The NeXTdimension (ND) is an accelerated

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

color board manufactured and sold by

NeXT NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

from 1991Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful ...
By Owen W. Linzmayer, Page 215, "...1990 August: NeXTdimension introduced...1991 April: NeXTdimension ships minus compression chip..." that gives the NeXTcube color graphics capabilities. It is a NeXTBus ( NuBus-like) full size card for the NeXTcube, filling one of the four slots in the machine, another one being used by the original CPU board. The list price for a NeXTdimension sold as an add-on to the NeXTcube was , and another for the MegaPixel Color Display. The NeXTdimension is based on the Intel i860

64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing units (CPU) and arithmetic logic units (ALU) are those that are based on processor registers, a ...

RISC In electronics and computer science, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer architecture designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a comp ...

processor running at 33 MHz. A stripped down Mach kernel was ported to the i860, and the system's software runs under that kernel. It includes 8 MB main memory (expandable to 64 MB via eight 72-pin SIMM slots) and 4 MB VRAM for a resolution of 1120x832 at 24-bit color plus 8-bit alpha channel. The resulting system is so fast that it produces 24-bit color graphics faster than the original system's 2-bit greyscale. Output is via a DB13W3 RGB connection to a monitor, and also includes S-Video input and output. Because the main board includes the greyscale video logic, each NeXTdimension allows the simultaneous use of an additional monitor. Up to three NeXTdimension cards could be installed in a single machine, but they would have to be connected to separate monitors. The NeXTdimension was originally designed to run the entire Display PostScript (DPS) system on the i860, offloading the rendering of DPS to pixels to the card. This would have offered even greater performance improvements as the amount of data travelling from the 68040 CPU to the i860 would be reduced, and the large amount of data output from the DPS instructions would move about entirely on the card, avoiding trips across the NeXTBus. This functionality was not completed in time for release, and development was never completed. As a result, much of the system's theoretical performance was never realized. When it was first announced, the system was to also include a C-Cube CL550 chip for

MJPEG Motion JPEG (M-JPEG or MJPEG) is a video compression format in which each video frame or interlaced field of a digital video sequence is compressed separately as a JPEG image. Originally developed for multimedia PC applications, Motion JPE ...

video compression, but an estimated three-month delay in delivering the CL550 caused NeXT to redesign the product without it and instead adding a connector to accept a daughterboard providing image compression functionality. Few engineering prototypes for the MJPEG daughterboard exist. The card also included two S-video ports and two

composite video Composite video, also known as CVBS (composite video baseband signal or color, video, blanking and sync), is an analog video format that combines image information—such as brightness (luminance), color (chrominance), and synchronization, int ...

ports, which could output up to 640 x 480 video in

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

format, as well as be used as inputs. If equipped with the CL550, the system was to have supported a single 640 x 480 window running 30 frames per second video output, significantly higher resolution than the Apple QuickTime system, introduced the same year, which used only the internal CPU and graphics hardware.

References

External links

www.vamp.org/next/
Site for ND owners, featuring ND mailing list, ND faq and more
NeXTComputers.org

{{NeXT Computer NeXT Graphics cards

See also

References

External links