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General discussion

Graphics card expert needed

Dec 28, 2009 5:59AM PST

Hi,
Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section, so please move it if it is.

I need to find for my study project a graphics card expert who's willing to help me.
The person needs to answer 15 questions (that i made) about the history of the graphics card.

Thanks
Chris

Discussion is locked

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Only mildly there.
Dec 28, 2009 9:48AM PST

My experience dates back to pre-PC days with circuit designs from about 1972.

Does that help?
Bob

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Thanks
Dec 28, 2009 6:52PM PST

Hi,

Think it does Grin
Class starts again on monday so i'll have to ask then.
It hasn't been easy finding one :s

Thanks

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1972
Dec 28, 2009 9:35PM PST

Good grief BOB! You are dating yourself!! I thought I was the only Dinosaur around **LOL** I go back to roughly the same era and perhaps beyond, PRE SOLID state, tape drives, etc. Happy new year!

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Core memory
Dec 28, 2009 10:49PM PST

Was in use back then and in the class I took we learned how to inspect it and even repair the memory arrays.

Graphics back then was pretty crude.
Bob

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Ferrite core
Dec 30, 2009 9:16AM PST

Some of the communication stuff I worked on in the military and later used this type of memory. I was once told that they were hand "sewn" by Asian women because they were the only people with the eyesight and steady hand to do this work. Vaguely I remember something about having read, write, and re-write functions. The beads required two lines to make them change state...X and Y. Either didn't provide enough current to switch them so this happened only at the intersection where both passed through a bead. To read from memory, an attempt was made to switch each bead back using the same method. If it switched, a small current was felt in the read line. This, effectively, cleared that bead and the controller would need to write it back again....or at least that's the explanation I remember. I'm thinking that 8 or 16 k occupied nearly 1 square foot of space on a PCB. I never saw one of these fail.

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No graphics, teletype
Dec 31, 2009 1:31PM PST

We had no graphics to speak of. All i/f was through the teletype panel. Though, some could say the punch cards were also an i/f. Let's see, input a problem and walk away or await a call to say the work was done. Also, computers were noisy back then up to a point. Those printers back then, really pounded away. Heck, I had to learn "tube theory" and read all those darn logic schematics. -----Willy Happy

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Then you must remember modems
Dec 29, 2009 1:15AM PST

that required a heater and temperature control to keep their crystal oscillators stable, Hollerith punch cards and ascii punch tape, keyboards that somehow coded with visible light. You'll remember words like "and, nand, or and nor" and maybe even "Schmidt trigger"...but video...what video...there wasn't anything that resembled video other than the Lissajous pattern on one's O-scope doing hard drive head alignments.

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Schmidt trigger/nand etc.
Dec 29, 2009 11:39PM PST

Ah yes, haven't heard that terminology for years! Sort of a walk down memory lane, glad to see that SOMEONE still remembers! HAPPY NEW YEAR STEVE!!

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When relay logic walked the Earth.
Dec 30, 2009 7:12AM PST

One of the labs was to build the tic tac toe game with relays.

LEDs were new and expensive so incandescent bulbs and LEAD based solder.

Graphics of the day was with pens that were pushed around the paper!
Bob

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Graphics etc
Dec 30, 2009 9:31PM PST

Yes Bob and the calculators had handles on them and a word processor was a Royal or a Remmington, Happy New Year, Phil

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Those word processors were late comers
Dec 30, 2009 10:25PM PST
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Royal and Remmington.
Dec 31, 2009 3:31AM PST

Blade maker and gun maker? Seems the right stuff for zombie movies.