Number Nine Visual Technology
Encyclopedia
Number Nine Visual Technology Corporation was a manufacturer of video graphics chips and cards from 1982 to 1999. Number Nine developed the first 128-bit graphics processor (the Imagine 128), as well as the first 256-color and 16.8 million color cards.
The name of the company, as well as many of its products (e.g., Revolution
, Imagine
, Pepper
, Ticket to Ride
) refer to Beatles songs. At system boot up, Number Nine cards' video BIOS
splash screens display short phrases from Beatles songs related to the cards' model names. Card model names were usually preceded by a "#9" moniker. Like 3dfx
, Number Nine often had interesting retail box art.
. The company was renamed Number Nine Visual Technology Corporation in the early 1990s. Number Nine initially made an Apple II accelerator
board, then later moved into the design and manufacture of high end PC graphics cards in 1983. In the mid to late 1990s, Number Nine lost market share due to price and performance competition from other video card makers, particularly Matrox
, 3dfx
, Diamond
, and ATI
. Number Nine had been slow to respond to the boom in 3D graphics, and had continued to emphasize high quality, fast 2D graphics. On December 20, 1999, Number Nine filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced a "letter-of-intent" for S3 Inc. (later S3 Graphics Co.)
to buy substantially all assets and intellectual property of Number Nine. By mid 2000, Number Nine had ceased operations entirely and S3 had completed acquisition of Number Nine's assets. In 2002, two former Number Nine engineers, James Macleod and Francis Bruno, formed Silicon Spectrum, Inc., and licensed Number Nine's graphics technology from S3 to implement in FPGA devices.
For five years after Number Nine closed its doors, a former employee kept Number Nine's website up and running, with driver downloads and a forum available for self-help. A volunteer and #9 enthusiast provided regular, impromptu technical support on the forum for the last two and a half years the site was active. Several former employees checked in to help occasionally. The website finally went off the air for good in March 2005, and the URL name was taken over by an on-line gambling company.
and ISA
graphics cards using S3 Graphics' accelerator chips. Their very last AGP card used an Nvidia GPU.
On their early ISA
cards (1980s, pre-Imagine), Number Nine used Texas Instruments TMS-340x0 co-processors coupled with custom Number Nine-designed application specific chips, which could only handle very primitive graphics functions such as clipping. Nevertheless, this was a major accomplishment back in the day.
The Imagine series GPUs (also called graphics accelerators) were Number Nine's own in-house designs. The Imagine series went through four generations:
The Imagine 128 GPU introduced a full 128-bit graphics processor—GPU, internal processor bus, and memory bus were all 128 bits. However, there was no, or very little, hardware support for 3D graphics operations.
The Imagine 128-II added Gouraud shading
, 32-bit Z-buffering
, double display buffering, and a 256-bit video rendering engine.
The Ticket to Ride (Imagine-3) supported WRAM and both the AGP and PCI busses, had a 3D floating point setup engine, bilinear filtering
and perspective correction, Gouraud shading, alpha blending, interpolated fogging
, specular lighting
, double and triple display buffering, 16-, 24- and 32-bit Z-buffering, MPEG-1
and MPEG-2
, and hardware MIP mapping
.
The Ticket to Ride IV included an integrated 250 MHz RAMDAC
, support for up to 32 MB SDRAM, full scene anti-aliasing, per pixel fog, specular, and alpha effects, 10-level detail per pixel MIP mapping, bilnear and trilinear filtering
, 8 bits per texel
, 8 KB on-chip texture cache, hardware MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and a full IEEE 754 floating point pipeline 3D rendering setup engine.
These graphics accelerators were used on the following Number Nine model video cards:
These 1990s video cards were Number Nine's flagship cards of their day (the Imagine 128 and 128 Series 2 were very expensive). None required a heatsink on the GPU. The original Imagine 128 was introduced in 1994. The Revolution IV was introduced in 1998.
In addition to a standard analog VGA connector
, the Revolution IV-FP (also called the Revolution IV-1600SW) had an OpenLDI
digital interface connector for the Silicon Graphics, Inc (SGI)
1600SW digital flat panel monitor. The Revolution IV-FP was one of only two standard video adapters with the OpenLDI interface for SGI's 1600SW
digital flat panel monitor; the other was the 3Dlabs
Oxygen VX1-1600SW. (SGI's 1600SW video adapters were proprietary to their O2, 320, and 540 graphics workstations. Formac made a limited number of PCI cards with OpenLDI for Apple Macs.)
The OpenLDI
interface is neither physically nor electrically compatible with the modern DVI-D interface. This was the early days of digital video connections, and there were several competing, incompatible standards. OpenLDI for stand-alone displays disappeared, but several aftermarket manufacturers made adapters to convert OpenLDI to DVI-D so more modern video cards would work with the 1600SW monitor.
The 1600SW monitor was far ahead of its time, and was eagerly sought long after it was out of production. For this reason, for a time, Revolution IV-FP and Oxygen VX1-1600SW video cards commanded a premium price in the used market, long after they were out of production.
The S3-based video cards were, in approximate order of introduction:
The TIGA
-based cards were made from about 1986 to 1992. These cards were very expensive in their day, ranging in price from $1000 to $2500 at introduction.
Cards using a Texas Instruments TMS-340xx TIGA
co-processor (in approximate order of introduction):
Ye truly olde cards (no co-processor, pre-1986, pre-VGA standard):
The Revolution series ranged in price from $1995 to $2995 at introduction.
The name of the company, as well as many of its products (e.g., Revolution
Revolution (song)
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The Beatles released two distinct arrangements of the song in 1968: a hard rock version as the B-side of the single "Hey Jude", and a slower version titled "Revolution 1" on the eponymous album The Beatles...
, Imagine
Imagine (song)
"Imagine" is a song written and performed by the English musician John Lennon. It is the opening track on his album Imagine, released in 1971...
, Pepper
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
, Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride
"Ticket to Ride" is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 and released two months later. -Composition:...
) refer to Beatles songs. At system boot up, Number Nine cards' video BIOS
Video BIOS
Video BIOS is the BIOS of a graphics card in a computer.Much the way the system BIOS provides a set of functions that are used by software programs to access the system hardware, the video BIOS provides a set of video-related functions that are used by programs to access the video hardware...
splash screens display short phrases from Beatles songs related to the cards' model names. Card model names were usually preceded by a "#9" moniker. Like 3dfx
3dfx
3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. It was a pioneer in the field for several years in the late 1990s until 2000 when it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry...
, Number Nine often had interesting retail box art.
History
Number Nine was founded in 1982 by Andrew Najda and Stan Bialek as Number Nine Computer Corporation in Lexington, MassachusettsLexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
. The company was renamed Number Nine Visual Technology Corporation in the early 1990s. Number Nine initially made an Apple II accelerator
Apple II accelerators
Apple II accelerators are computer hardware devices which enable an Apple II computer to operate faster than their intended clock rate.Starting in 1977, most Apple II computers operated at a speed of 1 megahertz . That precedent was finally broken 10 years later in 1987 with the introduction of...
board, then later moved into the design and manufacture of high end PC graphics cards in 1983. In the mid to late 1990s, Number Nine lost market share due to price and performance competition from other video card makers, particularly Matrox
Matrox
Matrox is a producer of video card components and equipment for personal computers. Based in Dorval, Quebec, Canada it was founded by Lorne Trottier and Branko Matić....
, 3dfx
3dfx
3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. It was a pioneer in the field for several years in the late 1990s until 2000 when it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry...
, Diamond
Diamond Multimedia
Diamond Multimedia is a company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. They have produced graphics cards, motherboards, modems, sound cards and MP3 players, however the company began with the production of the TrackStar, a PC add-on card which emulated Apple II computers...
, and ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
. Number Nine had been slow to respond to the boom in 3D graphics, and had continued to emphasize high quality, fast 2D graphics. On December 20, 1999, Number Nine filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced a "letter-of-intent" for S3 Inc. (later S3 Graphics Co.)
S3 Graphics
S3 Graphics, Ltd is an American company specializing in graphics chipsets. Although they do not have the large market share that they once had, they still produce graphics accelerators for home computers under the "S3 Chrome" brand name.-History:...
to buy substantially all assets and intellectual property of Number Nine. By mid 2000, Number Nine had ceased operations entirely and S3 had completed acquisition of Number Nine's assets. In 2002, two former Number Nine engineers, James Macleod and Francis Bruno, formed Silicon Spectrum, Inc., and licensed Number Nine's graphics technology from S3 to implement in FPGA devices.
For five years after Number Nine closed its doors, a former employee kept Number Nine's website up and running, with driver downloads and a forum available for self-help. A volunteer and #9 enthusiast provided regular, impromptu technical support on the forum for the last two and a half years the site was active. Several former employees checked in to help occasionally. The website finally went off the air for good in March 2005, and the URL name was taken over by an on-line gambling company.
Number Nine Video Cards and Graphics Accelerator Chips
Number Nine made AGP and PCI graphics cards with their own proprietary graphics accelerators (the Imagine line GPUs). Contemporaneously, Number Nine made AGP, PCI, VLBVESA Local Bus
The VESA Local Bus was mostly used in personal computers. VESA Local Bus worked alongside the ISA bus; it acted as a high-speed conduit for memory-mapped I/O and DMA, while the ISA bus handled interrupts and port-mapped I/O.-Historical overview:In the early 1990s, the I/O bandwidth of...
and ISA
Industry Standard Architecture
Industry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
graphics cards using S3 Graphics' accelerator chips. Their very last AGP card used an Nvidia GPU.
On their early ISA
Industry Standard Architecture
Industry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
cards (1980s, pre-Imagine), Number Nine used Texas Instruments TMS-340x0 co-processors coupled with custom Number Nine-designed application specific chips, which could only handle very primitive graphics functions such as clipping. Nevertheless, this was a major accomplishment back in the day.
Number Nine Proprietary Graphics Processors and Video Cards
The Imagine series GPUs (also called graphics accelerators) were Number Nine's own in-house designs. The Imagine series went through four generations:
- Imagine 128 (Imagine)
- Imagine 128-II (Imagine2)
- T2R (marked "Ticket to Ride"; sometimes marked "Imagine-3")
- T2R4 (marked "Ticket to Ride IV").
The Imagine 128 GPU introduced a full 128-bit graphics processor—GPU, internal processor bus, and memory bus were all 128 bits. However, there was no, or very little, hardware support for 3D graphics operations.
The Imagine 128-II added Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading, named after Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by polygon meshes...
, 32-bit Z-buffering
Z-buffering
In computer graphics, z-buffering is the management of image depth coordinates in three-dimensional graphics, usually done in hardware, sometimes in software. It is one solution to the visibility problem, which is the problem of deciding which elements of a rendered scene are visible, and which...
, double display buffering, and a 256-bit video rendering engine.
The Ticket to Ride (Imagine-3) supported WRAM and both the AGP and PCI busses, had a 3D floating point setup engine, bilinear filtering
Bilinear filtering
Bilinear filtering is a texture filtering method used to smooth textures when displayed larger or smaller than they actually are.Most of the time, when drawing a textured shape on the screen, the texture is not displayed exactly as it is stored, without any distortion...
and perspective correction, Gouraud shading, alpha blending, interpolated fogging
Distance fog
Distance fog is a technique used in 3D computer graphics to enhance the perception of distance by simulating fog.Because many of the shapes in graphical environments are relatively simple, and complex shadows are difficult to render, many graphics engines employ a "fog" gradient so objects further...
, specular lighting
Specular highlight
A specular highlight is the bright spot of light that appears on shiny objects when illuminated . Specular highlights are important in 3D computer graphics, as they provide a strong visual cue for the shape of an object and its location with respect to light sources in the scene.-Microfacets:The...
, double and triple display buffering, 16-, 24- and 32-bit Z-buffering, MPEG-1
MPEG-1
MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...
and MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
, and hardware MIP mapping
Mipmap
In 3D computer graphics texture filtering, MIP maps are pre-calculated, optimized collections of images that accompany a main texture, intended to increase rendering speed and reduce aliasing artifacts. They are widely used in 3D computer games, flight simulators and other 3D imaging systems. The...
.
The Ticket to Ride IV included an integrated 250 MHz RAMDAC
RAMDAC
Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter is a combination of three fast DACs with a small SRAM used in computer graphics display adapters to store the color palette and to generate the analog signals to drive a color monitor...
, support for up to 32 MB SDRAM, full scene anti-aliasing, per pixel fog, specular, and alpha effects, 10-level detail per pixel MIP mapping, bilnear and trilinear filtering
Trilinear filtering
Trilinear filtering is an extension of the bilinear texture filtering method, which also performs linear interpolation between mipmaps.Bilinear filtering has several weaknesses that make it an unattractive choice in many cases: using it on a full-detail texture when scaling to a very small size...
, 8 bits per texel
Texel (graphics)
A texel, or texture element is the fundamental unit of texture space, used in computer graphics. Textures are represented by arrays of texels, just as pictures are represented by arrays of pixels....
, 8 KB on-chip texture cache, hardware MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and a full IEEE 754 floating point pipeline 3D rendering setup engine.
These graphics accelerators were used on the following Number Nine model video cards:
| #9 Model | #9 GPU | Memory | PC Bus Architecture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imagine 128 | Imagine 128 | 4M, 8M VRAM | PCI |
| Imagine 128 Series 2 | Imagine 128-II | 4M, 8M H-VRAM | PCI |
| Imagine 128 Series 2e | Imagine 128-II | 4M EDO DRAM | PCI |
| Revolution 3D | T2R | 4M or 8M (base), 12M, 16M WRAM | PCI, AGP |
| Revolution IV | T2R4 | 16M, 32M SDRAM | PCI, AGP |
| Revolution IV-FP | T2R4 | 32M SDRAM | PCI, AGP |
These 1990s video cards were Number Nine's flagship cards of their day (the Imagine 128 and 128 Series 2 were very expensive). None required a heatsink on the GPU. The original Imagine 128 was introduced in 1994. The Revolution IV was introduced in 1998.
In addition to a standard analog VGA connector
VGA connector
A Video Graphics Array connector is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many video cards, computer monitors, and some high definition television sets...
, the Revolution IV-FP (also called the Revolution IV-1600SW) had an OpenLDI
OpenLDI
OpenLDI is a high-bandwidth digital interface standard for connecting flat panel LCD monitors to computers. While it is virtually unknown in standalone displays, it has a strong basis in the interconnect for internal displays, as in laptops. OpenLDI is based on the de-facto FPD-Link specification...
digital interface connector for the Silicon Graphics, Inc (SGI)
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
1600SW digital flat panel monitor. The Revolution IV-FP was one of only two standard video adapters with the OpenLDI interface for SGI's 1600SW
SGI 1600SW
The 1600SW is a widescreen flat panel video monitor from Silicon Graphics introduced in 1998. It won many awards after release and sold 54,000 units...
digital flat panel monitor; the other was the 3Dlabs
3Dlabs
3DLABS was the name of the fabless semiconductor company that originally developed the GLINT and PERMEDIA high-end graphics chip technology that was used on many of the worlds leading computer graphics cards in the CAD and DCC markets, including its own Wildcat and Oxygen cards.In 2006 the company...
Oxygen VX1-1600SW. (SGI's 1600SW video adapters were proprietary to their O2, 320, and 540 graphics workstations. Formac made a limited number of PCI cards with OpenLDI for Apple Macs.)
The OpenLDI
OpenLDI
OpenLDI is a high-bandwidth digital interface standard for connecting flat panel LCD monitors to computers. While it is virtually unknown in standalone displays, it has a strong basis in the interconnect for internal displays, as in laptops. OpenLDI is based on the de-facto FPD-Link specification...
interface is neither physically nor electrically compatible with the modern DVI-D interface. This was the early days of digital video connections, and there were several competing, incompatible standards. OpenLDI for stand-alone displays disappeared, but several aftermarket manufacturers made adapters to convert OpenLDI to DVI-D so more modern video cards would work with the 1600SW monitor.
The 1600SW monitor was far ahead of its time, and was eagerly sought long after it was out of production. For this reason, for a time, Revolution IV-FP and Oxygen VX1-1600SW video cards commanded a premium price in the used market, long after they were out of production.
Number Nine Video Cards with Heatsinks
Number Nine's last two graphics cards were the only ones to require heatsinks on the GPU. Both outperformed the Revolution IV.- The SR9 was Number Nine's last retail card. It used an S3 Savage4 GPU with a small heatsink on the GPU.
- An OEM-only AGP card using an NvidiaNVIDIANvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
TNT2-M64 GPU and [16M? or] 32M SDRAM. The heatsink is larger than the one on the SR9. This Nvidia-based card has been variously called (probably unofficially) the "M64" or "Pepper M32," but it was never a retail, end-user product.
Number Nine Video Cards using S3 Graphics Processors
Number Nine had a close business relationship with S3 throughout the 1990s. While the Imagine series GPUs and cards were Number Nine's flagship product, contemporaneously, Number Nine produced a series of less expensive video graphics cards using S3's GPUs. The S3-based cards were usually introduced in groups of three, at three price points below the Imagine cards. They carried the same model name, but different model numbers and GPUs. Except for the SR9, Number Nine's last, best S3 card, none of these video cards had heatsinks on the graphics processing chip (GPU).The S3-based video cards were, in approximate order of introduction:
| #9 Model | S3 GPU | Memory | PC Bus Architecture |
|---|---|---|---|
| GXE | 928 | 1M, 2M, 4M VRAM | ISA, VLB, PCI |
| GXE 64 | 864 | 1M, 2M DRAM | ISA?, VLB, PCI |
| GXE 64 Pro | 964 | 2M, 4M VRAM | ISA?, VLB, PCI |
| GXE 64/S3 Trio | 764 (Trio) | 1M, 2M DRAM | ISA?, VLB, PCI |
| Vision 330 | 764 (Trio) | 1M, 2M DRAM | VLB, PCI |
| Motion 331 | 765 (Trio V+) | 1M, 2M DRAM | VLB, PCI |
| Motion 531 | 868 | 1M, 2M DRAM | VLB, PCI |
| Motion 771 | 968 | 2M, 4M VRAM | VLB, PCI |
| Reality 332 | 325 (ViRGE) | 2M EDO DRAM | PCI |
| Reality 772 | 988 (ViRGE VX) | 2M, 4M VRAM | PCI |
| Reality 334 | 357 (ViRGE GX2) | 4M SGRAM | PCI, AGP |
| SR9 | Savage4 (small heatsink on GPU) | 8M (some OEM), 16M, 32M SDRAM | PCI, AGP |
Early Number Nine Graphics Cards
With the exception of the GXi Lite, all of these 1980s to early 1990s era graphics cards were large, full length cards.The TIGA
Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture
Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture was a graphics interface standard created by Texas Instruments that defined the software interface to graphics processors...
-based cards were made from about 1986 to 1992. These cards were very expensive in their day, ranging in price from $1000 to $2500 at introduction.
Cards using a Texas Instruments TMS-340xx TIGA
Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture
Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture was a graphics interface standard created by Texas Instruments that defined the software interface to graphics processors...
co-processor (in approximate order of introduction):
| #9 Model | TIGA co-processor | Memory | PC Bus Architecture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pepper | TMS-34010 | ?? | ISA |
| Pepper SGT | TMS-34010 | 1M, 4M? | ISA |
| Pepper Pro 1024 | TMS-34010 | 1.5M, 2M | MCA Micro Channel architecture Micro Channel Architecture was a proprietary 16- or 32-bit parallel computer bus introduced by IBM in 1987 which was used on PS/2 and other computers through the mid 1990s.- Background :... , ISA |
| Pepper Pro 1280 | TMS-34010 | ?? | MCA?, ISA |
| Pepper Pro 1600 | TMS-34010 | ?? | MCA?, ISA |
| GX | TMS-34010? | ?? 1M DRAM? + 2M VRAM? | MCA?, ISA |
| GXi Lite | TMS-34020 | 1M DRAM + 1M VRAM | MCA?, ISA |
| GXi | TMS-34020 | 1M DRAM + 2M VRAM | MCA?, ISA |
| GXiTC | TMS-34020 | 1M? DRAM + 4M VRAM | MCA?, ISA |
Ye truly olde cards (no co-processor, pre-1986, pre-VGA standard):
| #9 Model | Display Resolution | Color Palette | PC Bus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number Nine Graphics System | CGA Color Graphics Adapter The Color Graphics Adapter , originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card, and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC.... |
CGA | ISA | |
| Revolution 512x8 | 512×480 | 256 colors selectable from a palette of 16.7 million | ISA | uses NEC µPD7220 NEC µPD7220 The High-Performance Graphics Display Controller 7220 is a video interface controller developed by NEC and used among others in its APC III computers and the Epson QX-10.A CMOS variant is called µPD72020.-Internals:... |
| Revolution 512x32 | 512×480 | 245,760 colors selectable from a palette of 16.7 million | ISA | uses NEC µPD7220 |
| Revolution 1024x8 | 1024×768 from 1024×1024 | 256 colors selectable from a palette of 16.7 million | ISA | |
| Revolution 2048x4 | 1280×960 from 2048×1024 | 16 colors selectable from a palette of 4096 | ISA |
The Revolution series ranged in price from $1995 to $2995 at introduction.