Skip to content
Tech News
← Back to articles

Matrox traces its origins to 1976 Montreal startup by Trottier and Matić

read original get Matrox Mura or Matrox D-Series Multi-Display Graphics Card → more articles
GoKawiil Brief

Lorne Trottier and Branko Matić founded Matrox in Dorval, Quebec in 1976, combining their surnames to name the company. Their first product, the MTX-1632 video RAM board, generated a 32x16 ASCII display and sold $20,000 worth of orders after a free listing in Electronics magazine, making the fledgling company profitable almost immediately. They quickly followed up with the MTX-256, a raster graphics unit offering 256 by 256 dot resolution.

Why It Matters

GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.

This early success illustrates how niche trade magazines served as the primary marketplace for hobbyist-era computer hardware startups before the internet existed. Matrox's rapid pivot from a simple video interface card to raster graphics hardware foreshadowed its later reputation as a serious player in professional graphics technology.

Key Takeaways
Worth a Look

Matrox Mura or Matrox D-Series Multi-Display Graphics Card — Matrox still does exactly what Trottier and Matić set out to do in 1976: get CPUs talking to displays reliably. Their multi-display graphics cards drive several monitors from one workstation, which is why they remain a staple in digital signage, control rooms and trading desks.

See Matrox Mura or Matrox D-Series Multi-Display Graphics Card on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.

Source: abortretry.fail — Bradford Morgan White, 2026-08-30

Published there as: “Matrox: Graphics for Professionals”

Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.