Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!iuvax!watmath!watcgl!wsflinn
From: wsflinn@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Scott Flinn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
Subject: Re: Myarc Geneve
Keywords: Graphics capabilities
Message-ID: <10655@watcgl.waterloo.edu>
Date: 12 Jul 89 19:30:05 GMT
References: <4752@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu> <1643@csm9a.UUCP> <176@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
Reply-To: wsflinn@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Scott Flinn)
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 63

In article <176@zip.eecs.umich.edu> chuck@dip.eecs.umich.edu.UUCP (Chuck A. Nicholas) writes:
                  [much good stuff deleted]

>It offers graphics capabilites superior to most other systems other than Amiga
>and very close to Atari ST.

I don't want to knock the graphics of the Atari St (I own one, and love it
dearly), but it is misleading to suggest that the Geneve's graphics are
in the same class ... IMHO they are far above.  Perhaps the simplest comparison
is the amount of information each machine can put on the screen.  Without using
ultra-tricky timing techniques (which are of no use to Most Normal People), the
Atari puts 32K of info on the screen (all graphics modes), while the Geneve
manages to display something like 108K in its highest modes.  I owned a
Geneve (Myarc 9640) for 4 months about two years ago (while the machine was
still in its very rocky stages), and my recollection may be faulty, but for
the record, I think the following is a fair comparison.  (Note that the Geneve
has *oodles* of graphics modes ... only a few are described).

      Atari ST                                    Myarc Geneve
----------------------                      -------------------------
hi  res: 640x400 monocrhome                  hi  res: 512x424, 16 colours
med res: 640x200 4 colours                   med res: 256x424, 256 colours
						  or  512x212, 256 colours
lo  res: 320x200 16 colours                  lo  res: 256x192, 2 of 16 colours
						      for each row of 8 pixels
						      (TI 99/4A compatible)
text modes: software simulated               text modes: 32x24
							 40x24
							 80x24
sprites: software simulated                  sprites: hardware based,
						      multi-coloured
hardware graphics:                           hardware graphics:
     *horizontal* lines only                    *all* lines (true?)
						multicoloured sprites
						pattern fill

The ST uses a display generator              The Geneve has a dedicated (and
chip to draw the screen from part            VERY powerful) graphics chip
of CPU ram, but the generator has            which draws the screen from
no other special abilities.                  dedicated video RAM (fast,
					     auto-incrementing addressing),
					     in addition to providing many
					     other useful services.  The
					     Geneve also has a custom 98 pin
					     chip which (among other things)
					     provides a very nice interface
					     between CPU and video processor.

Sorry for being long winded.  After all this, I miss my Geneve :-)


[more good stuff deleted]

>						chuck nicholas
>						Dept Computing Org
>						EECS dept Univ fo Mich
>						Ann Arbor, MI


-- 
Me:      Scott Flinn                   /  "If it doesn't fit, force it.
Domain:  wsflinn@watcgl.waterloo.edu  /  If it breaks, then it didn't
UUCP:    watmath!watcgl!wsflinn      /  fit anyway."