The Development of 3D Controllers

Abstract

The first graphics controllers were modified oscilloscope or vector scope controllers, made with vacuum tubes. In the 1980s, the suppliers of workstations, graphics terminals, and PCs were building their own graphics controllers based on commercially available integrated circuits in 1981 IBM introduced the PC with a basic AIB called the Color Graphics Adaptor. Matrox Electronics was the first company to build a graphics board for a Micro or Home computer The first company to offer a “AIB” with a bit-mapped programmable display was Hercules. in the early 1990s the PC market was expanding and was an open chaotic wild west environment. Games were always a part of computers, minicomputers, microcomputers, and PCs. Between the hardware and the application is the application program (API) driver. As new hardware entered the market, such as display controllers, the hardware manufacturer had to write the driver in order to be compatible with the existing applications and OS. Often that meant writing a translator that converted the manufacturer’s new hardware’s instructions to look like and behave like a prior piece of equipment. During the 1990s there was the API wars, ended by Microsoft forcing its Direct × API on the industry. Independent Open GL was introduced in 2000 and is still used for professional graphics. The graphics controller is the image generator and the heart of the display system.