SciTech SNAP (System Neutral Access Protocol) is an operating system portable, dynamically loadable, native-size 32-bit/64-bit device driver architecture. SciTech SNAP defines the architecture for loading an operating system neutral binary device driver for any type of hardware device, be it a graphics controller, audio controller, SCSI controller or network controller. SciTech SNAP drivers are source code portable between different microprocessor platforms, and the binary drivers are operating system portable within a particular microprocessor family.
SNAP drivers were originally developed for
Intel 386
The Intel 386, originally released as 80386 and later renamed i386, is a 32-bit microprocessor introduced in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistorsPowerPC CPUs and 64-bit x86-64 CPUs.
On 27 August 2002, SciTech Software, Inc. announced the intention to release the Scitech SNAP driver development kit.
On 16 November 2006, SciTech Software, Inc. announced that it has ceased further development of its SNAP device driver technology in favor of a new line of web and business logic technologies. SciTech also announced that it would begin looking for a buyer for SciTech SNAP.
In December 2008 Alt Richmond Inc. closed the acquisition of SciTech Software's SNAP technology. The plans of SciTech Software in 2008 to create OpenSNAP, an open source version of the driver technology, are therefore no longer an option unless Alt Richmond decides to pick this up.
In May 2015, Arca Noae, LLC announced that they have reached an agreement with Alt Richmond, Inc. to license the source code for SNAP Graphics for OS/2.
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturi ...
or higher, which works with any hardware supported by SDD. In SDD 7, the driver was renamed to Scitech Nucleus Graphics driver. The Nucleus Graphics driver was later incorporated into SciTech SNAP Graphics. In SNAP 3, Nucleus was renamed to SNAP.
SciTech SNAP Graphics version 2 also included VBETest/Lite -
VESA BIOS Extensions
VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) is a VESA standard, currently at version 3, that defines the interface that can be used by software to access compliant video boards at high resolutions and bit depths. This is opposed to the "traditional" int 10h BI ...
(VBE) Compliance Test version 8.00. It was later removed in SciTech SNAP Graphics 3.
In SciTech SNAP 3 for DOS, most of the OpenGL tests from SciTech Display Doctor 7 beta can be found in GACtrl Driver Control Center.
The Windows version of Scitech SNAP Graphics maintained the user interface found in SDD 7 beta.
SciTech SNAP Graphics
It is the first product for the SciTech SNAP line, which provides accelerated graphics.
SciTech SNAP Graphics has been ported to
DOS
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
,
OS/2
OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 r ...
QNX
QNX ( or ) is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. QNX was one of the first commercially successful microkernel operating systems.
The product was originally developed in the early ...
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
, On Time RTOS-32, Unununium OS operating systems. Supported hardware included video processors from 3dfx, 3Dlabs, Alliance Semiconductor, AMD (Geode GX2), ARK Logic, ATI, Chips & Technologies, Cirrus Logic, Cyrix, IBM, InteGraphics, Intel, Matrox, NeoMagic, Number Nine, NVIDIA, Oak, Philips, Rendition, S3, Sigma Designs, Silicon Motion, SiS, Tseng Labs, Trident, VIA, Weitek, as well as any video card supporting VBE 1.2 or higher.
Although SciTech SNAP Graphics does not offer standalone VBE driver, SNAP driver accelerates applications using VBE calls via SciTech SNAP Graphics driver. SNAP Graphics for Windows can also accelerate VBE 3 calls, if DOS programs is run in Windows DOS box.
Spin-off products
* SciTech SNAP Graphics ENT
* SciTech SNAP Graphics ENT/BC with DPVL support (SciTech SNAP Graphics VESA DPVL)
* SciTech SNAP Graphics IES
Personal Edition
SciTech also offer SciTech SNAP Graphics "PE" (Personal Edition) under the My SciTech site, which allows registered users to download a SNAP driver of hardware and operating system specified by users. Each user account can download two drivers per week. The driver generated by the service can be run for six months.
In Scitech SNAP Graphics PE, tools GACtrl, GAMode, GAOption, GAPerf DOS tools are included. The GLDirect tests are not included in Windows driver.
SciTech SNAP Audio
Similar to Scitech SNAP Graphics, it provides OS-independent audio drivers. It has been ported to Windows NT 4.0. Supported hardware include
AC'97
AC'97 (''Audio Codec '97;'' also MC'97 for ''Modem Codec '97'') is an audio codec standard developed by Intel Architecture Labs in 1997. The standard was used in motherboards, modems, and sound cards.
The specification covers two types of compo ...
and Intel HDA, but HDA does not support modem function.
SciTech SNAP DDC
It is designed to provide easy access to an attached display in order to program it directly via
I²C
I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit, ), alternatively known as I2C or IIC, is a synchronous, multi-controller/multi-target (master/slave), packet switched, single-ended, serial communication bus invented in 1982 by Philips Semiconductors. It is wi ...
or simply to read the monitor's
EDID Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) and Enhanced EDID (E-EDID) are metadata formats for display devices to describe their capabilities to a video source (e.g. graphics card or set-top box). The data format is defined by a standard published ...
record.
See also
*
Allegro (software library)
Allegro is a software library for video game development. The functionality of the library includes support for basic 2D graphics, image manipulation, text output, audio output, MIDI music, input and timers, as well as additional routines for fix ...
References
{{Reflist, refs=
Alt Richmond Inc. closed the acquisition of SciTech Software’s SNAP technology /ref>
Arca Noae licenses source code for SNAP Graphics for OS/2 /ref>