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Re: Why did Woz use the long cycle?

ferdimh@gmx.de wrote:

I have no idea what any of the above means.  But the answer to the
question you asked, "why did Woz...?" probably boils down to component
count.  As I understand the history of how he designed things -
simplification was key.  If it could be made to work well enough with
a simpler design - he did it.


If I am counting right it SAVES a chip! So that can't be the case.


There would have been no way to compensate for the color shifts.

There would. The phase of COLOR REFERENCE alternates, so all patterns
would need to be shifted half a COLOR REFERENCE period which is
possible even without the half pixel shift.

Would this also cause vertical lines to look jagged on a monochrome
monitor?

As long as they're white:no. If they are colored: yes. You're right.
But it would allow single pixel (nearly) white lines.

Ferdinand
I guess I don't follow. The only difference between a white line and a colored line is the width. A single pixel line would be colored depending on where it falls in the color cycle. Only a line two pixel wide would be white (if I understand NTSC at all, something about a full color cycle). How would else could you differentiate between a blue line and a white line? I'm sure somebody who actually knows what they are talking about will chime in. 

Dave...