Prisma Pictures

[Workstation front view] This is a front view of the Prisma workstation. The CD-ROM is to give an indication of scale.
[Workstation rear view] This is a rear view of the workstation with the case removed. The video buffer is the top card on the left and the power supply is on the right. The four D-type sockets on the left are, from top to bottom, Tablet/Mouse, Joystick, Data Terminal and Ethernet (AUI). The keyboard socket is a 5-pin DIN beside the AUI port and then the four BNC connectors are for Ethernet and RGB video.
[Workstation side view] This is a side view of the workstation with the case removed. It shows the Video Buffer board on top with the Graphic Controller below it. The keyboard controller is hidden underneath the Graphic Controller.
[Graphics Controller board] The Graphics Controller, essentially a complete single board computer. The SCSI and DMA controllers are top left, Ethernet is lower left, serial I/O is lower right, CPU and FPU are half way up on the right and the DRAM array is in the middle.
[Video Buffer board] The Video Buffer contains the display memory, the three DACs and all the associated timing circuitry. Compare the number of chips with a present day PC video card! The connection to the Graphics Controller is through the ribbon connector at the top right.
[Keyboard Interface] The keyboard interface connects a PC style keyboard to the serial data terminal port on the Graphics Controller. It essentially makes the PC keyboard look like a Wyse-50 terminal.

[Home]