Fatal Flaw
Unfortunately the new leftmost-rightmost algorithm had a fatal flaw. In high-contention cases the "middle" units would never be serviced, and could stall for thousands of cycles. By 1989 it was clear this was going to need a redesign, but by this point other machines with similar price/performance ratios were coming on the market and the pressure was on to ship immediately. The first two machines were shipped to Caltech and the University of Colorado at Boulder in November 1989, but there were no other immediate sales. One sample ES-1 is in storage at the Computer History Museum.
Evans resigned from the E&S board in 1989, and suddenly the votes turned against continuing the project. E&S looked for a buyer who was interested in continuing the effort, but finding none they instead closed the division in January 1990.
Read more about this topic: Evans & Sutherland ES-1
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