Re: Apple ][gs VGA Card

[ltchean@iss.nus.sg (Lim Thye Chean)]

Fretz, David (st3b1@rosie.uh.edu) wrote:

: Has anyone else got their GS+ magazine this month yet?  The color pictures on
: the back cover are proof to me that this board can really help in the area of
: graphics.  The color changes are smooth and not so blocky.  It would worth the
: $180 or so for this board!

OK, for those who did not yet see the ads, I will type it out for you. :)

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BRILLIANT COLOR ON YOUR APPLE IIGS? YOU BET!

- Uses standard VGA or Apple Color Monitor
- Display 256 colors from 16 palettes of 16M
- Support Apple II Text and Graphics modes
- Includes graphics display software for TIFF, GIF, PICT and Kodak Photo CD
  images
- Ideal for use with DiscQuest, DiscQuest Encyclopedia and CD-ROM text and 
  images

Finally, state-of-the-art video for your Apple IIGS. Whether you're using
discQuest to view Hires graphics from CD-ROM or typing a text document in
GS/OS it will look better than ever. Use your existing color monitor, add a
new VGA or both! For your IIGS, it is Second Sight!

(Together with 4 nice screen shot taken on VGA monitor and two disgusting
IIGS images to show the contrast)

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OK, so what have you figure out from here? I don't really know. From the text
alone, I would conclude that it is only using 640 x 200 and 320 x 200 
resolution since you can still use your existing Apple monitor. The screen
shot does show that the VGA images are bigger than the Super Hires, so maybe
there is a difference. Not sure.

And I am not sure about what is "256 colors from 16 palettes of 16M". Does it
mean:

  - Total of 256 colours on screen, taken from 16 palettes? Yak! This is
    exactly like the original IIGS except the color range is 16M instead of
    4096!
  - 256 colors each palette, 16 palettes on screen for a total of 4096 colors
    on screen.
  - 256 colors on screen. You can choose from one of the 16 palettes in memory.

And seems like it includes only a image viewer. The only software that support
it is DiscQuest (or discQuest?). But all of the sudden, it mentions about
editing text in GS/OS. So what does it mean? ShadowWrite now support Second
Sight? Or all IIGS desktop images are adjusted so it looks 1:1 proportion?
Or what? Again I am confused.

I am a little disappointed at the screen shots. Don't get me wrong. The image
quality is EXCELLENT! But why don't take a screen shot of it driving some
software? I think the key to the success of this card is THE software. Tell
us what it can do! Why can people get for $180 besides viewing beautiful GIFs
or playing with discQuest?

btw, so discQuest support Second Sight to the fullest?

Waiting for any answer.

--
           Lim Thye Chean: Lim is my surname. My name is Thye Chean.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Research Engineer, Institute of Systems Science. GALAXIA Authoring System author
   Address: Kent Ridge PO Box 1130, Singapore 9111  Email: ltchean@iss.nus.sg