Company type |
|
---|---|
Industry | Computer |
Founded | 1984Milpitas, California | in
Founder | Paul Jain |
Defunct | 1989 |
Fate | Merged with G-2 Inc. in 1989 to form Headland Technology, itself acquired by Computer Visualization Technologies, Inc.; dissolved in 1993 |
Products |
|
Video Seven, Inc., also typeset as Video-7, later Headland Technology, Inc., was a public American computer hardware company independently active from 1984 to 1989. The company manufactured expansion cards for personal computers, mainly graphics cards for the IBM PC through their Vega brand. It was founded by Paul Jain as his second venture in the graphics card market; after his departure in 1990, he founded Media Vision. Video Seven delivered both the first graphics card compatible with IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA), in 1985, and one of the first cards compatible with IBM's Video Graphics Array (VGA) standard, in 1987. In 1989, Video Seven merged with G-2 Inc., a subsidiary of LSI Logic Corporation, becoming Headland Technology.
Video Seven, Inc. was founded by Paul Jain in Milpitas, California, in 1984. Before starting Video Seven, Jain had been the founder of Paradise Systems, another graphics card manufacturer that was an early vendor in the IBM Personal Computer market. [1] Jain served as Paradise's CEO for two years until April 1984, [2] when he founded Video Seven, his second venture in the graphics card market. [1] Jain would remain on Paradise's boardroom until 1987, after Paradise was acquired by Western Digital. [3] [4]
Video Seven's first product was announced in August 1984 for the Apple IIc. Called the RGB Interface, it was a converter box roughly the size of a pack of cigarettes that connected to the IIc's DB-15 Video Expansion port on the back, adapting its output to graphical RGBI video. This allowed for much higher quality output than the stock composite output of the IIc was capable of achieving. The RGB Interface only worked with certain RGBI color monitors meant for the earlier Apple III microcomputer. However, combined with Video Seven's second product, the Grappler, users could connect the IIc and the RGB Interface to any standard IBM Personal Computer monitor. [5] [6] : 208 In late 1984, Video Seven licensed the technologies behind the RGB Interface to Sakata U.S.A. Corporation, who released the XP-7, an expansion card for the Apple IIe that allowed it to connect to RGBI monitors. [6] : 207–208 Video Seven made $1.8 million in sales from these products in their first year. [7] The company released their last Apple II product in September 1985, [8] after which the company began focusing on products for the IBM PC. [9] : 42
Over the summer of 1985, Video Seven formed a joint venture with Chips and Technologies (C&T) to develop the first clone of IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA). [10] C&T at the time had only been in business for several months, as a startup company in the IBM PC graphics chipset market. [11] Their efforts came to fruition in early December 1985; branded the Vega, not only was it the first EGA clone board, [12] : 34 [13] it was also the first EGA board to feature support for the four major video modes that IBM PC software supported: MDA, CGA, and Hercules (on top of EGA). [14] Despite the task of devising a clone of EGA that was also backwards compatible with the aforementioned video modes, the Vega card was half the length of IBM's EGA card and cost roughly half of what IBM charged at the time. [15] It was a critical and commercial success, Video Seven selling 300,000 units of the Vega and its successor, the Vega Deluxe, through to October 1987. [15] [7] Shortly before the original Vega's release, in early December 1985, Quadram Corporation purchased a large stake in Video Seven, expressing interest in using its technology in an EGA-compatible board of theirs. [16] The result of their partnership was the Quad EGA+, a full-length version of the Vega that was otherwise identical in functionality. [12] : 34 [17]
The Vega Deluxe, introduced in October 1986, [18] extended the EGA standard to include 640-by-480-pixel and 752-by-410-pixel color graphics modes. These new modes represent roughly 37-percent increases over the highest color resolution supported by stock EGA (640-by-350-pixels). These modes were only usable with certain expensive multimode monitors, however. [19] : 175
Increasing sales of Vega boards made Video Seven one of the largest global manufacturers of IBM PC expansion cards. Their largest competitors at the time included Jain's former Paradise Systems and Hercules Computer Technology. In 1987 alone, Video Seven earned a $2.8 million profit on sales of $34.3 million. [7] Its steady growth prompted Video Seven to file to go public in October that year. [20]
In September 1987, Video Seven announced their first VGA-compatible card, the Vega VGA, for an October release. [21] This was six months after IBM launched Video Graphics Array (VGA), their next-generation video graphics standard, in April 1987 with the IBM PS/2, the intended successor to their IBM PC model line. [7] Unlike their earlier PCs, the PS/2 had the video circuitry located on the motherboard; as well, they redesigned the bus with the PS/2 to an incompatible standard they dubbed Micro Channel. [4] On its announcement, Video Seven proclaimed the Vega VGA to be the first graphics card that was hardware-compatible with VGA for ISA machines (ISA being the bus of the IBM PC and its clones). [21] Earlier contenders from Sigma Designs and STB Systems, released in the summer of 1987, came with software utilities to draw Mode 13h graphics but which lacked the ability to render VGA graphics in other higher-resolution modes. [22] While the Vega VGA may have been the first VGA-compatible ISA board, on launch it suffered from some incompatibility with popular software, such as Windows/386 and its virtual 8086 mode. [23] Compaq's Video Graphics Controller Board, released in November 1987, is thus credited by PC Magazine as the first fully compatible VGA card for ISA machines. [24] [25] : 188–191
In August 1988, Video Seven shipped two new VGA-compatbile boards: the FastWrite and the VRAM VGA. [26] Both chips feature the company's then-new V7VGA chipset, which clocks faster than most of its contemporaneous competitors and incorporates cache memory to improve graphical performance. Whereas the FastWrite relies on conventional dynamic RAM in tandem with the cache to achieve modest improvements in performance over the competition, the VRAM VGA uses dedicated video RAM (VRAM) to achieve large gains in performance through being dual-ported, allowing the processor to execute program code while the VRAM works in tandem with the graphics chipset to draw to the screen simultaneously. [27] : 79 [28] The VRAM VGA was the first VGA graphics card on the market to incorporate VRAM, [29] allowing it to outperform IBM's own ISA-based PS/2 Display Adapter. [30] InfoWorld wrote that the VRAM VGA board represented "the cutting edge of VGA technology", [27] : 80 with speed improvements in Microsoft Word chart editing representing "the first time in our VGA testing" the magazine found "a significant speed difference" in that benchmark, when comparing the FastWrite and V-RAM to several of its competitors. [27] : 79
In October 1988, LSI Logic Corporation, a large stakeholder in Video Seven, acquired a majority stake in the company after acquiring all of the shares belonging to Intelligent Systems, the owners of Quadram. Their stake increased from 20 percent to 70 percent. [31] In April 1989, Video Seven merged with LSI subsidiary G-2 Inc. to form Headland Technology, retaining the Video Seven brand for future video cards. [32] LSI reportedly spent $50 million on the acquisition. [4] Jain sold his stakes as part of the acquisition and shortly thereafter formed Media Vision, a vendor of multimedia expansion cards, in 1990. [1]
Video Seven continued to compete in the high-end video graphics marketplace until 1992, when LSI Logic sold Headland to Computer Visualization Technologies, Inc. (CVTI), of Fremont, California, a subsidiary of Germany-based Spea Software AG. [33] Headland had been suffering from executive churn and market disinterest in the last few years of its existence under LSI Logic. CVTI struggled with the Video Seven division themselves and shuttered it in 1993. [34] They continued to sell multimedia peripherals such as sound and graphics cards with the Video Seven trademark into 1995, [35] [36] until Spea themselves were purchased by Diamond Multimedia in November 1995. [37]
In the late 1990s, Macrotron AG acquired the rights to the Video Seven trademark from Diamond Multimedia and revived it as a brand of computer monitors in Europe, under the new stylization Videoseven. [38] [39] In 1998, Ingram Micro acquired a majority stake in Macrotron and made it a subsidiary of the company's Munich branch, renaming it to Ingram Macrotron AG. Ingram Macrotron continued using the Videoseven trademark in Europe for computer monitors and other computer peripherals. Beginning in 2007, they began using the name in consumer electronics sold in the United States, including portable and dashboard GPS units, among other devices. This was the first time since 1995 that the Video Seven name saw use in the United States. [39] Ingram would continue marketing products under the Videoseven trademark until mid-2009. [40]
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the IBM PC compatible industry within three years. The term can now refer to the computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, or the 640 × 480 resolution characteristic of the VGA hardware.
The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is an IBM PC graphics adapter and de facto computer display standard from 1984 that superseded the CGA standard introduced with the original IBM PC, and was itself superseded by the VGA standard in 1987. In addition to the original EGA card manufactured by IBM, many compatible third-party cards were manufactured, and EGA graphics modes continued to be supported by VGA and later standards.
Super VGA (SVGA) is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's VGA specification.
Chips and Technologies, Inc. (C&T), was an early fabless semiconductor company founded in Milpitas, California, in December 1984 by Gordon A. Campbell and Dado Banatao.
The Pivot is a family of early IBM PC–compatible portable computers first released in 1984 by Morrow Designs, a company founded by George Morrow. It was the first lunchbox-style portable computer, with a vertically configured case that has a fold-down keyboard. The only external component is a single AC adapter. It would have been a little top heavy except for the large camcorder-style battery loaded into its base. The Pivot was designed by Chikok Shing of Vadem Inc.
Video BIOS is the BIOS of a graphics card in a computer. It initializes the graphics card at the computer's boot time. It also implements INT 10h interrupt and VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) for basic text and videomode output before a specific video driver is loaded. In UEFI 2.x systems, the INT 10h and the VBE are replaced by the UEFI GOP.
The LTE is a line of notebook-sized laptops manufactured by Compaq Computer Corporation, introduced in 1989 and discontinued in 1997. It was the first notebook computer sold by Compaq and the first commercially successful notebook that was compatible with the IBM PC.
A multiple-sync (multisync) monitor, also known as a multiscan or multimode monitor, is a raster-scan analog video monitor that can properly synchronise with multiple horizontal and vertical scan rates. In contrast, fixed frequency monitors can only synchronise with a specific set of scan rates. They are generally used for computer displays, but sometimes for television, and the terminology is mostly applied to CRT displays although the concept applies to other technologies.
VGA text mode was introduced in 1987 by IBM as part of the VGA standard for its IBM PS/2 computers. Its use on IBM PC compatibles was widespread through the 1990s and persists today for some applications on modern computers. The main features of VGA text mode are colored characters and their background, blinking, various shapes of the cursor, and loadable fonts. The Linux console traditionally uses hardware VGA text modes, and the Win32 console environment has an ability to switch the screen to text mode for some text window sizes.
The ATI Wonder is a series of video cards for the IBM Personal Computer and compatibles, introduced by ATI Technologies in the mid to late 1980s. These cards were unique at the time as they offered the end user a considerable amount of value by combining support for multiple graphics standards into a single card. The VGA Wonder series added additional value with the inclusion of a bus mouse port, which normally required the installation of a dedicated Microsoft Mouse adapter.
Reply Corporation, often shortened to Reply Corp., was an American computer company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1988 by Steve Petracca, the company licensed the Micro Channel architecture from IBM for their own computers released in 1989, competing against IBM's PS/2 line. The company later divested from offering complete systems in favor of marketing motherboard upgrades for older PS/2s. Reply enjoyed a close relationship with IBM, owing to many of its founding employees, including Petracca, having worked for IBM. The company was acquired by Radius in 1997.
The Sharp PC-4500 is a line of laptop computers released by Sharp Corporation in 1987. The line comprises the PC-4501, the PC-4502, and the PC-4521. The PC-4501 is a bare-bones unit with only 256 KB of RAM stock, only one floppy drive, no backlighting, and no built-in numeric keypad; the PC-4502 and PC-4521 bumps the stock RAM to 640 KB and includes the latter two features while providing either two floppy drive (PC-4502) or one floppy drive and a 20 MB hard drive (PC-4521). Prices on the line initially ranged from $1,295 to just under $3,000; the PC-4501 was later sold for $995, becoming one of the first sub-$1,000 laptops available on the market. The PC-4500 line received mixed, mostly positive, reviews on its release in September 1987.
The Personal System/2 Model 30 and Personal System/2 Model 30 286 are IBM's entry-level desktop computers in their Personal System/2 (PS/2) family of personal computers. As opposed to higher-end entries in the PS/2 line which use Micro Channel bus architecture, the Model 30 features an Industry Standard Architecture bus, allowing it to use expansion cards from its direct predecessors, the PC/XT and the PC/AT. The original PS/2 Model 30 is built upon the Intel 8086 microprocessor clocked at 8 MHz; the Model 30 286 features the Intel 80286 clocked at 10 MHz.
Aox Inc. was a privately run American technology corporation founded by Michael and Linda Aronson in 1978. Over the course of its 22-year lifespan, the company chiefly developed software and hardware for IBM's PC and compatibles, for the Personal System/2, and for the Macintosh. In its twilight years, the company designed multimedia and teleconferencing devices and chip designs. Aox was founded after Michael Aronson graduated from Harvard University with a doctorate in physics; he stayed with the company until 2000, when he incorporated EndPoints Inc. and switched to full-time fabless semiconductor design.
CoreCard Corporation is an American financial technology company based in Norcross, Georgia. Before 2021, the company was named Intelligent Systems Corporation and once sold portable computers, video terminals, expansion cards, and other peripherals through a variety of manufacturing subsidiaries. Founded in 1973, the company restructured as a master limited partnership in 1987, becoming Intelligent Systems Master Limited Partnership.
Paradise Systems, Inc., was an American video controller and graphics adapter card manufacturer active from 1982 to 1996. The company became a subsidiary of Western Digital when they purchased Paradise in 1986; in 1995, they sold the division to Philips, who subsequently folded it after less than a year.
Willow Peripherals, Inc., was an American computer hardware company active from 1986 to 2004 and based in New York City. The company was well known for their frame grabber and television output adapter cards for the IBM Personal Computer and adapters. Willow was based in Port Morris in the South Bronx for most of its existence.
Genoa Systems Corporation, later Genoa Electronics Corporation, was an American computer multimedia peripheral vendor based in San Jose, California, and active from 1984 to 2002. The company was once a prolific and well-known manufacturer of video cards and chipsets. They also dabbled in modems, tape drives, sound cards, and other peripheral expansion cards. The company was a founding member of the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) and were instrumental in the development of Super VGA.
Actix Systems, Inc., was an American graphics adapter manufacturer active from 1990 to 1998 and based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company was founded by Stephen W. Cheng and initially specialized in a subset of graphics adapters known as GUI accelerators, becoming a major player in the field. Toward the mid-1990s the company began manufacturing more general-purpose adapters under their GraphicsEngine brand.
The CF-V21P is a notebook-sized laptop released by Panasonic in 1993. It was the first notebook computer to have an integrated CD-ROM drive as an option, albeit it only supports up to 3.5-inch-diameter mini CDs instead of standard 4.7-inch-diameter discs. It was discontinued in 1994.