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Re: //e, //c, //gs Questions



On 29 Oct 1998 07:44:23 GMT, supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:

>spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:
>
>>    It may support 1024x768, but certainly *not* at 24-bit
>>color depth. [anti-Second Sight rhetoric snipped]
>
>Wrong Mitch.  The Second Sight manual, page 18,
>clearly states:
>
>"Tru-color mode is similar, but each pixel can be
>any of 16.7M (million) colors" (the paragraphs
>before it detail the three color modes of the Second
>Sight card, indexed, hi-color, and tru-color in this
>paragraph).
>
>Checking with my calculator, 16.7M is 2 to the 24th
>power or 24-bit color!

Nope, Mitch is right on this one.  The Second Sight can only do 24 bit
colour in 640x480 mode if the card has 1 MB of RAM installed.  Here is
a chart of the three main resolutions and the maximum colours allowed
on a 1 MB SecondSight card:

  Resolution   Max Colours   Bytes/Pixel   Proof
  ----------   -----------   -----------   --------------------------
    640x480     16,277,216        3        640*480*3  = 921,600 bytes
    800x600         65,536        2        800*600*2  = 960,000 bytes
   1024x768            256        1        1024*768*1 = 786,432 bytes

A SecondSight card with only 512k installed can only be used in
640x480 or 800x600 mode with a maximum of 256 colours in each mode.
(307,200 bytes and 480,000 bytes used respectively)

>Don't knock it if you have never used it.

I don't have one and haven't tried it but I will knock it because it
is impossible for a SecondSight card to display 24 bit colour in
1024x768 mode.  :-)

If the SecondSight was designed to be expandable beyond 1 MB of RAM
then it might have been possible.  It would require 2,359,296 bytes of
memory to be able to do 1024x768 with 24 bit colour.

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