The INQUIRER guide to pipelines

HERE IS the definitive INQUIRER guide to pipelines, which should help to clear up what ATI and Nvidia mean when they use this useful and rather all purpose word in relation to their graphics technology.

The word "pipeline" has several definitions, some of which may be found at dictionary.com.

Those include pipelines used in CPUs, pipeline as in gossip spread by spoken communication, and in computers for a sequence of functional units which perform a task in several steps, "like an assembly line in a factory".

Computer pipelines sometimes "need to be flushed and broken".

The US Office of Pipeline Safety has as its mission to ensure the safe, reliable and environmentally sound operation of the nation's pipeline transportation system.

Those who operate pipelines, but not the word pipeline, are subject to Drug and Alcohol Regulations.

According to the Treasury Board of Canada, a sewage pipeline, or a "Canalisation d'égout" (yuk) is a means to carry sewage to a septic tank, treatment plant or outfall.

A "big fat pipe" lets more stuff through than a "thin narrow pipe", according to Roy Taylor, now a Vice President of Nvidia.

This site suggests that the notion of the "graphics pipeline" is something of a misnomer.

However, you can buy a book for $45 all about the Microsoft DirectX 9 Programmable Graphics Pipeline.

A "PR Pipeline" can get clogged with too many press releases and occasionally needs to get flushed, or broken. However, according to this page, a PR pipeline is completely different.

Pipeline Processing at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes uses "live" images for "public outreach", in the Canary Islands.

A pipeline must never be confused with a popeline, which is 100% pure cotton.

Nor should it be confused with the Pope Line.

If you need to clean your pipe, there's some useful information here. We trust that clears everything up. µ