&gt; <i>it was by definition, doing programmable vertex transformation and shading</i><p>Yes, <i>all</i> software renderers are—by definition—programmable, but those terms <i>usually</i> imply some kind of shading language like GLSL that is accepted at runtime, compiled and then executed by the graphics engine (hardware or software).<p>It seems unlikely that Mr. Teapot went through the effort to write his own JIT for a 486-class machine, but certainly it could be done…