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

[already5chosen at yahoo.com]

On Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 9:55:37 PM UTC+3, Simon Clubley wrote:
> 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.
> 


Has to be a mistake. 
140,000 by 100,000 = 14 Gpixels. Assuming very modest 1B/pixel you will need  1750 fully loaded VAX 11/780 machines to load a single screen in to RAM.

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