Dado Banatao, the filipino you never knew was important to computers, died today. He was 79.>From his humble beginnings in the farming town of Iguig in Cagayan province, Banatao went on to develop landmark technologies. These include the first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS chip and system logic chipsets for the IBM PC-XT and PC-AT. There were also the first graphics accelerator chip and the pioneering local bus architecture that sped up computer performance.Banatao earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology. He then earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University in California.He co-founded the chipset company Mostron in 1984 and, a year later, Chips and Technologies. The latter was a graphics adapter company that was eventually acquired by Intel for approximately $430 million. Most Intel (and possibly all) Accelerated Graphics Cards all rely on his contributions today.>In 1989, he founded S3 Graphics, which pioneered the local bus concept and developed Windows accelerator chips. S3 Graphics became the third-most profitable technology company in 1993. >Shifting to venture capital, Banatao founded Tallwood Venture in 2000. It is a firm focused on investing in semiconductor technology, where he served as managing partner.
>>107671777Goodnight, sweet prince.
