Category Archives: Graphics

Another Vermont Microsystems Board

My junk pile turned out to contain another board by Vermont Microsystems, Inc. (VMI), probably no less exotic than the mystery board. This one is a Microchannel board built around an Intel 82786. An in this case, VMI was kind … Continue reading

Posted in Graphics, PC hardware | 19 Comments

Have You Seen These Cards?

While cataloging my junk pile, I came across two graphics cards that I could not identify. Both are high-end ISA graphics accelerators from the early 1990s and both utilize Texas Instruments GPUs (long before the term “GPU” was first used, … Continue reading

Posted in Graphics, PC hardware | 38 Comments

ISA bus 8514/A?

During the development of the 8514/A, IBM clearly had ISA-based adapters. A proof of this may be found in the source code for the Windows 2.x setup program (part of the Binary Adaptation Kit, or BAK), which among other things … Continue reading

Posted in Graphics, IBM, PC hardware, Windows | 7 Comments

The XGA Graphics Chip

After covering the 8514/A and its clones, it’s only appropriate to write a few words about the XGA (eXtended Graphics Array), IBM’s final attempt at establishing a PC graphics hardware standard. The XGA was introduced on October 30, 1990, about … Continue reading

Posted in Graphics, IBM | 5 Comments

S3 Graphics Accelerators and the 8514/A

The previous article about the IBM 8514/A graphics accelerator and clones did not mention S3’s chips because S3-based graphics cards were never 8514/A compatible, unlike the ATI Mach 8 and Mach 32 chips and others. However, the relationship between S3 … Continue reading

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The 8514/A Graphics Accelerator

On April 2, 1987, when IBM rolled out the PS/2 line of personal computers, one of the hardware announcements was the VGA display chip, a standard that has lasted for 25 years and counting. While the VGA was an incremental … Continue reading

Posted in ATi, Graphics, IBM, PC hardware | 29 Comments