Peritek Corporation, the leading provider of mezzanine graphics boards for embedded systems and a Sun Microsystems iForce Partner, has announced expanded video input and display support under Solaris for its Argus/PMC dual-head graphics PMC module. The Argus/PMC now supports NTSC and PAL video capture under Solaris 2.6, 2.7 (7), 2.8 (8) and 2.9 (9).

(submitted by John Wranovics)

Argus/PMC is a dual channel PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) graphics board that
features two independent video digitizers, each with three video capture
channels. Two channels, one from each digitizer, can be simultaneously
displayed.

“The dual channel Argus/PMC saves valuable board real estate while
providing unmatched video input flexibility,” said Victor Gold, president
of Peritek. “With this new video digitizing software, Solaris system
designers can now tap the Argus/PMC’s full potential.”

The high-resolution Argus/PMC graphics controller supports two independent
2D/3D displays in Solaris/OpenGL and Windows/DirectX environments.
Peritek’s Standard Drawing Library (SDL) package provides a C-callable
library for Linux and VxWorks environments.

Backed by highly optimized 3D/OpenGL and 2D graphics software for Solaris,
Argus/PMC delivers well-balanced, high performance graphics and video
capture to the Sun market. Video input on the Argus/PMC is provided by two
on-board video digitizers for NTSC/PAL composite video or S-Video capture.

Both of the Argus/PMC’s display channels are powered by a Borealis graphics
accelerator and supports screen resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 with up to
16.7 million colors (32 bpp). Each Borealis has 16 Mbytes of high speed
SGRAM display memory which provides ample local storage for image and
off-screen data such as texture maps, Z-buffer, and backing store. With its
128-bit wide memory bus, the Borealis can draw up to sixteen 256-color
pixels each memory cycle for a raw drawing speed of 2 Gbytes/s. The board’s
asynchronous PCI bridge supports 32-bit, 33 MHz to 64-bit, 66 MHz PCI data
transfers, while its Borealis processors always operate at 32-bit, 66 MHz.

The Argus/PMC has a 68-pin high density HD ribbon connector and a breakout
cable (purchased separately). The breakout cable splits the functions into
dual DVI-I (for both DVI and VGA), dual USB 2.0, and BNC connectors for
each digitizer’s three input channels.

To simplify boot-up in different operating system environments, Argus/PMC
features a custom BIOS that supports both VGA and FCode. This enables the
board to operate in virtually any SPARC or x86 system using VGA,
sync-on-green (SOG), or DVI displays.

Argus/PMC Key Features:
· Dual Borealis 128-bit 2D/3D graphics controllers
· 33/66 MHz, 32/64-bit PMC interface
· Each controller has 16 MB SGRAM and a local 66 MHz, 32-bit PCI
interface
· Each display programmable for 8, 16, or 32 bits/pixel
· Dual channel analog (RGB) resolution up to 1920 x 1200
· Dual channel digital (PanelLink/DVI) up to 1280 x 1024
· OpenGL 1.1 in Hardware
· Hardware scroll, pan, and cursor
· VGA and FCode BIOS support on Channel A
· Dual multi-input video digitizers
· Companion single and dual display-only versions
· Works on PCI and CompactPCI using carriers available from Peritek

Argus/PMC operating temperature range is 0º to 55º C.

Pricing starts at $2,463 in 100 piece quantities. Availability is
off-the-shelf.

In addition to Argus/PMC, Peritek also offers the Gemini/PMC, a dual
display graphics controller without audio/video input/USB 2.0. Peritek
offers compatible families of graphics controllers on PMC, CompactPCI and
PCI platforms for use with VxWorks, Windows and Solaris operating systems.
Please contact Peritek for more information or consult our web page at
http://www.peritek.com.

About Peritek
Peritek (www.peritek.com) is the leading supplier of video and graphics
display control boards for the embedded computing industry. We offer the
broadest range of solutions for standard hardware platforms and operating
systems. Our high performance graphics controllers include PMC, PCI,
CompactPCI and VME solutions. Our operating system support is also
unmatched in the industry, and includes Solaris, Linux, Windows and leading
real-time operating systems including VxWorks. Using in-house technology
and software, Peritek products continue to deliver reliable COTS high
performance graphics in a multitude of applications deployed in the
aviation, defense, medical and industrial environments.

For more information, please contact Peritek Worldwide Sales, 9975 Business
Park Avenue, Suite A, San Diego, California 92131-1102. Tel: (800) 281-4567
or (858) 689-7150. Fax: (858) 689-7156. Email: sales@peritek.com. Peritek\222s
website is www.peritek.com.