@hyoenmadan I understand what you mean. An old saying, however, goes like this: The best tool is the tool that doesn't attract attention (or similar).
Like OS/2 did with its tragic biography, kind of. It was doing better behind the scene than in the public.
rasz_pl wrote on 2023-03-20, 02:53:
Jo22 wrote on 2023-03-19, 09:24:
bakemono wrote on 2023-03-19, 09:05:
8514/A was likely predated by cards with HD63484 or uPD7220 in offering hardware-based drawing capabilities for IBM-compatible PCs.
I don't think this is an accurate take. x87 doesn't have any functionality specific to graphics and can't do anything without the main CPU holding its hand.
Nearly anything you can name in the realm of 2D graphics that the x87 could participate in could be done as fast, or faster, using the CPU alone with fixed-point math or lookup tables.
Hm. If that was true, then the need for an x87 or Weitek in CAD/CAM fields never was a necessity.
it is true, FPU in CAD was used for rotation matrices bezier curves etc, math that goes before outputting to the screen. FPU doesnt help with actual putting pixels on the screen part at all.
Thank you for response, but you're not entirely correct on this one, I think.
Edit: Well, technically, you are. We're talking talk past each other here, I suppose.
Early games for IBM PC or DOS did use vector graphics at some point, like games did on C64 or Apple II.
Examples:
Sierra On-Line Hi-Res Adventures (#2: Adventure in Serenia aka Wizard and the Princess)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1761/hi-res-ad … d-the-princess/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8p7kIxwmVc
As well, as
Hi-Res Adventure #0: Mission Asteroid
Hi-Res Adventure #1: Mystery House
Hi-Res Adventure #3: Cranston Manor
Hi-Res Adventure #4: Ulysses and the Golden Fleece
Hi-Res Adventure #6: The Dark Crystal
Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1688/lane-mast … the-blubbermen/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wptDEDeEsCI
As well, as
Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1693/gamma-for … ousand-screams/
ZorkQuest: The Crystal of Doom
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1699/zorkquest … rystal-of-doom/
ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1694/zorkquest … -egreth-castle/
Oo-Topos
https://www.mobygames.com/game/148433/oo-topos/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1H2_tztiCQ
Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood
https://www.mobygames.com/game/7274/winnie-th … dred-acre-wood/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_the_Pooh … ndred_Acre_Wood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQZzp_gLLMs
As well, as
Mickey's Space Adventure
Donald Duck's Playground
Troll's Tale (name of the games engine, too)
I believe this is just the tip of an ice berg, also. Unfortunatelly, I'm not a great video game player. There's so much I haven't found out yet. 😅
To my understanding, a 2D or 3D accelerator is all about graphics primitives, not high-bandwidth transfers into the frame buffer. That's what a blitter is for (in my opinion).
It did take a while up until even Windows 3.x got blitting right. WinG - and DCI in particular do allow frame buffer access for video overlay.
That's why there was such a fuss about DCI capable drivers for a while, I think, back when Video CD/CD-i and Quick Time were a thing. Windows 95 replaced DCI (DCI32 never really made it, AFAIK).
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