Elan Graphics

Elan Graphics is a computer graphics architecture for Silicon Graphics computer workstations. Elan Graphics was developed in 1991 and was available as a high-end graphics option on workstations released during the mid-1990s as part of the Express Graphics architectures family. Elan Graphics gives the workstation real-time 2D and 3D graphics rendering capability similar to that of even high-end PCs made over ten years after Elan's introduction, with the exception of texture mapping. [http://www.obsolyte.com/sgi_indigo/] Elan Graphics systems consist of four Geometry Engines and one Raster Engine.

Elan Graphics consists of five graphics subsystems: the Command Engine, Geometry Subsystem, Raster Engine, framebuffer and Display Subsystem. Elan Graphics can produce resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 pixels with 24-bit color and can also process unencoded NTSC and PAL analog television signals. The Elan Graphics system is made up of five daughterboards that plug into the main workstation motherboard.

The Elan Graphics architecture was superseded by SGI's Extreme Graphics architecture on Indigo2 models and eventually by the IMPACT graphics architecture in 1995. [http://retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/indy.html]

External links

* [http://www.irisindigo.com/elan/ElanTR.html ElanTR - Elan Graphics Technical Report]