The G364 framebuffer was a line of

graphics adapter A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer mo ...

s using the SGS Thomson INMOS G364 colour video controller, produced by INMOS (known for their

transputer The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. ...

and eventually acquired by SGS Thomson and incorporated into

STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics N.V. commonly referred as ST or STMicro is a Dutch multinational corporation and technology company of French-Italian origin headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva, Switzerland and listed on the French stock market. ST ...

) in the early 1990s. The G364 included a

RAMDAC A random-access memory digital-to-analog converter (RAMDAC) is a combination of three fast digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with a small static random-access memory (SRAM) used in computer graphics display controllers or video cards to store ...

and a 64-bit interface to

VRAM Video random access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a computer monitor. This is often different technology than other computer memory, to facilitate ...

graphical memory to implement a

framebuffer A framebuffer (frame buffer, or sometimes framestore) is a portion of random-access memory (RAM) containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It is a memory buffer containing data representing all the pixels in a complete video frame. Moder ...

, but did not include any hardware-based graphical acceleration other than a hardware cursor function. The G364 was largely similar in design and functionality to the G300 framebuffer, but had a 64-bit VRAM interface instead of the slower 32-bit interface of the lower-price G300. The INMOS G364 is quite similar to the G332 found on the Personal DECstation and Dell PowerLine 450DE/2 DGX Graphics Workstation. Although the G364 was capable of providing comparatively high resolution output (up to 1600×1200

pixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the ...

at 8 bits-per-pixel, in many cases) typically achieved only in

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

workstations A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''worksta ...

such as those of

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...

or SGI, it was not a popular chipset for the

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tech ...

manufacturers of the early 1990s and was not adopted by any major workstation manufacturers. The G364 framebuffer was used in an after-market

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

graphics card, and as the primary graphics system sold with the MIPS Magnum 4000 series of MIPS-based

Windows NT Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing and multi-user operating system. The first version of Wi ...

workstations. Amiga cards based on the G364: * EGS SPECTRUM 110/24 * Rainbow III * Visiona Paint (G300) The G332 found use in the State Machine G8 and Computer Concepts Colour Card for the

Acorn Archimedes Acorn Archimedes is a family of personal computers designed by Acorn Computers of Cambridge, England. The systems are based on Acorn's own ARM architecture processors and the proprietary operating systems Arthur and RISC OS. The first models ...

range of personal computers, these providing a secondary framebuffer to which the main display memory was copied periodically, also offering a broader 24-bit palette for all graphics modes including individually programmable colours for 256-colour modes. The capabilities of the G332 were reported as being "almost identical" to the ARM VIDC20 that was announced at the time these adapter cards became available.

References

External links

INMOS The Graphics Databook, Second edition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inmos G364 Framebuffer Graphics cards Advanced RISC Computing Amiga

See also

References

External links