Matrox
Encyclopedia
Matrox is a producer of video card components and equipment for personal computer
s. Based in Dorval, Quebec
, Canada
it was founded by Lorne Trottier
and Branko Matić.
Matrox is an umbrella name for two legal entities: first, Matrox Graphics Inc., the entity most recognized by the public which has been making graphics cards for over 30 years; second, Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd., a company comprising two divisions: Imaging—making frame grabbers—and Digital Video Solutions—making video-editing products for professional markets.
computers, released in 1978. The ALT-256 produced a 256 by 256 pixel monochrome display by "racing the beam"; having the host CPU set registers on the fly to produce bit patterns as the screen was being drawn (see Atari 2600
for details). This mode of operation meant the ALT-256 required no frame double buffering. An expanded version followed, the ALT-512, both available for Intel SBC bus machines as well. Through the 1980s, Matrox's cards followed changes in the hardware side of the market, to Multibus
and then the variety of PC standards.
During the 1990s, the Matrox Millennium series of cards attracted buyers willing to pay for a higher quality and sharper display. In 1994 Matrox introduced the Matrox Impression, an add-on card that worked in conjunction with a Millennium card to provide 3D acceleration. The Impression was aimed primarily at the CAD
market. A later version of the Millennium included features similar to the Impression but by this time the series was lagging behind emerging vendors like 3dfx Interactive. Matrox made several attempts to increase its share of the market for 3D-capable cards. The Matrox Mystique
, released in 1996, was the company's first attempt to make a card with good gaming performance and with pricing suitable for that market. The product had good 2D and 3D performance but produced poor 3D images with the result that it was derided in reviews, being compared unfavorably with the Voodoo1 and even being nicknamed the "Matrox Mystake".
Another attempt was the Matrox G100 and G200
. The G200 was sold as two models, the Millennium G200 was a higher-end version typically equipped with 8 MB SGRAM memory, while the Mystique G200 used slower SDRAM memory but added a TV-out port. The G200 offered competent 3D performance for the first time, but was released shortly before a new generation of cards from Nvidia
and ATI
which completely outperformed it. Later versions in the Matrox G400
series were never able to regain the crown, and despite huge claims for the Matrox Parhelia
, their performance continued to be quickly outpaced by the major players.
Since then, Matrox has continued to shift the focus of its card designs towards specialized, niche markets, moving more deeply into enterprise, industrial, and government applications. In recent years they have held no more than a 3–5% share of the total video card market. Matrox is now divided in three divisions: Matrox Graphics, Matrox Video, and Matrox Imaging. Matrox Graphics is the primary consumer and end-user brand, while Matrox Video markets digital video editing solutions, and Matrox Imaging sells high-end video capture systems and "smart cameras", video cameras with a built-in computer for machine vision
applications.
driver for the G550 card which comes with a binary blob
to enable some additional functionality. These drivers were tested and are allegedly supported for quite old distributions [ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/archive/linux/2009/1.4.7/readme.txt]. In fact they don't work on newer kernels and XOrg server versions. In addition to the proprietary drivers provided by Matrox, the DRI
community has provided drivers under the GPL licence for many more of the devices.
Companies
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s. Based in Dorval, Quebec
Dorval, Quebec
Dorval is a city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, the population increased by 2.2% to 18,088. Although the city has the largest surface area in the West Island, it is among the least densely populated...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
it was founded by Lorne Trottier
Lorne Trottier
Lorne M. Trottier, CM is a co-founder of Matrox, a computer corporation that specializes in computer graphics.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Trottier graduated from Baron Byng High School and thereafter received a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering in 1970 and a Masters of Engineering in...
and Branko Matić.
Matrox is an umbrella name for two legal entities: first, Matrox Graphics Inc., the entity most recognized by the public which has been making graphics cards for over 30 years; second, Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd., a company comprising two divisions: Imaging—making frame grabbers—and Digital Video Solutions—making video-editing products for professional markets.
History
Matrox's first graphics card product was the ALT-256 for S-100 busS-100 bus
The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE696-1983 , was an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800, generally considered today to be the first personal computer...
computers, released in 1978. The ALT-256 produced a 256 by 256 pixel monochrome display by "racing the beam"; having the host CPU set registers on the fly to produce bit patterns as the screen was being drawn (see Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
for details). This mode of operation meant the ALT-256 required no frame double buffering. An expanded version followed, the ALT-512, both available for Intel SBC bus machines as well. Through the 1980s, Matrox's cards followed changes in the hardware side of the market, to Multibus
Multibus
Multibus is a computer bus standard used in industrial systems. It was developed by Intel Corporation and was adopted as the IEEE 796 bus.The Multibus specification was important because it was a robust, well-thought out industry standard with a relatively large form factor so complex devices could...
and then the variety of PC standards.
During the 1990s, the Matrox Millennium series of cards attracted buyers willing to pay for a higher quality and sharper display. In 1994 Matrox introduced the Matrox Impression, an add-on card that worked in conjunction with a Millennium card to provide 3D acceleration. The Impression was aimed primarily at the CAD
Computer-aided design
Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
market. A later version of the Millennium included features similar to the Impression but by this time the series was lagging behind emerging vendors like 3dfx Interactive. Matrox made several attempts to increase its share of the market for 3D-capable cards. The Matrox Mystique
Matrox Mystique
The Mystique and Mystique 220 are 2D, 3D, and video accelerator cards for personal computers designed by Matrox, using the VGA connector. The original Mystique was released in 1996, with the slightly upgraded Mystique 220 coming in 1997.-History:...
, released in 1996, was the company's first attempt to make a card with good gaming performance and with pricing suitable for that market. The product had good 2D and 3D performance but produced poor 3D images with the result that it was derided in reviews, being compared unfavorably with the Voodoo1 and even being nicknamed the "Matrox Mystake".
Another attempt was the Matrox G100 and G200
Matrox G200
The G200 is a 2D, 3D, and video accelerator chip for personal computers designed by Matrox. It was released in 1998.-History:Matrox had been known for years as a significant player in the high-end 2D graphics accelerator market. Cards they produced were excellent Windows accelerators, and some of...
. The G200 was sold as two models, the Millennium G200 was a higher-end version typically equipped with 8 MB SGRAM memory, while the Mystique G200 used slower SDRAM memory but added a TV-out port. The G200 offered competent 3D performance for the first time, but was released shortly before a new generation of cards from Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
and ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
which completely outperformed it. Later versions in the Matrox G400
Matrox G400
The G400 is a video card made by Matrox, released in September 1999. The graphics processor contains a 2D GUI, video, and Direct3D 6.0 3D accelerator...
series were never able to regain the crown, and despite huge claims for the Matrox Parhelia
Matrox Parhelia
Matrox Parhelia-512 is a GPU with full support for DirectX 8.1 and incorporating several DirectX 9.0 features. It was best known for its ability to drive three monitors and its Coral Reef tech demo.-Background:...
, their performance continued to be quickly outpaced by the major players.
Since then, Matrox has continued to shift the focus of its card designs towards specialized, niche markets, moving more deeply into enterprise, industrial, and government applications. In recent years they have held no more than a 3–5% share of the total video card market. Matrox is now divided in three divisions: Matrox Graphics, Matrox Video, and Matrox Imaging. Matrox Graphics is the primary consumer and end-user brand, while Matrox Video markets digital video editing solutions, and Matrox Imaging sells high-end video capture systems and "smart cameras", video cameras with a built-in computer for machine vision
Machine vision
Machine vision is the process of applying a range of technologies and methods to provide imaging-based automatic inspection, process control and robot guidance in industrial applications. While the scope of MV is broad and a comprehensive definition is difficult to distil, a "generally accepted...
applications.
Driver support
To support Unix and Linux, Matrox has released only binary drivers for most of their product line and one partially open sourceOpen source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
driver for the G550 card which comes with a binary blob
Binary blob
In the free software community, binary blob is a pejorative term for an object file loaded into the kernel of a open source operating system without publicly available source code...
to enable some additional functionality. These drivers were tested and are allegedly supported for quite old distributions [ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/archive/linux/2009/1.4.7/readme.txt]. In fact they don't work on newer kernels and XOrg server versions. In addition to the proprietary drivers provided by Matrox, the DRI
Direct Rendering Infrastructure
In computing, the Direct Rendering Infrastructure is an interface and a free software implementation used in the X Window System to securely allow user applications to access the video hardware without requiring data to be passed through the X server. Its primary application is to provide...
community has provided drivers under the GPL licence for many more of the devices.
See also
- Computer graphicsComputer graphicsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
- Graphics chip
- Graphics processing unitGraphics processing unitA graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
- Matrox RT.X100RT.X100The RT.X100 Pro Suite is a real-time PCI video editing card manufactured by Matrox Corporation. With the use of Adobe Premiere it enables a real time preview on TV or Video Monitor. It is generally bundled with Adobe Premiere Pro , Adobe Audition , and Adobe Encore DVD...
Companies
- NvidiaNVIDIANvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
- ATI TechnologiesATI TechnologiesATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
- SiSSilicon Integrated SystemsSilicon Integrated Systems is a company that manufactures, among other things, motherboard chipsets. The company was founded in 1987 in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan.-Business:...