Re: Second Sight SVGA Board Info (text only)

[bazyar@netcom.com (Jawaid Bazyar)]

m_spect@pavo.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) writes:

>	How well "emulated" are these current Apple II modes? Will 40/80
>column ASCII text have the same appearance, Hires and Double Hires color
>bleeding effects look exactly the same? As for Apple IIGS-specific graphic
>modes, can it emulate _multiple palettes_ properly, if at all? What will
>happen when running current software that uses 256 or 3200 color images?

  Multiple palettes are handled.  There's very little software that
uses 3200 color stuff besides demos & straight images, which is good,
because 3200 stuff would be impossible to manage. 

  You can view a 3200 image easily on the SS board, tho :-)

  I was never fond of the hires bleeding effects, but if you really
want them, I will see if we can make a "real ugly hires text mode" just
for you. :-)

>	Having to emulate the above modes makes it sound as if the Second 
>Sight disables the VGC chip. In which case, what would happen if you wanted
>to run software using the GS's VGC? (reason for wanting this explained later
>below). Can the Second Sight be disabled by firmware, returning control to 
>the VGC, or are all built-in IIgs graphic modes permanently shut down until
>the card is removed?

  The IIGS VGC is not affected in the least.  If you're not satisfied
with one of the emulations, you can turn your apple monitor back
on (or if you're using it with the SS board, use a switchbox to
easily switch between the two video sources).

>>  Text
>>	80x43
>>	80x50
>>	80x60
>>	132x60

>	Ahh, it seems we'd finally have access to *true* color ANSI text, not 
>too mention true VT-100 with bold, blink, flash, etc. :) What about an 80x25 
>text mode, isn't that part of the SVGA chip on board?

  An error of omission on my part. 80x25 is of course supported.

>>Q. How many colors can Second Sight display at one time?
>>A. 256 at a time (256 colors per pixel, or 8-bit pixels) from a total of 
>>   16.7 million colors.

>	True 8-bit color on screen is certainly a step-up (even more so when
>you consider resolution as well), but what about more? With 1mb VRAM on a
>Second Sight, is it at all plausible to have 32,768 colors on screen at once?
>Something like 640x480x32,768 would be nice...

  And it would have been a lot more expensive, I think.

>	This has a nice affect in higher resolution modes (and text), but
>quite applauling to look at using 320x200! Will this mean we'd have to 
>play Rastan, Arkanoid, The Immortal...use Platinum Paint, DreamGrafix,
>Prism with large chunky looking pixels? I hate to have my IIgs software
>degraded to looking like all IBM with MCGA 320x200! Will there be a way to 
>disable this kind of MCGA-ness (ie - get back our small pixels with
>visable scanlines) or would all GS software be doomed to look like this
>so long as the card is installed?

  They don't actually look _that_ bad. Also, if you're using an Apple
monitor, no scanline doubling will occur, unless you really want
to run in interlace mode all the time. :-)

>..Other important questions:

>- Any plans to have Second Sight support to video-digitizers?
>  (ComputerEyes GS, Visionary GS, Quickie-C)

  People have asked about CE or Visionary "raw image viewing",
and that's as simple as pie.

>- Does the Second Sight make any connections to the VGC on the GS
>  motherboard? If so, how will this affect the ROM 3?

  No, no pins, clips, or other wires need to be hooked up.
You plug in the card, you plug the monitor into the card, you
turn on the power.

>- Will it be a 100% DMA compatible?

  Yes.

>- Was it designed with future upgrades in mind? (other than 512k->1mb VRAM
>  expansion option). I'm curious if it could support higher resolutions or
>  more colors on screen we desire it a few years down the road... :)

  Not really.. this brings us up to spec with the PC systems out there,
and I don't see video graphics progressing much beyond this point
with vacuum tube technology. I mean, who _really_ wants a 500
pound 40-inch monitor for a home computer? We'll see some progress
in quality when we get good flat-screens.

-- 
 Jawaid Bazyar              |   Like UNIX? Like your Apple IIGS? Then ask
 Procyon, Inc.              |   me about GNO/ME for the Apple IIgs!   
 bazyar@netcom.com          |   P.O Box 620334
 --Apple II Forever!--      |   Littleton, CO 80162-0334   (303) 781-3273