[Info-vax] Graphics cards and monitors, was: Re: VSI Software and Stark Gaming

[Simon Clubley]

On 2015-08-11, Paul Hardy <p.g.hardy at btinternet.com> wrote:
> JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> wrote:
>> Did CAD software also drive video card development ? Or did CAD just
>> ride on the wave created by Hollywood which enables near real-time
>> rendering of structures being designed ?
>
> If by Cards you include ones that were full height boards for VAXen (780 &
> 750), then the CAD industry certainly pushed the boundaries of graphics
> hardware. In particular, Intergraph in the 70s produced boards and the then
> leading CAD software to go with it.
>

Don't forget also that things like the Video Toaster helped to show people
what was possible at a certain price point.

> We at Laser-Scan also in the 1970s did very high resolution displays
> (driven by PDP-11 and VAXen) - 140,000 by 100,000 addressable points, but
> mainly into the two industries of security printing (banknote design), and
> digital mapping.
>

What physical screen sizes were these displays ?

I wonder how they compare to the screens used in hospitals for looking
at (for example) scans ?

I know they are higher resolution than normal monitors (at least
according to consultants I've mentioned the subject to in the past) but
I don't think they even begin to go anywhere near the above resolutions.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
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