carson@mu.rice.edu (Jim Carson) (01/16/90)
I'm taking computer system design course and the project I have been assigned
is to design a video board to be used on a SPARC-based multiprocessor
workstation. I have been having problems finding suitable references on the
subject and would appreciate any help given.
Specifications:
o The board is to be IEEE Futurebus (or Futurebus+) compatible.
o The board will have two frame buffers: an eight-bit color frame
buffer a separate black and white frame buffer.
+ Both frame buffers will be capable of simultaneous and
independent operation.
+ Both will include video output circuitry capable of supporting
1280 x 1024, 60 hertz, non-interlaced monitors.
+ Both will support BitBlt and possibly fast vector drawing.
o The color buffer should contain an additional overlay plane of
one bit depth, and should be capable of modular expansion to
24-bit color in increments of eight bits.
o The video card should also interface to the keyboard and pointing
devices.
o The video board should include hardware cursor support.
I have lots of literature on the SPARC and the Futurebus book is on order.
In the meantime, I am looking for references so I can have a better idea
of how the whole board will look. It was suggested that I check out the
Texas Instruments 34420, Intel 860 and Motorola 65536 (65335?) chips.
Does anyone have opinions on these?
Any opinions and suggestions would be appreciated.
Jim Carson Dept of Electrical & Computer Engineering
carson@rice.edu Rice University, Houston, TX 77252
..!uunet!rice!mu!carson Lat: 29 43'N, Long: 95 26'Wdavidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (01/16/90)
In article <4271@brazos.Rice.edu> carson@rice.edu (Jim Carson) writes: | o The video card should also interface to the keyboard and pointing | devices. This strikes me as a particularly non-modular thing to do... at least if you meant that these devices should go through the video board to get to the CPU. I realize this is a project rather than a product, but it still seems strange unless there will be some direct interraction without using the CPU. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me