of	O
London	O
,	O
United	O
Kingdom	O
in	O
April	O
1983	O
by	O
Timothy	O
Eccles	O
and	O
Bob	O
Newman	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
combined	O
investment	O
of	O
£1million	O
from	O
the	O
Greater	O
London	O
Enterprise	O
Board	O
( £	O
100,000	O
initially	O
)	O
,	O
venture	O
capital	O
companies	O
Newmarket	O
and	O
Baillie	O
Gifford	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Department	O
of	O
Trade	O
and	O
Industry	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
was	O
situated	O
in	O
the	O
Whitechapel	O
Technology	O
Centre	O
-	O
a	O
council-funded	O
high-technology	O
enterprise	O
hub	O
-	O
and	O
began	O
the	O
design	O
of	O
their	O
first	O
workstation	B-Device
model	O
in	O
August	O
1983	O
,	O
shipping	O
the	O
first	O
units	O
by	O
September	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
's	O
first	O
workstation	B-Device
model	O
was	O
the	O
MG-1	B-Device
(	O
named	O
after	O
the	O
Milliard	O
Gargantubrain	O
from	O
The	B-Application
Hitchhiker	I-Application
's	I-Application
Guide	I-Application
to	I-Application
the	I-Application
Galaxy	I-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
MG-1	B-Device
was	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
National	O
Semiconductor	O
NS32016	O
microprocessor	B-Architecture
,	O
with	O
512KB	O
of	O
RAM	O
(	O
expandable	O
to	O
8MB	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
1024	O
×	O
800	O
pixel	B-Algorithm
monochrome	B-Device
display	I-Device
,	O
a	O
10	O
,	O
22	O
or	O
45MB	O
hard	O
disk	O
,	O
800KB	O
floppy	O
drive	O
,	O
and	O
an	O
optional	O
Ethernet	O
interface	O
,	O
with	O
prices	O
stated	O
as	O
being	O
equivalent	O
to	O
$6975	O
for	O
the	O
10MB	O
hard	O
disk	O
system	O
,	O
$8250	O
for	O
the	O
22MB	O
system	O
and	O
$9500	O
for	O
the	O
45MB	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
there	O
was	O
no	O
distributor	O
in	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
,	O
the	O
MG-1	B-Device
was	O
sold	O
in	O
North	O
America	O
by	O
Cybertool	O
Systems	O
Ltd	O
.	O
from	O
1984	O
through	O
1986	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
MG-1	B-Device
employed	O
an	O
8MHz	O
32016	O
CPU	O
with	O
32082	O
memory	O
management	O
unit	O
(	O
MMU	O
)	O
and	O
32081	O
floating-point	O
unit	O
(	O
FPU	O
)	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
MMU	O
being	O
noted	O
in	O
a	O
1985	O
article	O
as	O
"	O
suffering	O
from	O
bugs	O
"	O
and	O
being	O
situated	O
on	O
its	O
own	O
board	O
providing	O
hardware	O
fixes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
deliver	O
the	O
machine	O
at	O
prices	O
closer	O
to	O
personal	O
computers	O
than	O
contemporary	O
workstations	B-Device
(	O
such	O
as	O
Sun	O
,	O
Apollo	O
and	O
Perq	O
)	O
,	O
design	O
techniques	O
from	O
the	O
personal	O
computer	O
industry	O
were	O
adopted	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
single	O
eight-layer	O
system	O
board	O
being	O
used	O
to	O
hold	O
the	O
CPU	O
and	O
other	O
integrated	O
circuits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initially	O
,	O
NatSemi	O
's	O
Genix	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
described	O
as	O
being	O
based	O
on	O
Unix	O
System	O
III	O
with	O
4.1BSD	O
enhancements	O
,	O
or	O
just	O
4.1BSD	O
,	O
was	O
provided	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
during	O
1985	O
,	O
Genix	O
was	O
replaced	O
on	O
the	O
MG-1	B-Device
by	O
a	O
port	O
of	O
4.2BSD	O
called	O
42nix	O
and	O
augmented	O
with	O
the	O
Oriel	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
to	O
give	O
a	O
reported	O
factor	O
of	O
six	O
performance	O
improvement	O
in	O
graphics	O
performance	O
,	O
Oriel	O
being	O
partially	O
kernel-based	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
improve	O
responsiveness	O
and	O
reduce	O
the	O
latency	O
observed	O
with	O
contemporary	O
Unix	O
systems	O
,	O
the	O
mouse	O
position	O
was	O
tracked	O
using	O
a	O
dedicated	O
processor	O
which	O
also	O
monitored	O
the	O
keyboard	O
for	O
events	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
form	O
of	O
hardware	O
mouse	O
pointer	O
was	O
used	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
pointer	O
bitmap	O
being	O
stored	O
in	O
its	O
own	O
64-pixel	O
buffer	O
as	O
a	O
kind	O
of	O
overlay	O
,	O
this	O
being	O
combined	O
with	O
the	O
main	O
display	O
image	O
to	O
produce	O
the	O
final	O
screen	O
image	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
machine	O
also	O
featured	O
a	O
"	O
soft	O
power	O
switch	O
"	O
similar	O
to	O
that	O
provided	O
by	O
the	O
Apple	B-Device
Lisa	I-Device
(	O
and	O
also	O
the	O
slightly	O
later	O
Torch	O
Triple	O
X	B-Operating_System
)	O
which	O
initiated	O
"	O
an	O
orderly	O
UNIX	O
shutdown	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Realising	O
that	O
the	O
price	O
of	O
the	O
MG-1	B-Device
,	O
at	O
around	O
£5	O
,	O
495	O
,	O
would	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
reflected	O
in	O
the	O
physical	O
appearance	O
of	O
the	O
MG-1	B-Device
,	O
Whitechapel	O
engaged	O
industrial	O
designers	O
Fether	O
&	O
Partners	O
to	O
produce	O
a	O
design	O
for	O
the	O
different	O
units	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WCW	O
went	O
into	O
receivership	O
in	O
1986	O
,	O
but	O
were	O
soon	O
revived	O
as	O
Whitechapel	B-Device
Workstations	I-Device
Ltd	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
new	O
company	O
,	O
described	O
as	O
"	O
a	O
briefly	O
flowering	O
UK-based	O
UNIX	B-Device
workstation	I-Device
company	O
that	O
shipped	O
the	O
first	O
MIPS	O
desktop	O
computers	O
in	O
1987	O
"	O
,	O
initially	O
announced	O
the	O
MG-300	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
MIPS	B-Device
architecture	I-Device
with	O
a	O
performance	O
rating	O
of	O
8	O
to	O
10	O
million	O
instructions	O
per	O
second	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
strategy	O
to	O
pursue	O
sales	O
in	O
the	O
US	O
market	O
via	O
original	O
equipment	O
manufacturers	O
and	O
value-added	O
resellers	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
company	O
's	O
management	O
having	O
been	O
reconstituted	O
to	O
include	O
"	O
one-half	O
new	O
and	O
one-half	O
old	O
staff	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
MG-300	O
model	O
was	O
subsequently	O
launched	O
as	O
the	O
Hitech-10	O
,	O
featuring	O
the	O
MIPS	B-Device
R2000	I-Device
processor	O
,	O
this	O
being	O
followed	O
by	O
the	O
Hitech-20	O
with	O
a	O
MIPS	B-Device
R3000	I-Device
processor	O
,	O
subsequently	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
Mistral-20	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
ran	O
the	O
UMIPS	B-Operating_System
variant	O
of	O
UNIX	O
,	O
with	O
either	O
X11	B-Operating_System
or	O
NeWS-based	O
GUIs	B-Application
,	O
and	O
were	O
aimed	O
at	O
computer	O
animation	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whitechapel	O
had	O
reportedly	O
sold	O
as	O
many	O
as	O
1,000	O
workstations	B-Device
from	O
its	O
first	O
range	O
,	O
these	O
having	O
been	O
"	O
particularly	O
successful	O
"	O
in	O
the	O
London	O
financial	O
industry	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
aiming	O
to	O
increase	O
production	O
levels	O
by	O
relocating	O
manufacturing	O
from	O
the	O
UK	O
to	O
West	O
Germany	O
.	O
</s>
