@DATABASE GFXCARD @$VER: GFXCARD 1.2 (7/5/00) @AUTHOR P.J.Hutchison @REMARK "Guide for Amiga Graphics Cards" @NODE MAIN "Graphics Card Guide" @{u}Graphics Card Guide@{uu} by Peter J Hutchison May 2000 @{"1. A2410 Graphics Card" link CARD1} @{"2. Altais Graphics Card" link CARD2} @{"3. BlizzardVisionPPC Graphics Card" link CARD3} @{"4. CyberVision 64 Graphics Card" link CARD4} @{"5. CyberVision 64/3D Graphics Card" link CARD5} @{"6. CyberVisionPPC Graphics Card" link CARD6} @{"7. Domino Graphics Card" link CARD7} @{"8. Inferno Graphics Card" link CARD8} @{"9. Merlin Graphics Card" link CARD9} @{"10. OMniBus Graphics Card" link CARD10} @{"11. OpalVision Graphics Card" link CARD11} @{"12. Picasso II Graphics Card" link CARD12} @{"13. Picasso II+ Graphics Card" link CARD13} @{"14. Picasso IV Graphics Card" link CARD14} @{"15. Piccolo Graphics Card" link CARD15} @{"16. Piccolo SD64 Graphics Card" link CARD16} @{"17. Pixel 64 Graphics Card" link CARD17} @{"18. Retina BLT Z3 Graphics Card" link CARD18} @{"19. Spectrum 28/24 Graphics Card" link CARD19} @{"20. Color Burst Graphics Card" link CARD20} @{"21. Graffiti Graphics Card" link CARD21} @{"22. Rainbow II Graphics Card" link CARD22} @{"23. Rainbow III Graphics Card" link CARD23} @{"24. Spectrum 110/24 Graphics Card" link CARD24} @{"25. ParaGlide Voodoo" link CARD25} @{"CyberGraphX RTG Software" link CGFX} @{"Picasso 96 RTG Software" link P96} @{"EGS RTG Software" link EGS} @{"Warp3D Graphics Software" link W3D} @{"OpenGL/Mesa Software" link OGL} @ENDNODE @NODE CARD1 "A2410" Name: A2410 U.Lowell Tiga Supplier: Commodore Chip: Texas Instruments TMS34010 Memory: 2Mb + 1Mb Frame Buffer Resolution: 1024 x 1024 Colour: 256 + 3 from 16m palette Connection: Zorro II CGFX Compatible: Yes (v2, v3) P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: Yes Availability: Poor Comments: No linear mapped memory access. EGS Driver available on Aminet (gfx/board/EGS2410v20b17.lha) @ENDNODE @NODE CARD2 "Altais" Name: Altais Supplier: MS MacroSystem Computer Gmbh Chip: NCR 77C32BLT by Symbios Memory: 1, 4Mb Resolution: Colour: Connection: Draco Direct Bus CGFX Compatible: Yes (v2, v3) P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: No Availability: Q Good Comments: Used in Amiga-Compatible DraCo system. See @{"Retina 3" link CARD18} for Zorro version. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD3 "BlizzardVisionPPC" Name: BlizzardVisionPPC Supplier: Phase 5 Gmbh Chip: Texas Instruments TVP4020 (Permedia 2) 230Mhz RAMDAC Memory: 8Mb SGRAM Resolution: 1152 x 900 24 bit 1600 x 1200 16 bit Colours: 16 million Connection: A1200 BlizzardPPC local bus CGFX Compatible: Yes P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: No Price: 369 DM, 169 Euro Availability: Very Good Comments: Has 3D functions from its 3D Geometry Engine available via Warp3d. Can do upto 80 Mio 3D Pixels/sec or 1Mio. Polygons/sec. Amiga format rating 91% @ENDNODE @NODE CARD4 "CyberVision 64" Name: Cybervision 64 Supplier: Phase 5 Gmbh Chip: S3 Trio64 Memory: 2,4,8 Mb Resolution: 800 x 600 (256 colours) 1280 x 1024 (16m colours) Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro III only CGFX Compatible: Yes (v2, v3, v4) P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: No Prive: 698 DEM (2Mb), 898 DEM (4Mb) (1995 prices) Availability: Q. Good Comments: MPEG or JPEG modules available. Review available on Aminet (docs/rview/CyberVision64.txt). Buster 11 recommended. Poor documentation. Replaced by @{"CV 64/3D" link CARD5} @ENDNODE @NODE CARD5 "CyberVision 64/3D" Name: Cybervision 64/3D Supplier: Phase 5 Gmbh DCE Gmbh Chip: S3 ViRGE (Video & Rendering Graphics Engine) Memory: 4Mb Resolution: 800 x 600 24 bit 1280 x 1025 16 bit 1600 x 1200 8 bit Colours: 256, 32,000 or 16 million Connection: Zorro 2 or 3 CGFX Compatible: Yes (v3, v4) P96 Compatible: Yes (early alpha driver) EGS Compatible: No Availability: Q. Good Comments: Includes 3D functions, MPEG decoder option, Switch/Scan doubler, See @{"CV64" link CARD4} Replaced by @{"CV PPC" link CARD6} @ENDNODE @NODE CARD6 "CyberVisionPPC" Name: Cybervision PPC Supplier: Phase 5 Gmbh DCE Computers Gmbh Chip: Texas Instruments TVP4020 (Permedia 2) 230Mhz RAMDAC Memory: 8Mb SGRAM Resolution: 1152 x 900 24 bit 1600 x 1200 16 bit Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro 3 CGFX Compatible: Yes (v3, v4) P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: No Price: 399 DM, 179 Euro Availability: Very Good Comments: See @{"BVision" link CARD3} @ENDNODE @NODE CARD7 "Domino" Name: Domino Supplier: XPert Systems Chip: Tseng Labs ET4000 Memory: Resolution: Colours: Connection: Zorro II CGFX Compatible: Yes (v2,v3) P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: No Availability: Unknown Comments: VGA card. Quite slow. No onboard blitter (uses CPU). Mentioned in Retina review on Aminet. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD8 "Inferno" Name: Inferno Supplier: Chip: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446 Memory: Resolution: Colours: Connection: Zorro? CGFX Compatible: Yes (v2,v3) P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: No Availability: Unknown Comments: Uses same chip as Picasso IV. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD9 "Merlin" Name: Merlin Supplier: XPert Systems Chip: Tseng Labs ET4000W32 Memory: 2Mb, 4Mb Resolution: 680 x 576 24 bit 800 x 600 16 Bit Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II or III. CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: No Availability: Unknown Comments: Uses similar chip as the Domino. Board is unfinished before release requires fixes to solve them. FAQ available at http://member.aol.com/ ingiedel/merl_faq.txt @ENDNODE @NODE CARD10 "Omnibus" Name: oMniBus Supplier: Chip: Tseng ET4000 (ET4000W32) Memory: Resolution: Colours: Connection: Zorro? CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: No Availability: Unknown Comments: @ENDNODE @NODE CARD11 "OpalVision" Name: OpalVision Supplier: Centaur Development 4451-B Redondo Beach Blvd. Lawndale, CA 90260 Chip: Memory: Resolution: Colours: 16 million Connection: Video slot CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: Yes (?) Software: OpalPaint, Opal Presents!, Function key utility, Karate Game. Price: £1000 (1992 prices) Availability: Poor Comments: Review available on Aminet (docs/rview/OpalVision.txt) Utilities available on aminet (gfx/board, gfx/opal, dev/misc) @ENDNODE @NODE CARD12 "Picasso II" Name: Picasso II Supplier: VillageTronic/Expert Services 7559 Mall Road Florence, KY 40142 USA (http://www.villagetronic.com/amiga/) Chip: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5426 & CL-GD5428 Memory: 1 or 2Mb Resolution: 1600 x 1200 (max) Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II CGFX Compatible: Yes P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatilbe: No Availability: Q. Good Software: TV Paint Jr, MainActor, PicassoSwitch, StyxBlank Pic Viewers, ChangeScreen Price: $550 (1Mb), $600 (2Mb) (1994 prices) Comments: Very popular board. Review available on aminet (docs/rview/PicassoII_3.txt). Requires at least WB 2.04 (WB3 recommended) @ENDNODE @NODE CARD13 "Picasso II+" Name: Picasso II+ Supplier: VillageTronic/Expert Services 7559 Mall Road Florence, KY 40142 USA (http://www.villagetronic.com/amiga/) Chip: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5428 Memory: Resolution: 1600 x 1200 (max) Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II CGFX Compatible: Yes P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatilbe: No Availability: Q. Good Comments: Very popular board. Replaces @{"Picasso II" link CARD12} Requires at least WB 2.04 (WB3 recommended) @ENDNODE @NODE CARD14 "Picasso IV" Name: Picasso IV Supplier: VillageTronic Marketing Gmbh WellWeg 95 D-31157 Sarstedt Germany (http://www.villagetronic.com/amiga/) Chip: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446 Expansion options: Pablo II video encoder, MPEG-1 decoder, 3D module, PowerPC module, 16-bit Sound module, TV-Tuner module, Voodoo 1 module (NEW) Memory: 4MB EDO RAM Resolution: 1280 x 1024 Max bandwith is 85MHz Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II or III CGFX Compatible: Yes (v3,v4) P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatilbe: No Availability: V. Good Price: US $439 Comments: Very popular board. Replaces @{"Picasso II+" link CARD13} Requires at least 68020, WB 3.x Review available on Aminet (docs/rview/PicassoIV.txt) Voodoo 1 3D addon card may be available. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD15 "Piccolo" Name: Piccolo Supplier: Technologiezentrum Delemhorst Am Wollelager 8 D-27749 Delmenhorst Germany Chip: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5426 Memory: 1,2 or 4Mb Resolution: 1280 x 1024 Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II or III CGFX Compatible: Yes P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: Yes Software: PicoPainter, TV-Paint Jr Price: DM 698 (1Mb), DM 848 (2Mb) (1994 prices) Availability: Poor Comments: Uses same chip as @{"Picasso II" link CARD12}. Review available on Aminet (docs/rview/Piccolo.txt) @ENDNODE @NODE CARD16 "Piccolo SD64" Name: Piccolo SD64 Supplier: Technologiezentrum Delemhorst Am Wollelager 8 D-27749 Delmenhorst Germany Chip: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5434 Memory: 2, 4Mb Resolution: 320 x 200 to 1600 x 1280 Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II or III CGFX Compatible: Yes P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: Yes Price: Availability: Poor Comments: Replaces older @{"Piccolo" link CARD15} Includes 64 bit blitter, hardware sprite, hardware scrolling, double buffering, multiple screens, Expansion port. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD17 "Pixel 64" Name: Pixel 64 Supplier:Ateo-Concepts Chip: Cirrus Logic CL GD5434 Memory: 2Mb Resolution: 800 x 600 24 bit 1152 x 900 16 bit 1600 x 1280 8 bit Colours: 16 million Connection: Custom AteoBus on A1200. CGFX Compatible: Yes (v3) P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: No Availability: V Good Comments: Made for towered A1200. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD18 "Retina Z3" Name: Retina Z3 Supplier: MacroSystem Computer Gmbh Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse 85 5810 Witten Germany Chip: NCR 77C32BLT by Symbios Memory: 1,2 or 4Mb Resolution: Upto 1280 x 1024 Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II/III CGFX Compatible: Yes P96 Compatible: Yes (alpha driver) EGS Compatible: No Software: VDPaint, RetinaScreenMode, RetinaEmu Availability: Poor Price: DM 798 (4Mb) (1993 prices) Comments: Review available on Aminet (docs/rview/Retina.txt) @ENDNODE @NODE CARD19 "Spectrum 28/24" Name: Spectrum 28/24 Supplier: Great Valley Products Inc 637 Clark Ave King of Prussia, PA 19406 USA See http://www.gvp-m.com/ Chip: Cirrus Logic CL GD526 & CL GD5428 Memory: 1 or 2Mb Resolution: 800 x 600 (24 bit) 1024 x 768 (16 bit) 1280 x 1024 (8 bit) 1600 x 1280 (4 bit) Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II/III CGFX Compatible: Yes P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: Yes Software: EGS Paint, EGS More, EGS Shell Price: $499 (1993 prices) Availability: Q. Good (GVP-M) Comments: Includes hardware blitter, sprite pointer, video signal passthrough. Review available on Aminet (docs/rview/EGSSpectrum_2.txt). @ENDNODE @NODE CARD20 "ColorBurst" Name: Color Burst Supplier: M.A.S.T. 1395 GReg Street Suite 106 Sparks, NV 89431 Chip: Memory: 1.5Mb Resolution: NTSC: 320x200 to 384x480 (low res) 640x200 to 768x480 (hi res) Colours: 16 million Connection: Zorro II/III CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: No Software: CBPaint, Various Utils. Availability: Unknown Comments: PAL/NTSC versions. Requires at least 1Mb Chip RAM! Review available on Aminet (docs/rview/Colorburst.txt) @ENDNODE @NODE CARD21 "Graffity" Name: Graffity Supplier: Chip: Cirrus Logic GD CL5428 Memory: 2Mb Resolution: Upto 1280 x 960 Colours: 4 to 24 bit Connection: Connects via Video port on A1200 CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: Yes EGS Compatible: No Availability: Q.Good Comments: Not a graphics card as such but an expansion card the fits on the Video port on the back of the A1200 and connects to Monitor. Gives chunky modes to 1200. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD22 "Rainbow II" Name: Rainbow II Supplier: Hertz Electronik Chip: ADV7120 VideoDAC, 80MHz, 8-Bit Memory: 1.5Mb VRam (2Mb max) Resolution: PAL/NTSC at 15/31 kHz Colours: 256? Connection: Zorro II CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: Unknown Comments: Limited resolution, dumb frame buffer. @ENDNODE @NODE CARD23 "Rainbow III" Name: Rainbow III Supplier: Ingenieurburo Helfriech Chip: Inmos G360/G364G-10S processor Memory: 4Mb VRam Resolution: 1600 x 1200 Colours: 1 to 24 bit (pseudo/gamma colour corrected) Connection: Unknown CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: Unknown Comments: @ENDNODE @NODE CARD24 "Spectrum 110/24" Name: Spectrum 110/24 Supplier: Great Valley Products Chip: Inmos G364 CLT RAMDAC Memory: 4 or 8Mb VRAM Resolution: 1600 x 1280 Colours: 256/True colour Connection: Connects to local bus of GVP's combo accelerator for A2000 or GForce 030/40 board. CGFX Compatible: No P96 Compatible: No EGS Compatible: Unknown @ENDNODE @NODE CARD25 "ParaGlide Voodoo" Name: ParaGlide Voodoo Supplier: Village Tronic/Blittersoft Chip: 3DFX Voodoo Memory: 4Mb Texture memory, 4Mb pice puffer memory Resolution: 960 x 720, 16bit Colour: 65,536 colours (16 bit) Connection: Via mini connection on Picasso IV Requires Zorro III Amiga CGFX Compatible: Yes (For Picasso IV) P96 Compatible: Yes (For Picasso IV) EGS Compatible: No Availability: Excellent Comments: Uses own Glide driver API and Warp3D drivers for 3D graphics. TexelFX - drawes and projects textures on triangles in all dimensions. PixelFX - Renders upto 1 million 25 pixel triangles per second with Gourand shading mode and performs transparency and alpha blending to shape the rendering as realistically as possible. @ENDNODE @NODE CGFX "CyberGraphics" CyberGraphics (CGFX) is a Retargetable Graphics system to redirect graphic output to the Monitor bypassing the Amiga's built in graphics mode (OCS/ECS/AGA) using Shared Libraries and support software. CyberGraphics software is usually supplied with the Graphics Board or can be purchased seperately. The current version is now 4. CyberGraphics supports a wide range of old and new graphics boards which include: BlizzardVision, CyberVision 64,64/3D and PPC, Picasso II, II+ and IV, Piccolo (SD64), Inferno, Domino, A2410, Retina BLT Z3, Altais and the Spectrum 28/24. CGFX V3/4 consists of the following libraries: @{u}Name@{uu} @{u}Purpose@{uu} cgxsystem.library Main library for cybergraphics functions. (Replaces cybergraphics, cyberlayers and cyberintuition libraries from v2) cgxbootpic.library Boot Picture library for CGFX. which holds the boot picture. cgxvideo.library For video overlay and other video functions (CV3D) cgxmpeg.library Used for Isis' MPEG program. cybergl.library Used for CyberGL (a subset of OpenGL) 3D functions. cyberncg.library Lets you use v43 datatypes on NON-CGX systems. gtlayout.library Layout library for CGXMode and CVMode vilintuisup.library Used to allow Picasso II programs to run under CGFX. Also there are Monitor files for different cards to support various resolutions and screen depths and adds them to the monitor database for use by Workbench. Further information about CyberGraphX, CyberGL and Graphics Boards (old and new) can be found at their web site at: http://www.vgr.com/cybergfx/ http://www.schatztruhe.de" @ENDNODE @NODE P96 "Picasso 96" Picasso96 (P96) is a Retargetable Graphics system to redirect graphic output to the Monitor bypassing the Amiga's built in graphics mode (OCS/ ECS/AGA) using Shared Libraries and support software. Picasso96 software is usually supplied with the Graphics Board or can be obtained from Aminet or the main Picasso 96 website. Picasso 96 supports a wide range of Graphics cards like CyberGraphX: Cybervision 64 and 64/£D, Domino, Merlin, oMniBus, Picasso II, II+ and IV, Piccolo, Piccolo SD64, Pixel 64, Retina BLT Z3, Spectrum and UAEGFX (Amiga Emulator PC graphics board support). Programs that support the Cybergraphics API or the vilintuisup.library will work with the Picasso 96 as well! Picasso96 consists of the @{b}Picasso96API.library@{ub} which supports the following features out of 26 possible functions: a) Hi and True Colour support. b) Open/Close P96 screens c) Get Information on a P96 board d) Picture-in-Picture (PIP) Support e) Display ID support f) RGB and Pen colour support Developer information is also available for people to write programs for graphics cards and additional support for application programs. For information is available from the new Picasso web page at: http://www.picasso96.cogito.de/ @ENDNODE @NODE EGS "EGS RTG Software" EGS (or Enhanced Graphics System), is a retargetable truecolor window system for the Amiga. It was developed by VIONA Development to replace Intuition which has no true color support. (AmigaOS' Intuition and Graphics libraries were written specifically for the built in OCS/ECS/AGA chipsets in all Amigas). EGS does require a @{b}lot of memory@{ub} to run and has a few drivers for it and quite a number of application software and utilities support it. Check out Aminet for compatible programs. EGS supports the following boards: GVP 110, IV24, Piccolo (SD64), Rainbow 2 and 3, Spectrum and Vision cards, A2410. EGS consists of the of the following: @{u}Library@{uu} @{u}Purpose@{uu} egs.library Main EGS library egsalphablit.library EGS Alpha Blitter library egsblit.library EGS Blitter library egsgadbox.library EGS Gadtools library egsgfx.library EGS Graphics library egsintui.library EGS Intuition library egslayers.library EGS graphic layers library egsrequest.library EGS Requester library egs_r3d.library Plus EGB gadget libraries, monitor drivers, classes, preference, config files and drivers for each individual board. There are plenty of tools to use with EGS with the system files supplied and various Paint packages and picture or Anim viewers on Aminet. EGS is no longer developed and does not support the latest graphics boards, that is now supported by CyberGraphx and Picasso96. @ENDNODE @NODE W3D "Warp3d Graphics Software" Warp3D is being developed by Haage and Partner to take advantage of the 3D features of the latest graphics cards such as the Cybervision 64/3D, CyberVisionPPC and Blizzard VisionPPC cards. Warp3D is not the same as OpenGL. Warp3D supports pixel, line drawing, triangles, textures, Hidden surface removal (ZBuffering), shape cutting (stencil), alpha blending (transparency), fogging and lighting. Warp3D provides an API to allow programmers to produce software such as games easily without accessing the hardware directly but by a common interface so that it will work on any card on on any model of Amiga. Warp3D v2 consists of the following: @{u}Library@{uu} @{u}Purpose@{uu} Warp3D.library Main Warp3D library Warp3DPPC.library Warp3D library for PowerPC CPUs W3D_CyberGFX.library Warp 3D lib for Cybergraphics RTG boards W3D_CyberGFX_PPC.library Warp 3D lib for Cybergraphics RTG and PowerPC CPUs W3D_CyberGfx4.library Warp 3D lib for Cybergraphics v4 RTG W3D_CyberGfx4_PPC.library Warp 3D lib for Cybergraphics v4 RTG and PowerPC W3D_Picasso96.library Warp 3D lib for Picasso96 RTG boards W3D_Picasso96_PPC.library Warp 3D lib for Picasso96 RTG and PowerPC CPUs W3D_Permedia2.library Warp 3D lib for Permedia2 chip (CVPPC/BVPPC) W3D_Permedia2_PPC.library Warp 3D lib for Permedia2 chip and PowerPC W3D_Virge.library Warp 3D lib for Virge chip (CV 64/3D) W3D_Virge_PPC.library Warp 3D lib for Virge chip and PowerPC CPUs Further libraries will be added when new hardware appears. @ENDNODE @NODE OGL "OpenGL/Mesa Software" OpenGL (Open Graphics Language) is a 3D system developed by Silicon Graphics to program 3D functions on 3D accerated graphics cards. It is very widely adopted in industry including SGI, PC, Mac and game consoles. The new Amiga will also adopt it as standard for its new graphics chipset. There are a few implementations of OpenGL on the Amiga: CyberGL, StormMesa and AmigaMesaRTL. Two are available on Aminet and StormMesa is available from H&P. MiniGL is available from Hyperion Software. OpenGL programs are usually developed using GLUT (GL Utility Toolkit) of which there is a version with AmigaMesa. For further information, check out Silicon Graphics web pages and H&P's web pages and the program archives: http://www.haage-partner.com/ http://www.sgi.com/software/opengl http://www.opengl.org/ http://www.mesa3d.org/ http://www.hyperion-software.com/ @ENDNODE