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Re: Apple //e's RGB Card To Apple IIgs' RGB Monitor



"mdj" <mdj.mdj@gmail.com> wrote in message 
1166499011.152258.3620@73g2000cwn.googlegroups.com">news:1166499011.152258.3620@73g2000cwn.googlegroups.com...
>
> Michael J. Mahon wrote:
>
>> I'd suggest using three 4-resistor networks to do the three 4-bit D-to-A
>> conversions--four resistors beats a D/A chip for just 4 bits.
>
> Agreed. It might also be possible nowadays to use a uC to replace the
> GAL idea. GAL/PAL seems to be going the way of the dodo, and using one
> small cheap chip instead of two seems a good move.
>
>> And buffer amplifiers may be needed for the RGB signals as well, if the
>> RGB monitor's inputs are 75 Ohm.
>
> Without this, you'd see some pretty strange colour artifacting.
>
> Also Bryan - your table seems to be quite wrong. Care to post a
> corrected one?
>
> Have you done a comparison of the IIgs's colour palette to the actual
> composite colours? It's possible that 12 bit RGB only provides an
> approximate of some of the colours, although admitedly it's probably
> close enough.

Matt,

    Sorry, I made mistake.  It should be the correct table to be shown 
strange colors below.

         IRGB  RED   GREEN BLUE  Hex
Color 0  0000  0000  0000  0000  000
Color 1  0001  0000  0000  1010  00A
Color 2  0010  0000  1010  0000  0A0
Color 3  0011  0000  1010  1010  0AA
Color 4  0100  1010  0000  0000  A00
Color 5  0101  1010  0000  1010  A0A
Color 6  0110  1010  0101  0000  A50
Color 7  0111  1010  1010  1010  AAA
Color 8  1000  0101  0101  0101  555
Color 9  1001  0101  0101  1111  55F
Color A  1010  0101  1111  0101  5F5
Color B  1011  0101  1111  1111  5FF
Color C  1100  1111  0101  0101  F55
Color D  1101  1111  0101  1111  F5F
Color E  1110  1111  1111  0101  FF5
Color F  1111  1111  1111  1111  FFF

    This table above is 16 CGA colors.  Thanks to Michael's correction when 
I made mistake to label RGBI as bit reverse.  I believe that RGB, GREEN, and 
BLUE data are to be correct because 24 bit data and 12 bit data are 99% 
identical when you set "1111" on low nibble or duplicate from high nibble to 
low nibble.  Filling "1111" on low nibble gives little brightness.  You can 
use like (12 bit data) A50 as 24 bit data) AA5500 or (24 bit data) AF5F00. 
It is how I got 24 bit data information from IBM manufacturer when I 
converted from 24 bit to 12 bit to look like Apple IIgs monitor.
    I believe that original resistor network use this table above to give 
wrong 16 colors to be 16 CGA colors on Apple IIgs' monitor.
    I decide not to use 16 CGA color table above.  Here is the Apple IIgs' 
16 colors table below.  Please do not assure if below table is wrong, but I 
agree "Color", "RED", "GREEN", and "BLUE" are correct except IRGB.  IRGB 
will be correct later when it is fixed.  The important issue is to use IRGB 
from Apple //e's RGB card and translate it into Apple IIgs' 16 colors.
    I thought resistor network may give wrong color information.  Maybe, you 
should use two GAL chips and add resistor network instead of using D/A chip. 
GAL chip is like ROM to store Apple IIgs' 16 color table.  Two GAL chips 
have I signal, R signal, G signal, and B signal as four input from Apple 
//e's RGB card and four R signal (4 bits), four G signal (4 bits), and four 
B signal (4 bits) as 12 output to resistor network or three D/A chips.  Then 
resistor network or D/A chip will show correct Apple IIgs' 16 colors, but 
not 16 CGA colors.
    Is my explanation clear?  Please let me know if it is not so clear. 
Thanks...

         IRGB  RED   GREEN BLUE  Hex
Color 0  0000  0000  0000  0000  000
Color 1  0001  1101  0000  0011  D03
Color 2  0010  0000  0000  1001  009
Color 3  0011  1101  0010  1101  D2D
Color 4  0100  0000  0111  0010  072
Color 5  0101  0101  0101  0101  555
Color 6  0110  0010  0010  1111  22F
Color 7  0111  0110  1010  1111  6AF
Color 8  1000  1000  0101  0000  850
Color 9  1001  1111  0110  0000  F60
Color A  1010  1010  1010  1010  AAA
Color B  1011  1111  1001  1000  F98
Color C  1100  0001  1101  0000  1D0
Color D  1101  1111  1111  0000  FF0
Color E  1110  0100  1111  1001  4F9
Color F  1111  1111  1111  1111  FFF

Bryan Parkoff