J
Jeff Walther
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
As a hobbyist project I would like to design and build a simple video
card. I would appreciate any recommendations of books (or other
references) that address this topic. Ideally, I would like something
which is thorough about all the things that need to be addressed, without
bogging down in too much specific detail--at least not in the first few
chapters.
This is for fun and education, so no pressure. I have a few reference
books and have read the relevant sections in a few text books. I have an
EE degree and about a year of experience doing logic design. I've laid
out a few PCBs and I can do SM soldering on fine pitched parts by hand.
I don't have embedded programming experience, but I have done some
assembly and machine language programming in a couple of classes.
The problem I'm having is that the materials I can find address how to
design cards for a specific platform, but seem to assume that the reader
is familiar with interface card design in general. So they just fill in
the details one needs to work in a specific environment without explaining
the bigger picture of why these details are needed to make the larger
device work.
The materials I've looked at are kind of like learning to program the
first time by reading a book that only covers the syntax of 'C' without
explaining anything about the theory behind programming and how programs
are put together.
One book I have even has an abbreviated video card example, but it assumes
that the reader knows everything there is to know about how computer video
works. For example, I've gathered that some or all video cards generate
an interrupt at the end of a vertical refresh cycle, but I have no idea
why.
Specifically, (when you stop laughing, please suggest a book) I'm trying
to design a simple video card for the old (ca. 1989) Macintosh SE/30. I
have Apple's "Designing Cards and Drivers for the Macintosh Family", 3rd
Edition, and the Inside Macintosh volumes. And a few text books from my
EE schooling that touch on computer architecture and such. But I haven't
seen something that will just flat out explain the logical blocks one
needs to make a video card work, what a monitor expects to come out of the
video card, the concepts behind interfacing a card to host, the chunks of
code (functional descriptions, not listings) that are needed to tie it
together and why they're needed, etc.
The SE/30 has a PDS slot to a 68030 but the software interface is based on
the Mac's NuBus system.
I can probably hack it out with what I know and what I can find, but it
sure would be nice to have an instructional text...
card. I would appreciate any recommendations of books (or other
references) that address this topic. Ideally, I would like something
which is thorough about all the things that need to be addressed, without
bogging down in too much specific detail--at least not in the first few
chapters.
This is for fun and education, so no pressure. I have a few reference
books and have read the relevant sections in a few text books. I have an
EE degree and about a year of experience doing logic design. I've laid
out a few PCBs and I can do SM soldering on fine pitched parts by hand.
I don't have embedded programming experience, but I have done some
assembly and machine language programming in a couple of classes.
The problem I'm having is that the materials I can find address how to
design cards for a specific platform, but seem to assume that the reader
is familiar with interface card design in general. So they just fill in
the details one needs to work in a specific environment without explaining
the bigger picture of why these details are needed to make the larger
device work.
The materials I've looked at are kind of like learning to program the
first time by reading a book that only covers the syntax of 'C' without
explaining anything about the theory behind programming and how programs
are put together.
One book I have even has an abbreviated video card example, but it assumes
that the reader knows everything there is to know about how computer video
works. For example, I've gathered that some or all video cards generate
an interrupt at the end of a vertical refresh cycle, but I have no idea
why.
Specifically, (when you stop laughing, please suggest a book) I'm trying
to design a simple video card for the old (ca. 1989) Macintosh SE/30. I
have Apple's "Designing Cards and Drivers for the Macintosh Family", 3rd
Edition, and the Inside Macintosh volumes. And a few text books from my
EE schooling that touch on computer architecture and such. But I haven't
seen something that will just flat out explain the logical blocks one
needs to make a video card work, what a monitor expects to come out of the
video card, the concepts behind interfacing a card to host, the chunks of
code (functional descriptions, not listings) that are needed to tie it
together and why they're needed, etc.
The SE/30 has a PDS slot to a 68030 but the software interface is based on
the Mac's NuBus system.
I can probably hack it out with what I know and what I can find, but it
sure would be nice to have an instructional text...