Artist TI12 Video card. Need more info.

[NeXT]

It looked cool when I first bought it for five bucks but I have honestly no idea how good it is.

As seen, aside from the VGA port it also has a second output using BNC connections. I have no documentation on it or any drivers. Does anyone else have an idea what it is like or where I can get more info on it?

EDIT: Actually, I think this should be in Vintage Computer Hardware and not here. :/

 

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought I saw a TI chip on it. It might be a TIGA. In that case you can use standard TIGA drivers. Windows 3.1 comes with them.

 

[paul]

I think this would have cost at least $1500 new. I remember the "Artist 1" (and possibly "2") cards were the cat's meow for AutoCAD and PCAD well before this model.

We were looking at getting one of these later ones just before the VLB and PCI buses came out, which effectively negated much of the advantge.

 

[NeXT]

I think this would have cost at least $1500 new. I remember the "Artist 1" (and possibly "2") cards were the cat's meow for AutoCAD and PCAD well before this model.

We were looking at getting one of these later ones just before the VLB and PCI buses came out, which effectively negated much of the advantge.

How good were they with graphics?
I know it's no IrisVision card set (Still looking for one of those as I am a fan of SGI gear) but how well does it perform in say Windows 3.1?
EIDT: Also, do the two sets of dip switches do anything special?

 

[paul]

I really don't know much about this board and a few minutes of googling indicated that there is nothing out there. Even Wiki doesn't mention this company.

All you can do is try it with Win3.1. At least it has a VGA port and almost for sure provides basic boot-level PC video card functionality.

The Artist 1 was a double PCB and had a proprietary video connection with a single-scan output, typical of boards of that vintage, plus it did not provide BIOS level functionality - you still needed a standard MDA, CGA, or VGA card.

 

[NeXT]

The Artist 1 was a double PCB and had a proprietary video connection with a single-scan output, typical of boards of that vintage, plus it did not provide BIOS level functionality - you still needed a standard MDA, CGA, or VGA card.

I have a Rubbermaid tub filled to the brim with cards. I'll give one of them a try.

 

[squirrel-steam]

Wow, is it me or does that have a AMD processor on it? Is it like a early gpu?

 

[paul]

TIGA was quite a well-known GPU from TI. Look on Wiki, lots of info.

 

[NeXT]

BuMP.
I'm dropping this card into an AT clone (wish it was a REAL AT) tonight and I'm wondering if there are any drivers for it that will enable/improve how it performs.

 

[Unknown_K]

What are the pin sockets near the edge connector for, daughter card?

 

[NeXT]

What are the pin sockets near the edge connector for, daughter card?

It's possible but the traces just lead to the ISA edge connector. I have something similar on my Gravis UltraSound card (gosh, I really have to get that working some day)

 

[NeXT]

It's weird coming back and finding the thread you made 15 years ago is STILL the first google result... >_>

So I was recently given a rather large Mitsubishi fixed-frequency display and it reminded me I still had this card.
It never made it into a machine. The above mentioned requirement of a second video card ultimately got in my way at the time and I set it aside when I found something else that was shiny.
As mentioned, yes the card as-is lacks a video BIOS, so without a primary video display this does nothing and displays nothing. The idea was you had it as your idling secondary display until you fired up something like AutoCAD and it loaded a display driver. If you wanted it to double as your main video display I can answer the question about what the pin headers are for and it's for a VGA paddleboard and memory expansion.


https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1990-05_OCR/page/n269/mode/1up

The card is otherwise as we all predicted and is a TIGA card. The benchmarking in 1990 gave it almost the top-marks for performance and it was very expensive indeed.

1280- BY 1024-PIXEL RESOLUTION
Artist Til2
Artist Graphics A Control Systems Company 2675 Patton RcJ.
St. Paul, MN 55113 (612)631-7800
As reviewed (includes 1.25 MB of video RAM, 3 MB of DRAM, and VGA module): $6685

I have never found software or documentation for the card. Interestingly, right now there is another one that is complete for 4500 euros in Germany and while I'm serial 48, they are serial 41. There must not of been a lot of these cards made.