INMOS G364 framebuffer
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2022) |
The G364 framebuffer was a line of graphics adapters using the SGS Thomson INMOS G364 colour video controller,[1] produced by INMOS (known for their transputer and eventually acquired by SGS Thomson and incorporated into STMicroelectronics) in the early 1990s. The G364 included a RAMDAC and a 64-bit interface to VRAM graphical memory to implement a framebuffer, 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.[2]
Although the G364 was capable of providing comparatively high resolution output (up to 1600×1200 pixels at 8 bits-per-pixel, in many cases) typically achieved only in Unix workstations such as those of Sun Microsystems or SGI, it was not a popular chipset for the personal computer manufacturers of the early 1990s and was not adopted by any major workstation manufacturers.
The G364 framebuffer was used in an after-market Amiga graphics card, and as the primary graphics system sold with the MIPS Magnum 4000 series of MIPS-based Windows NT 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 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.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ INMOS The Graphics Databook, Second edition (PDF). SGS-THOMSON. 1990. pp. 171–203. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
- ^ "NEXTSTEP for Intel Processors Release 3.3 Dell DGX (JAWS) Display Driver Overview". Retrieved 17 April 2023.
Supported Components: INMOS IMS-G332
- ^ Bell, Graham (January 1993). "More than a shade better". Acorn User. pp. 61–63. Retrieved 3 March 2021.