Re: Alltech Electronics-- full-speed accel?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Nathan Mates writes ...
> 
> In article <34EC0055.87805F07@swbell.net>,
> Rubywand  <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:
> >     PC is not, however, "where the Apple IIs were 10 years ago" in one
> >important area: there is no such thing as a 'standard PC'. Game
> >developers must deal with competing graphics application interfaces,
> 
>    DOS: VESA 2.0. Win95, 2D: DirectX. Win95, 3D (slow but compatible
> with everything): Direct3D. Win95, 3D (faster) Glide. Professional 3D:
> Open GL. It isn't hard to pick, really. Took us, oh, about 30 seconds.
> Took longer to pick the 3D graphics libs for a recent Playstation
> title, interestingly enough.
>

    "It isn't hard to pick?!" If you post a statement like that on
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video _please_ do not let a cross-post
reference to comp.sys.apple2 show up in the header. (In any case you've
managed to omit the current preferred 3D graphicss api. Hint: Check the
Diamond and Creative web sites.)
     
 
> >     No PC user has anything like the hardware and system documentation
> >available to, even, GS users.
> 
>    You must not be looking very hard at all. Drop by the local decent
> bookstore and find a 1000 page tome about the guts of a PC in a hurry. ....
>

     This is happy news! On which pages do I find the schematics with
signal descriptions for

 the FIC PA-2007 motherboard with K6-233, P5 VIA chipset, and 1MB plb
cache?

 the Diamond FireGLPro (8MB) video board?

 the Ensoniq AudioPCI sound board? 

 the Roland LAPC-1 sound board?

 
>    To rehash a recent topic, I'd like FST source for the
> GS. Commented. Heck, I'd like source for all the toolsets on the GS to
> fix some lurking bugs. ....

     Me too.

 
>    The real power users these days don't necessarily go with the crud
> espoused by the big commercial OS developers. There's a LOT more real
> development and and cluefulness going on around the edges, as usual.
> It's purely personal choice to go with the prepackaged point-and-drool
> stuff, or if you want to really learn.
>

     True; but, as you say, it is the "real power users" who do the
programming. In the absence of extrordinary motivation, most PC users do
not have the entry-level knowledge, time, and/or work situation required
to even start to become the kind of "power user" you are talking about.

     80's Apple II+ and IIe owners could easily use "the crud espoused
by the big commercial OS developers" (i.e. by Apple, Inc.) to write
for-real programs on a par with those available from commercial
developers. Ultima, Might & Magic, Eamon, etc. all began as
non-commercial, for-fun projects by non-'computer professionals'. The
Apple II made it easy to become "power user". 


Rubywand