[comp.sys.amiga] Amiga 3000UX graphics

arutherf@ucs.adelaide.edu.au (Andrew Rutherford) (11/16/90)

I have noticed many people commenting on advertised multi-colour graphics
  screens on UNIX but only getting black & white in demo machines. Well, approx
  a month back I went to a demo here in South Australia, and was told there was
  a 24bit TIGA (Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture) board that had
  unfortunatly just been taken back to Sydney (great move, just before the
  official SA demo in front of half the systems people from Adelaide Uni.. I
  think they've all gone of the Amy now :-( ). Anyway, the flyer says the
  following:

2410 High Resolution Colour Graphics Card

This is a high resolution colour graphics card, for the Commodore Amiga 2000 and
3000 computers. This graphics card is based on a Texas Instruments Graphics
Architecture (TIGA) processor. The card couples the graphics system processor
with frame buffer and program/data memory, a palette chip and DMA circuit for
high speed data transfer between the graphics card and the AMiga. This card
works with the 1950 Monitor and XWindows under Unix. No AmigaDOS drivers are
supplied at this time.

Note it doesn't specify resolution or depth, but we were told 24 bits.
It only works with Amiga UNIX at this time.
The fact that it has a number and the C= rep's said they had it indicates it's
  not vapourware, but was in short supply a month back.

Hope this helps,
		Andrew.

--
Andrew Rutherford			arutherf@sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au
+61 8 228 4782		Real Programmers always confuse Christmas and Halloween
				because OCT 31 == DEC 25 !

hood@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Hood) (11/18/90)

In article <1861@sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au> arutherf@ucs.adelaide.edu.au (Andrew Rutherford) writes:
>I have noticed many people commenting on advertised multi-colour graphics
>  screens on UNIX but only getting black & white in demo machines. Well, approx
>  a month back I went to a demo here in South Australia, and was told there was
>  a 24bit TIGA (Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture) board that had
>  unfortunatly just been taken back to Sydney (great move, just before the
>  official SA demo in front of half the systems people from Adelaide Uni.. I
>  think they've all gone of the Amy now :-( ). Anyway, the flyer says the
>  following:
>
>2410 High Resolution Colour Graphics Card
>
>This is a high resolution colour graphics card, for the Commodore Amiga 2000 and
>3000 computers. This graphics card is based on a Texas Instruments Graphics
>Architecture (TIGA) processor. The card couples the graphics system processor
>with frame buffer and program/data memory, a palette chip and DMA circuit for
>high speed data transfer between the graphics card and the AMiga. This card
>works with the 1950 Monitor and XWindows under Unix. No AmigaDOS drivers are
>supplied at this time.
>
>Note it doesn't specify resolution or depth, but we were told 24 bits.
>It only works with Amiga UNIX at this time.
>The fact that it has a number and the C= rep's said they had it indicates it's
>  not vapourware, but was in short supply a month back.
>
>Hope this helps,
>		Andrew.
>
>--
>Andrew Rutherford			arutherf@sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au
>+61 8 228 4782		Real Programmers always confuse Christmas and Halloween
>				because OCT 31 == DEC 25 !

The A2410 Hires graphics card has a TI34010 on it and as stated above
uses the TIGA software.  The display is programmable and the most likely
off the self resolutions that will be available are:
1024x768: 256 on screen colors out of a palette of 16.8 million (24-bit)
1024x1024:  "    "       "           "               "           "
800x600:   "          "          "            "          "
640x480 (interlaced NTSC):       "              "         "         "
 
Note that the A2410 also can have three overlay planes on top of the 256
on-screen colors for three more on-screen colors.  The UNIX software can
directly use this board for color X-windows applications which makes for
a very nice display.
You can use this card with the 1950 monitor but only with the 800x600 or
lower display resolutions.  The other higher resolutions require
something like a NEC 4D or 5D monitor.

I hope this helps..

Regards,
Scott Hood

-- 
--
Scott Hood, Hardware Design Engineer (A3000 Crew),  Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!hood   hood@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com
  "The views expressed here are not necessarily those of my employer!" 

gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ralph Seguin) (11/18/90)

In article <15930@cbmvax.commodore.com> hood@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Hood) writes:
>The A2410 Hires graphics card has a TI34010 on it and as stated above
>uses the TIGA software.  The display is programmable and the most likely
>off the self resolutions that will be available are:
>1024x768: 256 on screen colors out of a palette of 16.8 million (24-bit)
>1024x1024:  "    "       "           "               "           "
>800x600:   "          "          "            "          "
>640x480 (interlaced NTSC):       "              "         "         "

I'd like to point out that 256 colors out of a 24 bit palette is BEAUTIFUL.
Not quite 24 bit, but VERY, VERY nice nevertheless.  At these kinds of
resolutions, 8 bits is great, 24 bit color is only needed in the most demanding
of applications.

>Note that the A2410 also can have three overlay planes on top of the 256
>on-screen colors for three more on-screen colors.  The UNIX software can
>directly use this board for color X-windows applications which makes for
>a very nice display.

Directly?  I'm assuming you mean via DIG (Device Independent Graphics).
Hmmm... That's interesting.  3 overlay planes huh?

>You can use this card with the 1950 monitor but only with the 800x600 or
>lower display resolutions.  The other higher resolutions require
>something like a NEC 4D or 5D monitor.

What are the scan rates for the various resolutions?  What modes are
interlaced?  I only saw the 640x480.  I have a NEC 3D.  Seems like I jumped
too soon for too little.  Should have shelled out the extra bucks for a
better monitor.

>I hope this helps..

This makes my day 8-)

>Regards,
>Scott Hood

>Scott Hood, Hardware Design Engineer (A3000 Crew),  Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
>   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!hood   hood@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com
>  "The views expressed here are not necessarily those of my employer!" 

seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) (11/20/90)

In-Reply-To: message from arutherf@ucs.adelaide.edu.au

 
I just got back from Amazing Computers in San Antonio, and they had a video
from Comdex.
 
On the tape was the A3000UX, with the A2410 (I'd been calling it the 2340). 
It looked really nice, and they were even running live video in a window.  The
interface (what I could see of it) looked just like Sun's version of Open
Look.
 
The A3000UX was configured with 9M of RAM (1M Chip, 8M Fast), a 200Mb hard
drive, the A2410 board, EtherNet, NFS and TCP/IP, etc.  The Commodore
spokesperson said about $5K for students.
 
The A2410 card displays 24bits at a resolution of 1024 x 800...I don't know if
you can use an A1950 moniter because they had it hooked up to what looked to
be a 16 or 19" Mitsubishi.  Very impressive.
 
Sean
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