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Chapter 9: Graphic Cards
by Ian Kayne
The graphics card is arguably one
of the most important pieces of hardware in a modern computer. Whilst
it is basic task is to convert digital information in memory to an analogue
signal that can be displayed on a monitor, in practice most modern cards
are capable of much more.
Choosing the right video card is
an important decision. Poorly designed cards & drivers can cause
severe instabilities in any operating system. Poor image quality can
cause eyestrain and fatigue, and insufficient processing power will
prevent the use of some productive software, not just games. Ethereal,
a piece of software that allows the capturing of network packets for
troubleshooting and diagnostic purposes is a good example of this.
Ethereal was originally written for the UNIX & Linux platforms,
and uses GTK for its graphical user interface (GTK is a GUI development
toolkit). The Windows version of Ethereal also uses GTK, which has
one very important limitation – it will not work on displays of
256 colors or less, providing an excellent practical example of why
even productive software often needs good quality graphics cards to
function correctly.
The Essentials
Understanding how an image is created and displayed is essential to understanding how a graphics card operates. |
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