Re: Second Sight news??

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (vax2.concordia.ca)]

In article Krishna Sadasivam <kms@microsys6.engr.utk.edu> writes...

>Is any software development being done that will take advantage of the
>Second Sight card? It's been about two years since they came out, and 
>I haven't heard any news on the card. (And I'm on the mailing list -- 
>which is way too quiet...)

    The only Second Sight software development I'm aware of, currently, 
is Mike Hackett's QuickDraw II patch. This would allow GS/OS software 
to break the 320/640x200 resolution barrier that QDII is hardcoded to 
work in, probably the color depth limitation as well. This will be the
first serious application for the video card.

    In the meantime, if you own Spectrum 2.1, there is a new color ANSI 
emulation driver that makes use of the (true) IBM PC character text set.
Spectrum itself otherwise, still continues to only support native GS
text and graphic modes, so it's far from being fully Second Sight aware.
SuperConvert 4.0 may also add a bit of support for the Second Sight as 
well, but it would be relatively the same type of SS-support Spectrum 
currently offers (i.e. a regular Apple IIgs program, but by poking around 
in it you'll find a few features that make use of your Second Sight).

    As for my opinion of the Second Sight, I'm sorry to be blunt and
negative, but I feel the card has been a major flop and is now facing
the same fate as the (circa 1982) SuperSprite graphic board. There is
virtually no software for it, other than a handful of graphic viewers,
and the card itself is plagued by several hardware limitations and 
firmware bugs (not that the firmware was ever completed in the first
place, it's still rather alpha-ish). Sequential Systems seems to have
no interesting in doing anything more with it, and Jawaid Bazyar (the
card's co-designer and main programmer) is no longer associated with
them. I also find it disappointing that despite all this, the price
for the Second Sight still remains ridiciliously high. 

    The only purpose I can see for buying a Second Sight, is if you 
want to connect a modern VGA/SVGA display to your Apple IIgs. As a
small bonus, you'll have a larger and more defined IBM character set
(you need good eyes to read Apple 80 columns text ;) and the ability
to view GIF/JPEG images as they were meant to be, albeit after quite
a LONG wait because the 65C816 still has to decompress and process
the images. It is really just a fancy '80 columns text card' for the 
Apple IIgs when you think about it. :-)

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca