ATI mach8 Programmer's Reference Manual Information
ATI Technical Note #072 
November 8, 1993

Programmer's Reference Manuals for mach8 Accelerators

ATI Technologies Inc. announces a set of technical reference
manuals for the ATI Accelerator Series products called the ATI
mach8 Programmer's Kit. This four part reference includes a
programming guide and detailed register definitions for the ATI
mach8 graphic engine used in the ATI 8514ULTRA, GraphicsULTRA and
GraphicsVantage.


SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

1)     Programmer's Guide to the mach8 8514/a Compatible Registers

               A register specification for development of generic
               8514/a register-level graphics drivers. Subjects include
               the Bresenham vector & polygon drawing engine, the BitBLT
               engine and the pixel transfer ALU.

2)     Programmer's Guide to the mach8 Extended Registers

               A register specification for development of mach8
               specific register-level graphics drivers. This covers
               ATI's proprietary Direct Draw Engine and other powerful
               drawing and logical functions designed into the mach8
               silicon. 

3)     Supplement to the Programmer's Guide to the mach8 Extended
       Registers

               A supplement to both the 8514/a and Extended register
               specifications. It contains programming hints and covers
               the use of ROM services.

       * All examples are written in MS C or MS MASM. Familiarity
       with the syntax and conventions of these programming languages
       is expected and required.

4)      Programmer's Guide to the mach32 Adapter Interface

               A complete programming guide to the ATI Turbo AI complete
               with a number of examples. Source and object files* are
               included on a diskette. Turbo AI is a high level
               interface compatible with the IBM Adapter Interface
               Specification. 


PLEASE READ BEFORE ORDERING 

Programming graphics accelerators is much different and more
complex than programming conventional (VGA, EGA, etc..) display
adapters, particularly at the register level. Only programmers with
experience in designing graphics primitives should undertake
programming the mach8 at the register level. Experience with
writing device drivers for programmable peripheral devices on Intel
80x86 systems would also be highly desirable. ATI recommends that
programmers make use of the Turbo AI high-level interface if such
expertise is not available.

The Turbo AI interface provides a set of callable high level
functions for mode selection and initialization, primitive drawing
functions, color palette manipulation, font handling and other
useful items. Modes supported are 640X480 and 1024X768 /256 colors.
Neither the 800X600 or 1280X1024 resolutions are supported because
they are outside the AI Specification.

The register specifications are exactly what the name implies. A
listing of the functions of each register with comments detailing
their use. Some overview documentation is also provided. Only
minimal examples and no sample primitives are provided. Sample
primitives or a linkable graphics library, are available from third
party sources.

The following vendors of graphics libraries offer generic 8514/a
and/or ATI mach8 drivers:

Borland International                        - BGI Library included with Turbo
C
                                             and Turbo Pascal
Media Cybernetics                            - Halo Professional
NCD (formally GSS)                           - GDT, GKS, CGI
Metagraphics Corp                            - MetaWindows
South Mountain Software                      - Essential Graphics, GUIDO
Flashtech                                    - Flash Graphics


DISCLAIMER

Please note that the materials within the ATI mach8 Programmer's
Kit are provided on as "as is" basis although every effort has been
make to ensure that the documents in the kit are complete and
accurate. 

ATI Customer Support will assist with installation, configuration
and basic information but may not be able to answer specific
programming questions.


ORDER FORM: ATI mach8 Programmer's Kit

The mach8 Programmer's Kit is now available for only $US35 plus
delivery charge. Orders can be placed by filling out this order
form and FAXing or mailing it to ATI Customer Support at the
following address:

               ATI Technologies Inc.
               Customer Support Department
               33 Commerce Valley Drive East
               Thornhill, Ontario
               Canada         L3T 7N6
               phone          +(905) 882-2626
               fax            +(905) 882-0546

Payment will only be accepted with a valid VISA, MasterCard or
American Express number. Customer Support will ship your
programmer's kit as soon as your credit card charge is approved.
Please allow 7-10 days for ground delivery. Allow more time for
mail delivery outside North America. Additional shipping charges
may be applied for faster delivery methods (see below). No refunds
will be offered.

Delivery by (choose one):
_____ Ground Courier1  
_____ Air Courier2 
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1 $US15, North America only; 2 $US20, North America only
3 $US25, All countries outside North America, no overnight
delivery available

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signed:  ___________________________________
Dated: _____ /______ / ___________