Retargetable graphics

Last updated

Retargetable graphics [1] [2] (abbreviated as RTG) is a device driver API mainly used by third-party graphics hardware to interface with AmigaOS via a set of libraries. [3] The software libraries may include software tools to adjust resolution, screen colors, pointers, and screenmodes. It will use available hardware and will not extend the capabilities in any way.

Contents

The Amiga OS 3.x intuition.library is limited to 8-bit display depths, but RTG libraries make it possible to handle higher depths such as 24 bits; on Amiga there are two common APIs: Picasso 96 and CyberGraphX, which are almost compatible with each other. Both Picasso 96 and CyberGraphX require at least 4 MB RAM and a 68020 CPU to operate.

EGS and other early graphics card drivers

Commodore planned to introduce retargetable graphics in future version of AmigaOS (4.0), [4] but the company was not able to deliver such solution before its demise. Third-party graphics card manufacturers were thus forced to create their own software layers on top of AmigaOS, incompatible with each other. Most of these early Amiga graphics card drivers shared common limitations: compatibility with current applications was maintained by opening Workbench (or also other application screens, also known as "Workbench emulation") on the graphics card—usually in 16 (under AmigaOS 2.x) or 256 colours (under AmigaOS 3.x); full graphics card features like high-colour (15- or 16-bit) and true-colour (24- or 32-bit) display could be used only by applications directly programmed for such driver software. Earliest of these solutions like Grafexa and SAGE libraries [5] were able to display only their own applications on the graphics card without any support for "Workbench emulation". Examples of other drivers are EGS, Merlin/Domino, [6] Omnibus, [7] Retina [8] (which should be able even to display Workbench in 24 bit colour), [9] Graffity, [10] Picasso, and ProBench. Of these, Picasso offered good compatibility with older applications, because most OS-compliant programs could be promoted to graphics card display, [11] and relatively strong software support. [3] ProBench (by ProDev) was released as a new "Workbench emulator" for the old Merlin graphics card in 1994, [12] and version 3 (1996) introduced 16 bit colour depth and compatibility with CyberGraphX. [13] [14]

Enhanced Graphics System (EGS) was developed by Viona Development using the Cluster language (a Modula-2 derivative) for Piccolo and Spectrum graphics boards, supporting screen depths up to 24 bits. It requires a minimum of 2 MB RAM and 4–5 MB of hard disk space. [15] EGS was first presented with the EGS 110/24 card (GVP) at the World of Commodore/Amiga show in New York in April 1992. [16] It supported a broader range of graphics cards than other drivers and was seen by some Amiga magazines as the next RTG standard for Amiga, but its compatibility with most Amiga applications was limited. [17] [18] [19]

Graphic cardExpansion typeGraphic chip
EGS 110/24GVP LocalBus INMOS G364 framebuffer
EGS 28/24Zorro II / IIICirrus Logic GD5426
RetinaZorro IINCR 77C22E+
VisionaZorro IIIMS G300C
PiccoloZorro II / IIICirrus Logic GD5426
Piccolo SD64Zorro II / IIICirrus Logic GD5434
RainbowZorro II
Rainbow IIZorro IIAnalog Devices ADV7120
Rainbow IIIZorro IIIInmos G365

CyberGraphX

Cybergraphx.png

CyberGraphX (pronounced "cybergraphics" and often abbreviated as "CGX"), is a retargetable graphics API for the Amiga and compatible computer systems developed by Thomas Sontowski and Frank Mariak and later adopted by Phase5 for use with their graphics cards. [20] Many other graphics card manufacturers that offered hardware for Amiga and compatible systems also used it.

Introduced in 1995 with the CyberVision64 graphics card (Phase5), CyberGraphX was the first RTG software to allow full true-colour screens for Workbench and applications—older solutions supported only 256 colours (e.g. Picasso) or a four-colour Workbench with some 24-bit windows (Retina). [21] CyberGraphX quickly eclipsed all older graphics card drivers and by 1995 was acclaimed as the best solution for displaying Workbench and other applications. Being available free of charge for users of supported cards, it became the de facto RTG standard for Amiga. [22] CyberGraphX V4 [23] was the last release for AmigaOS; MorphOS uses CyberGraphX V5.

Supported graphic cards

These graphic cards are supported by CyberGraphX:

Graphic cardExpansion typeGraphic chip
3DFX Voodoo3 2000 PCI Avenger
3DFX Voodoo3 3000Avenger
3DFX Voodoo3 3500Avenger
3DFX Voodoo4 4500Napalm
3DFX Voodoo5 5500Napalm
A2410 Texas Instruments TMS34010
Amiga AGA Internal PCB Lisa
ATI Radeon 7000VERV100
ATI Radeon 7200R100
ATI Radeon 7500RV200
ATI Radeon 8500 LER200
ATI Radeon 9000RV250
ATI Radeon 9000 ProRV250
ATI Radeon 9100R200
ATI Radeon 9100 LER200
ATI Radeon 9200 SERV280
ATI Radeon 9200RV280
ATI Radeon 9200 ProRV280
ATI Radeon 9250RV280
ATI Radeon 9600 ProRV350
ATI Radeon 9600 XTRV360
ATI Radeon 9700 ProR300
ATI Radeon 9800R350
ATI Rage 128 Pro
BlizzardVisionPPCPermedia 2
CyberVision64/3D Zorro II/Zorro III [24] S3 ViRGE
CyberVision64Zorro III [25] S3 Trio64
CyberVisionPPCPermedia 2
DraCo AltaisDracoBusSymbios Logic 77C32BLT
DraCo Altais PlusDracoBus S3 Trio 64 V+
Domino
PicassoIIZorro II [26] Cirrus Logic GD5426
PicassoII+ Cirrus Logic GD5428
PicassoIVZorro II/Zorro III Cirrus Logic GD5446
Piccolo
Piccolo SD64 Cirrus Logic GD5434
Pixel64
Retina BLT Z3Zorro IIISymbios Logic 77C32BLT
Spectrum
XGI Volari V3XT
XGI Volari V5
XGI Volari V5XT
XGI Volari V8
SiS 300 / 305
SiS 315
SiS 6326

Picasso96

Picasso96 [27] is the RTG device driver library set used by the Picasso IV and other graphics boards. Its development was started in 1996 by Village Tronic, and it is compatible with CyberGraphX. [28] Although the first releases were ridden with bugs and stability problems, [29] by version 1.17 most issues with Picasso96 were corrected. Compatibility with CyberGraphX was also improved. [30]

Picasso96 was selected as the RTG standard for AmigaOS 4, at first released as a 68k binary in AmigaOS 4.0 pre-release, [31] with a full PowerPC port following later in 2004 in the next OS update. [32] AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition (2014) integrated RTG functions directly into graphics.library.[ citation needed ]

Supported graphic cards

These graphic cards are supported by the Picasso96 system available for 68K based Amiga systems:

Graphic cardExpansion typeGraphic chip
CyberVisionPPCCustom/PCI bridgePermedia2
Cybervision64/3DZorro II/Zorro IIIS3 Virge [33]
Cybervision64Zorro IIIS3 86C764 Trio64 [34]
DominoZorro II Tseng Labs ET4000
MerlinZorro II/IIITseng Labs ET4000W32
oMniBusZorro II+ISA Tseng Labs ET4000AX
PicassoIIZorro II [26] Cirrus Logic GD5426
PicassoII+Zorro II Cirrus Logic GD5428
PicassoIVZorro II/Zorro III Cirrus Logic GD5446
PiccoloZorro II/III Cirrus Logic GD5426
Piccolo SD64Zorro II/III Cirrus Logic GD5434
Pixel64Custom/AteoBus Cirrus Logic GD5434
GBA PII++Zorro II Cirrus Logic GD5434
AltaisCustom/DracoBusNCR77C32BLT
Retina Z2Zorro IINCR77C22E
Retina BLT Z3Zorro IINCR77C32BLT
VisionaZorro IIINMOS G300
GVP EGS 110Custom/GVP Combo CPU busINMOS G364
EGS 28/24 SpectrumZorro II/III Cirrus Logic GD5426
A2410Zorro II/IIITMS34010
RainbowIIZorro IIADV7120
FrameMasterZorro IIADV7120
UAEgfx Host OS Emulated [35]
VA2000ZorroIICustom/FPGA
ZZ9000Zorro II/Zorro IIICustom/FPGA


Supported graphic cards on PPC systems

Picasso96 as used by AmigaOS 4 supports also Voodoo 3, Voodoo 4/5, and Radeon R100, R200, R300, [36] R520 (X1000 series), R700 (HD 4000 series), HD 5000 (Evergreen) series, HD 6000 (Northern Islands) series, and HD 7000 (Southern Islands) series. [37] The RadeonHD AmigaOS 4 driver is created and maintained by Hans de Ruiter. [38] Ongoing development of the driver for the AmigaOS platform being exclusively funded and owned by A-EON Technology Ltd.

In 2017, rights on the Picasso96 system for classic 68K Amiga Systems were bought by Individual Computers (iComp). [39] iComp added features such as screen dragging in version 3.0.0 [40] and multi-monitor support in version 3.1.0 (Amiga OCS/ECS/AGA screen and RTG screen active at the same time). [41]

RTG Master

The higher level API was created by Steffen Haeuser for developing 2D and 3D games requiring chunky graphics. RTG Master supports both graphics cards (with CyberGraphX, Picasso II, Picasso96 or EGS compatible drivers) and the Amiga chipset (ECS or AGA). An example of game using RTG Master is Genetic Species. [42] [43]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amiga</span> Family of personal computers sold by Commodore

Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 16/32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphics and audio compared to previous 8-bit systems. These systems include the Atari ST—released earlier the same year—as well as the Macintosh and Acorn Archimedes. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Amiga differs from its contemporaries through the inclusion of custom hardware to accelerate graphics and sound, including sprites and a blitter, and a pre-emptive multitasking operating system called AmigaOS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenGL</span> Cross-platform graphics API

OpenGL is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardware-accelerated rendering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amiga 600</span> Home computer introduced in 1992

The Amiga 600, also known as the A600, is a home computer introduced in March 1992. It is the final Amiga model based on the Motorola 68000 and the 1990 Amiga Enhanced Chip Set. A redesign of the Amiga 500 Plus, it adds the option of an internal hard disk drive and a PCMCIA port. Lacking a numeric keypad, the A600 is only slightly larger than an IBM PC keyboard, weighing approximately 6 pounds (2.72kg). It shipped with AmigaOS 2.0, which was considered more user-friendly than earlier versions of the operating system.

MorphOS is an AmigaOS-like computer operating system (OS). It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC (PPC) processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the Efika and mobileGT. Since MorphOS 2.4, Apple's Mac mini G4 is supported as well, and with the release of MorphOS 2.5 and MorphOS 2.6 the eMac and Power Mac G4 models are respectively supported. The release of MorphOS 3.2 added limited support for Power Mac G5. The core, based on the Quark microkernel, is proprietary, although several libraries and other parts are open source, such as the Ambient desktop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radeon</span> Brand of computer products

Radeon is a brand of computer products, including graphics processing units, random-access memory, RAM disk software, and solid-state drives, produced by Radeon Technologies Group, a division of AMD. The brand was launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006 for US$5.4 billion.

WHDLoad is a software package for the Amiga platform to make installation of software to a hard disk easier, for such things as demos or games. Allowing for better compatibility for Amiga software, which can sometimes have hardware incompatibilities making them hard to use in emulated environments due to the widely varying hardware specifications of the Amiga product line across its history. WHDLoad basically circumvents the operating system in the Amiga for greater compatibility and preserves the original program environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMD CrossFire</span> Brand name by AMD; multi-GPU technology

AMD CrossFire is a brand name for the multi-GPU technology by Advanced Micro Devices, originally developed by ATI Technologies. The technology allows up to four GPUs to be used in a single computer to improve graphics performance.

CyberGraphX, is the standard ReTargetable Graphics API available for the Amiga and compatible systems. It was developed by Thomas Sontowski and Frank Mariak and later adopted by Phase5 for use with their graphics cards. Many other graphics card manufacturers who offered hardware for Amiga and compatible systems used it as well.

In computing, hardware overlay, a type of video overlay, provides a method of rendering an image to a display screen with a dedicated memory buffer inside computer video hardware. The technique aims to improve the display of a fast-moving video image — such as a computer game, a DVD, or the signal from a TV card. Most video cards manufactured since about 1998 and most media players support hardware overlay.

Aladdin4D is a computer program for modeling and rendering three-dimensional graphics and animations, currently running on AmigaOS and macOS platforms. A-EON Technology Ltd owns the rights and develops current and future versions of Aladdin4D for AmigaOS, MorphOS & AROS. All other platforms including macOS, iPadOS, iOS, Linux & Windows are developed by DiscreetFX.

The Amiga computer can be used to emulate several other computer platforms, including legacy platforms such as the Commodore 64, and its contemporary rivals such as the IBM PC and the Macintosh.

AmigaOS is the proprietary native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. Since its introduction with the launch of the Amiga 1000 in 1985, there have been four major versions and several minor revisions of the operating system.

The Evergreen series is a family of GPUs developed by Advanced Micro Devices for its Radeon line under the ATI brand name. It was employed in Radeon HD 5000 graphics card series and competed directly with Nvidia's GeForce 400 series.

Amiga support and maintenance software performs service functions such as formatting media for a specific filesystem, diagnosing failures that occur on formatted media, data recovery after media failure, and installation of new software for the Amiga family of personal computers—as opposed to application software, which performs business, education, and recreation functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kickstart (Amiga)</span> Bootstrap firmware used by Amiga computers

Kickstart is the bootstrap firmware of the Amiga computers developed by Commodore International. Its purpose is to initialize the Amiga hardware and core components of AmigaOS and then attempt to boot from a bootable volume, such as a floppy disk. Most Amiga models were shipped with the Kickstart firmware stored on ROM chips.

AHI is a retargetable audio subsystem for AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS. It was created by Martin Blom in the mid-1990s to allow standardized operating system support for audio hardware other than just the native Amiga sound chip, for example 16-bit sound cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AmigaOS</span> Operating system for Amiga computers

AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versions of AmigaOS required the Motorola 68000 series of 16-bit and 32-bit microprocessors. Later versions were developed by Haage & Partner and then Hyperion Entertainment. A PowerPC microprocessor is required for the most recent release, AmigaOS 4.

Warp3D was a project founded by Haage & Partner in 1998 that aimed to provide a standard API that would enable programmers to access, and therefore use, 3D hardware on the Amiga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PowerUP (accelerator)</span>

PowerUP boards were dual-processor accelerator boards designed by Phase5 Digital Products for Amiga computers. They had two different processors, a Motorola 68000 series (68k) and a PowerPC, working in parallel, sharing the complete address space of the Amiga computer system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AmigaOS 4 version history</span>

A new version of AmigaOS was released on December 24, 2006 after five years of development by Hyperion Entertainment (Belgium) under license from Amiga, Inc. for AmigaOne registered users.

References

  1. ↑ Green, Chris (3–7 September 1991). Retargetable Graphics (PDF). North American Amiga Developers Conference. Denver: Commodore-Amiga. sec. 26. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  2. ↑ Commodore Electronics, Ltd. (1993). Retargetable Graphics Specification. 1993 International Amiga Developers Conference. Orlando: Commodore-Amiga. p. 419. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
  3. 1 2 Goodwin, Simon (September 1997). "RTG". Amiga Format. No. 101. Future Publishing. pp. 24–27. ISSN   0957-4867.
  4. ↑ Leemon, Sheldon (February 1993). "Devices & Desires, The Future: Retargetable Graphics". Amiga World. Vol. 9, no. 2. IDG Publishing. p. 38. ISSN   0883-2390.
  5. ↑ Whiteley, Gary (December 1992). "Face up to a bright future". Amiga Format Special. No. 2. Future Publishing. p. 93.
  6. ↑ Janin, Lucas (March 1993). "Domino". AmigaNews (in French). No. 55. NewsEdition. pp. 48–49. ISSN   1164-1746.
  7. ↑ Roman, Times (April 1993). "Notes From The Nets, More Graphics, Goodies". Amiga News. Vol. 2, no. 3. Portable Computing International. p. 6. ISSN   1063-8458.
  8. ↑ Nakakihara, Douglas J. (October 1993). "Retina". Amazing Computing. Vol. 8, no. 10. PiM Publications. pp. 14–15. ISSN   0886-9480.
  9. ↑ Ryan, John (July 1993). "Retina". Amiga World. Vol. 9, no. 7. IDG Publishing. pp. 68–69. ISSN   0883-2390.
  10. ↑ "En bref, BSC, Graffity". AmigaNews (in French). No. 61. NewsEdition. October 1993. p. 8. ISSN   1164-1746.
  11. ↑ Atkin, Denny (January 1994). "Picasso II". Amiga World. Vol. 10, no. 1. IDG Publishing. pp. 16–18. ISSN   0883-2390.
  12. ↑ Ulrich Flegel (June 16, 1994). "X-Pert is dead - Merlin alive". Newsgroup:  comp.sys.amiga.hardware. Usenet:   1994Jun16.113448@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de . Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  13. ↑ "ProBench 3 documentation in English" (AmigaGuide in lha archive). aminet.net. October 21, 1996. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  14. ↑ "ProBench v3.0". Amiga Info (in Swedish). Vol. 1, no. 6. X-Files Media. 1996. ISSN   1401-4661.
  15. ↑ "EGS FAQ". Amiga Report International Online Magazine. Vol. 2, no. 5. February 4, 1994. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  16. ↑ Atkin, Denny (July 1992). "GVP Steal the show". Amiga Computing. No. 50. Europress Publications. p. 14. ISSN   0959-9630.
  17. ↑ Kennedy, Stevie (Christmas 1993). "Bundle of joy, Piccolo graphics card". Amiga Computing. No. 68. Europress Publications. pp. 60–61. ISSN   0959-9630.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Dave (April 1994). "EGS 28/24 Spectrum". Amiga World. Vol. 10, no. 4. IDG Publishing. pp. 12–13. ISSN   0883-2390.
  19. ↑ Janin, Lucas (May 1995). "Piccolo-SD64". AmigaNews (in French). No. 79. NewsEdition. pp. 20–21. ISSN   1164-1746.
  20. ↑ Němec, Luboš (January 1996). "CyberVision64 & CyberGraphX (podruhé)". Amiga Review (in Czech). No. 12. Atlantida Publishing. pp. 17–19. ISSN   1211-1465.
  21. ↑ Austin, Paul (September 1995). "A vision of the future". Amiga Computing. No. 90. IDG Media. pp. 48–50. ISSN   0959-9630.
  22. ↑ Thieullet, Cyrille (October 1995). "Comparatif des cartes graphiques, Cinq cartes sous la loupe". AmigaNews (in French). No. 83. NewsEdition. pp. 26–28. ISSN   1164-1746.
  23. ↑ Veitch, Nick (January 1999). "CyberGraphX 4". Amiga Format. No. 119. Future Publishing. p. 52. ISSN   0957-4867.
  24. ↑ amiga.resource.cx - Amiga Hardware Database - Phase 5 Digital Products CyberVision 64/3D, read 2016-12-13
  25. ↑ amiga.resource.cx - Amiga Hardware Database - Phase 5 Digital Products CyberVision 64, read 2016-12-13
  26. 1 2 amiga.resource.cx - Amiga Hardware Database - Village Tronic Picasso II, read 2012-08-24
  27. ↑ Abt, Tobias (1999-11-17). "Picasso96 for Amiga graphics boards". Aminet. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
  28. ↑ Picasso96 rtg software
  29. ↑ Němec, Luboš (March 1997). "Picasso IV". Amiga Review (in Czech). No. 26. Atlantida Publishing. pp. 14–15. ISSN   1211-1465.
  30. ↑ Němec, Luboš (June 1997). "Picasso IV & Picasso96, blýská se na lepší časy?". Amiga Review (in Czech). No. 29. Atlantida Publishing. p. 9. ISSN   1211-1465.
  31. ↑ Zonias, Kymon (July 2004). "Pre-release AmigaOS 4.0". Amiga Future (in German). No. 49. APC&TCP. p. 37.
  32. ↑ Sutton, Mick; Williams, Robert (Winter 2004). "Amiga OS 4 Update" (PDF). Total Amiga. No. 19. South Essex Amiga Link. p. 18.
  33. ↑ "Phase 5 Digital Products CyberVision 64/3D - Amiga Hardware Database".
  34. ↑ "Phase 5 Digital Products CyberVision 64 - Amiga Hardware Database".
  35. ↑ "P96 - IndividualComputers".
  36. ↑ "AmigaOS 4.1 Hardware Compatibility List". Acube Systems. 2012-11-25. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  37. ↑ "RadeonHD Version 1.0" (PDF) (Press release). Cardiff: A-EON Technology. 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  38. ↑ "RadeonHD Driver" . Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  39. ↑ "Individual Computers confirms ownership of Picasso96 software" (Press release). Individual Computers. amiga-news.de. 2018-12-23. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  40. ↑ "Event: Video and reports of AmiWest 2020 (update)". Amiga-News.de. 2020-10-25. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  41. ↑ "RTG-Driver: P96 v3.1.0". Amiga-News.de. 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  42. ↑ Němec, Luboš (June 1997). "RTGMaster Library". Amiga Review (in Czech). No. 29. Atlantida Publishing. pp. 28–29. ISSN   1211-1465.
  43. ↑ "Aminet - Search".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.