Editing Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture

{{Short description|Computer graphics card and interface standard}}
{{Multiple issues|{{no footnotes|date=October 2011}}
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{{Infobox GPU
| name = Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture
| image =
| codename =
| created = {{Start date and age|1989}}
| transistors =
| entry = TIGA-340 ([[TMS34010]] Graphics System Processors based)
| midrange = [[Number Nine Visual Technology]] Peeper and GX series, [[Hercules Computer Technology|Hercules]] Graphics Station and Chrome, [[Texas Instruments]] TIGA Diamond and TIGA Star
| highend =
| enthusiast =
| openglversion =
| d3dversion =
| predecessor = [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]]
| successor = [[VESA]], [[Super VGA]]
|architecture=[[TMS34010]], TMS34020}}
[[File:KL_TIGA_Spea.jpg|thumb|TIGA Add On card with TI TMS34020]]
[[File:KL_TI_TMS34020.jpg|thumb|GSP Texas Instruments TMS34020]]
[[File:Grafikkarte-Tiga.jpg|thumb|TIGA Add On card with [[Intel i860]]]]

'''Texas Instruments Graphics Architecture''' (TIGA) is a graphics [[interface standard]] created by [[Texas Instruments]] that defined the software interface to [[Graphics processing unit|graphics processors]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/spvu015c/spvu015c.pdf |title=TMS340 Interface User's Guide |publisher=Texas Instruments |year=1990}}</ref> Using this standard, any software written for TIGA should work correctly on a TIGA-compliant graphics interface card.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/spvu027/spvu027.pdf |title=TMS340 FAMILY GRAPHICS LIBRARY USER'S GUIDE |publisher=Texas Instruments |year=1990}}</ref>

The TIGA standard is independent of resolution and [[color depth]] which provides a certain degree of [[future proof]]ing. This standard was designed for high-end graphics. However, TIGA was not widely adopted. Instead, [[VESA]] and [[Super VGA]] became the ''de facto'' standard for PC graphics devices after the [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]]. Texas Instrument's [[TMS34010]] and TMS34020 Graphics System Processors (GSP) were the original TIGA-compliant graphics processors.<ref name="Inc.1991">{{Cite news |last=Corcoran |first=Cate |date=December 16, 1991 |title=Rocket-Fuel, Jet-Fuel speed SCO Open Desktop |pages=32 |work=InfoWorld |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HD0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Poor |first1=Alfred |date=June 25, 1991 |title=Cover Story: Graphics Adapters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXn-87kyJksC&pg=PT115 |journal=PC Magazine}}</ref>

==Clone Hardware==
The primary manufacturers of mainstream TIGA cards for the PC clone market included [[Number Nine Visual Technology]] and [[Hercules Computer Technology|Hercules]]. [[Number Nine Visual Technology]] graphics cards using Texas Instruments' TIGA co-processors were made from about 1986 to 1992, including the ''[[Number Nine Visual Technology#TIGA cards|Pepper]]'' and ''[[Number Nine Visual Technology#TIGA cards|GX]]'' series.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peddie |first=Jon |title=Famous Graphics Chips: Number Nine's Imagine 128 |url=https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/chasing-pixels/famous-graphics-chips-number-nines-imagine-128/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=IEEE Computer Society |date=13 May 2019 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pane |first=Patricia |date=November 20, 1989 |title=Number Nine Announces Series of Graphics Cards |pages=26 |work=InfoWorld |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDAEAAAAMBAJ&dq=number+nine+computer+corporation+pepper&pg=PT25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Huth |first=Michael |title=Number Nine GXiTC |url=http://retronn.de/imports/hwgal/hw_n9_gxitc_front.html |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=retronn.de}}</ref>'' [[Hercules Computer Technology|Hercules]] manufactured cards such as the ''Graphics Station'' and ''Chrome'' lines which were marketed primarily toward users of [[Microsoft Windows]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Benford |first=Tom |date=October 1992 |title=Hercules Graphics Station Gold 16 |pages=118 |work=COMPUTE! |issue=145 |url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue145/118_Hercules_Graphics_St.php}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Unger |first=Tom |date=January 15, 1991 |title=Hercules Graphics Station Card |pages=187 |work=PC Magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwMCsPuGSLEC&dq=hercules+Graphics+Station&pg=PT196}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 26, 1991 |title=Hercules advert |pages=228 |work=PC Magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIpQYrLA2GIC&dq=hercules+graphics+station&pg=PT241}}</ref>

Desktop Computing ''AGA 1024'' card was capable of emulating TIGA standards, besides IBM 8514.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ross |first=Matthew |date=May 15, 1990 |title=New and Improved - Improved AGA 1024 |pages=56 |work=PC Magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/PC_Magazine_1990-05-15_v9n09/page/n67/mode/2up}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, Texas Instruments France (which had marketing control for TIGA architecture and GSP chipsets in Europe) experimented with manufacturing and selling its own range of consumer oriented video cards based on TIGA and aimed at speeding up the user experience of Windows. These products were named ''TIGA Diamond'' (34020 based) and ''TIGA Star'' (34010 based), and provided a platform for selling TI DRAM and video palette chips as well as the GSP chips themselves.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Axel |date=2017-01-04 |title=TIGA - The basic stuff |url=https://www.geekdot.com/tiga-basics/ |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=GeekDot |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Impact==
Despite the superiority of the technology in comparison to typical Super VGA cards of the era, the relatively high cost and emerging local bus graphics standards meant that IT distributors and PC manufacturers could not see a niche for these products at consumer level.

The (limited) success of the graphics cards paved the way for products based upon various derivatives and clones of IBM's [[8514]] architecture.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023|reason=Not sure how an architecture from 1989 can pave the way for clones from 1987+.}} Part of the effort to make graphics accelerators useful required TI to convince Microsoft that the internal interfaces to its Windows Operating System had to be adaptable instead of hard-coded. Indeed, all versions of Windows prior to [[Windows 3.0]] were "[[Hard coding|hard-coded]]" to specific graphics hardware.

== See also ==
* [[TMS34010]]
* [[Number Nine Visual Technology#TIGA cards|Number Nine Visual Technology TIGA cards]]
* [[VESA]]
* [[Super VGA]]
* [[8514|IBM 8514]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*TMS340 Interface User's Guide [http://focus.ti.com/lit/ug/spvu015c/spvu015c.pdf spvu015c]
*TMS340 FAMILY GRAPHICS LIBRARY USER'S GUIDE [http://focus.ti.com/lit/ug/spvu027/spvu027.pdf spvu027]

[[Category:Texas Instruments hardware]]
[[Category:Graphics cards]]
{{Computer display standard}}

{{compu-hardware-stub}}