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Line Drawing System-1

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Nagle (talk | contribs) at 20:14, 8 October 2015 (Explain calligraphic). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

LDS-1 (Line Drawing System-1) was an attached calligraphic (vector, rather than raster) processor with a workstation terminal created by Evans & Sutherland. This was the first graphics device with a graphics processing unit.[1]

Features

Block diagram of Evans and Sutherland Line Drawing System 1.

It was controlled by a variety of host computers. Straight lines were smoothly rendered in real-time animation. General principles of operation were similar to the systems used today: 4x4 transformation matrices, 1x4 vertices. Possible uses included flight simulation (in the product brochure there are screenshots of landing on a carrier), scientific imaging and GIS systems.

History

The first LDS-1 was shipped to the customer (BBN) in August 1969. Only a few of these systems were ever built. One was used by the Los Angeles Times as their first typesetting/layout computer. One went to NASA Ames Research Center for Human Factors Research. Another was bought by the Port Authority of New York to develop a tugboat pilot trainer for navigation in the harbor.

  1. ^ Evans, Daniel C (March 1971). "Graphical Man-Machine Communications (semi-annual technical report for 1 July 1970 to 31 December 1971" (PDF). Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
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