[rasz]

Binary transparency :). 1992 Cirrus Logic GD5402 aka AVGA2 supported Masking.

http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cpu/item/130-cirrus-logi... "D3 Selects the memory read data latches to be eight bytes wide, instead of the normal four bytes. This bit can be used in Write Mode 1, in order to rewrite 8 latched pixels (64 bits) back into display memory. This bit should be used in X8 addressing mode only."

= Set/Reset and Compare registers extended to full 8 bits and read/write mode 1 extended to 8 bytes at a time with extra foreground/background masks. If Im calculating correctly this means you can perform internal copies at 12-20MB/s and lines/pattern fills at 24-40MB/s

[rasz]

Forgot to add the biggest problem was lack of universal DOS graphic API. Vesa came out with VBE/AF way too late https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS_Extensions#VBE/accel...

Things might of looked different with VBE/AF fully defined in early 1992 and subsequent graphic products all providing at least partial support (8/16bit panning and sprites would be enough).

Instead everything was too late. Even VESA LFB never truly got implemented on ISA cards (afaik only ATI Mach64 and maybe experimental support in ET4000?), and only started working on VBE and PCI.