HP to Offer PC Graphics Boards Using TI's 34020, '010 Processors
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Hewlett-Packard will be offering two PC add-in boards based on
Texas Instruments' TMS340x0 graphics processors, the company said
today. The new HP Intelligent Graphics Controller 10 and IGC 20
use, respectively, TI's 34010 and 34020 graphics chips, which
handle all graphics functions and relieve the main system
processor of those chores.
 
Besides an increase in speed over a standard VGA card in graphics
applications, the boards also offer better resolution with common
applications (assuming you have a monitor with the required
bandwidth). The IGC-10 gives up to 1024 x 768 pixel resolution;
the IGC-20 up to 1280 x 1024. Both boards come with a half
megabyte each of video RAM and DRAM; both can be expanded with
additional memory.
 
The IGC-10, slated to be available on November 1, will list for
$995. The IGC-20, not scheduled to be ready until February, will
sell for $2495, an HP official said. HP claims it will be the
first shipping graphics board based on TI's 34020 chip. Other
high-end graphics board manufacturers (such as Matrox, VMI, and
Control Systems) have announced that they're building 34020-based
boards, but none is shipping yet, and the ``low-end'' versions
will start at $2995.
 
In an informal test using AutoCAD, a redraw of St. Paul's
cathedral took about 2 seconds with a VGA card; with the IGC-20
installed, it took about one-third of a second.
 
Both IGC boards will come with drivers for Microsoft Windows (286
and 386), AutoCAD, and GEM. They will also work with all
applications that conform to the Texas Instruments Graphics
Architecture and DGIS (Direct Graphics Interface Standard), an HP
official said.
 
Contact: Hewlett-Packard, 3404 E. Harmony Rd, Fort Collins, CO
80525; (303) 229-3800.
 
                              --- Stan Miastkowski
 
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