Evaluating computer graphics systems organizations

In many situations the potential user of a high-performance computer graphics system must not only select a specific system, but he must also determine which generic type of system best serves his needs. Of course, this is not always the case because frequently he is constrained by the local environment; an appropriate graphics system may already exist or the biases of the computing scene may favor a particular system organization. Never the less, the potential user may still have to select among several different graphics systems. We will be discussing high-performance graphics systems. By this is meant the ability to display at least a few thousand lines and most likely hardware capability for rotation, translation, and clipping of the image. The term graphics device or display includes the actual display tube and associated driving electronics, any special-purpose hardware and possibly a small computer if the computer is used strictly to control the graphics device and is not available for general-purpose computing even if such computing is related to the graphics application.