Stumbled upon this, thought it would bring a wry smile to those rocking an 80s vintage silicon graphics.
http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/pgc.html
http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/pgc.html
r12 400 mapleleaf
New Zealand
IBM
Professional graphics card
r12 400 mapleleaf
New Zealand
You aren't kidding! Flat colored triangles and rectangles, and solid color lines only! It has a pattern capability, but no direct support for line stippling.
the IRIS did hardware lighting, shaded polys, depth cueing, triangle strips, and retained mode. I believe the PGA was only really a solution for CAD applications, whereas the IRIS was much better for all sorts of visualization.
the IRIS did hardware lighting, shaded polys, depth cueing, triangle strips, and retained mode. I believe the PGA was only really a solution for CAD applications, whereas the IRIS was much better for all sorts of visualization.
The PGC wasn't much of a solution for anything. Too expensive, too few pixels, way, way, WAY too slow. I'd read all that before, but was still surprised the first time I actually saw one working by just... how... slow... it was. It didn't make any sense, not even in '85.
To continue the amusement:
These guys share how they did 1k colours on CGA
http://www.reenigne.org/blog/1k-colours ... -its-done/
http://trixter.oldskool.org/2015/04/07/ ... emulators/
These guys share how they did 1k colours on CGA
http://www.reenigne.org/blog/1k-colours ... -its-done/
http://trixter.oldskool.org/2015/04/07/ ... emulators/
r12 400 mapleleaf
New Zealand
^^^ that is friggin' hardcore. Amazing work.
I saw the 8088MPH demo a few weeks ago, and didn't appreciate the 1K colo(u)rs because (a) I do not care about the CGA or whatever old dinosaur they were using; and (b) if it was such a brilliant hack I surely wouldn't have been able to understand it.
Demoscene stuff IMO is only a few steps above overclocking/synthetic benchmarking on the futility scale... Although I was fascinated by it when I was a kid.
(I think the shininess had worn off by the time I was 14-15)
However, after reading the description, not only can I see it's brilliance, I can actually understand it! (Kinda makes you wonder why IBM didn't have a high-color CGA mode like this, back in the day...)
NOW we just need an emulator that it will run in
Demoscene stuff IMO is only a few steps above overclocking/synthetic benchmarking on the futility scale... Although I was fascinated by it when I was a kid.
(I think the shininess had worn off by the time I was 14-15)
However, after reading the description, not only can I see it's brilliance, I can actually understand it! (Kinda makes you wonder why IBM didn't have a high-color CGA mode like this, back in the day...)
NOW we just need an emulator that it will run in
Google: Don't Be Evil.
Apple: Don't Be Greedy.
Microsoft: Don't Be Stupid.
Apple: Don't Be Greedy.
Microsoft: Don't Be Stupid.
guardian452 wrote: However, after reading the description, not only can I see it's brilliance, I can actually understand it! (Kinda makes you wonder why IBM didn't have a high-color CGA mode like this, back in the day...)
I was never into the demo scene either - that seemed to exist more on the Commodore/Amiga side, and I grew up on PCs and Macs. But I love the idea of squeezing every ounce of capability out of vintage hardware, and doing things the designers never imagined possible. Especially when you find super creative ways to do so, as these guys did.
It's completely futile of course, but then again as an SGI enthusiast I won't throw stones.
