Second Sight SVGA Board Info (text only)

[bazyar@netcom.com (Jawaid Bazyar)]

SecondSight� SVGA Board
Specifications & Features


Monitors

Works either with standard SVGA monitors, or with the standard IIGS RGB 
(GSRGB) monitor & compatibles.

Modes

The following existing Apple II and IIGS video modes are emulated for 
display on an SVGA monitor or crystal-clear display on a GSRGB monitor.

	40 & 80 column text
	Lores / double lores
	Hires / double hires
	320x200x16
	640x200x4/16

The card is capable of the following SVGA video modes:

  Graphics
	320x200x256
	640x200x256
	640x400x256
	640x480x256
	800x600x256
	1024x768x256
  Text
	80x43
	80x50
	80x60
	132x60

(Note: existing software titles will not automatically use the high-resolution 
modes).

Software Support

SecondSight comes with an image viewer program that supports GIF, TIFF, RIX, 
BMP, etc.

A programmer's library with on-disk documentation is also available, to 
facilitate the development of third-party software for the card.

At the current time no QuickDraw II support is provided.

Cost

The suggested retail price of SecondSight is $179.95.

Expected Third Party Software Support

Sequential Systems
	discQuest� and discQuest Encyclopedia�

Procyon
	GNO/ME (high resolution text drivers)
	TelCom II

Todd Whitesel
	Lord High Giffer

Tim Meekins
	imageQuant

Aurora Software
	dungeonQuest

Digisoft Innovations
	Twilight II

Common Questions and Answers

Q. How much video memory can the Second Sight support?
A. 1MB (megabyte). The card comes standard with 512K, enough to support 
   up to 800x600x256 resolution.

Q. Does the Second Sight have a "blitter" chip on it?
A. Yes and no. There is no dedicated hardware "blitter" chip, but the 20MHz 
   Zilog Z180 processor, in conjunction with the Oak VGA controller, can 
   quickly perform many blitter functions.

Q. How fast is the Second Sight blitter?
A. The Z180 can copy one byte of memory in 8 20MHz clock cycles. This works 
   out to around 2.5Megabytes/second. Using the help of the VGA controller 
   to do read/modify/write cycles, you can get about 5MB/sec blitter action.

Q. What types of operations can the Z180 do?
A. The Z180 can scroll screen data, accept blocks of screen data from the 
   IIGS via DMA (1MB/sec), clear the screen, perform and/or/xor operations 
   on screen data, etc.

Q. What kind of developer information is available for Second Sight?
A. A System Tool set is provided, along with documentation on using it. 
   The tool set takes care of most common tasks programmers will do.  
   Programmers can upload their own Z180 code to the Second Sight card 
   to completely customize the card, or provide brand-new features (a 
   sprite manager, for example).

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.

Q. What's the current price of Second Sight?
A. Suggested retail price is $199.95, and the special introductory price 
   is $179.95.

Q. Do existing applications, like Finder or AppleWorks GS, take advantage 
   of the higher resolutions, like 640x480 or 800x600?
A. No. There is no support for patching the IIGS' QuickDraw tool, which is 
   what would be required for current programs to automatically use the 
   Second Sight board's special features. Such a patch isn't impossible, 
   and we will work with programmers who would like to attempt it.

Q. What part did you have in the development of this card, Jawaid, and if 
   you worked on it, do you ever sleep?
A. I helped lay down the requirements for the card, and have been helping 
   on various bits of hardware and software for the card itself, and all 
   IIGS applications, of course. No, I never sleep. Andrew Vogan, designer 
   of the RamFAST, and Joe Yandrofski of Sequential, did most of the 
   hardware design, and Tim Courtney is doing the majority of the firmware.

Q. What kind of monitor do I need, if I want to buy a new one?
A. Any "VGA" or "SVGA" monitor will work fine.  Any monitor sold for use 
   with an IBM PC clone (386/486) computer will work.

Q. Do I have to use two monitors with Second Sight, one for VGA graphics, 
   and one for regular IIGS graphics?
A. No. The Second Sight "shadows" existing IIGS video modes onto the card, 
   and emulates them through the VGA monitor.  If you want to, you can run 
   two monitors off your GS, one from the built-in video, and one from 
   the Second Sight.  There might be some interesting applications possible 
   with this setup. In short, all your existing IIGS applications and games 
   will work with Second Sight, and on a VGA monitor.

Q. How is existing software improved by the Second Sight?
A. Existing software is not generally improved automatically, except for 
   one thing: because the IIGS's super hires mode is simulated using a 
   640x400 mode in the VGA controller, there are no black lines running 
   through graphics or text.. pictures and text are solid.

Q. Can I use Second Sight on my Apple IIe?
A. Yes. The IIe's video modes are emulated just as they are on a IIGS.  
   Second Sight will allow IIe users to view quality pictures, such as 
   GIF images, for the first time.  Die-hard AppleWorks users on IIe's 
   will now be able to use large paper-white monitors.  This will also 
   have applications in large-monitors for people with handicaps.

Q. I want better graphics, but I can't afford to buy the card and a 
   new monitor. Can I use the Second Sight on my current Apple RGB monitor?
A. Yes, although you are limited to 640x400x256 interlaced, in graphics 
   mode, and 80x25 in text mode.

Q. Does the Second Sight have a graphics "overlay" mode, like the "TurboRez" 
   board or the Video Overlay Card?
A. No.  

Q. How will existing programs that directly access the IIGS video hardware 
   work with Second Sight?
A. Second Sight watches the IIGS I/O bus for writes to the IIGS video 
   memory, and when they occur, it copies the data onto the card. Software 
   on the card then updates the VGA memory periodically to correspond to 
   the IIGS screen information. This process is called "shadowing".

Q. What happens if I run a program that needs a high-res video mode on 
   an Apple RGB monitor?
A. The program will most likely return an error. The Second Sight card 
   will prevent any possibly damaging video modes from being sent to an 
   Apple RGB monitor (as long as you use the card's firmware to set the 
   video mode).

Q. Does Second Sight have to go in a particular slot?
A. Yes. On a ROM 01 IIGS, the card must go in slot 3. On a ROM 03 IIGS, 
   the card must be in one of  slots 1 through 6.  In a IIe, the card can 
   be in any slot.

-- 
 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