Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!ames!ncar!tank!eecae!cps3xx!usenet
From: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: 8) Research Help (8
Message-ID: <5167@cps3xx.UUCP>
Date: 28 Oct 89 18:34:16 GMT
References: <115200037@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <8135@microsoft.UUCP> <5072@cps3xx.UUCP> <33446@cornell.UUCP>
Reply-To: conklin@frith.UUCP (Terry Conklin)
Organization: Engineering, Michigan State University, E. Lansing
Lines: 42


No typo there - I meant EGA. Having done EGA emulation under a
multitasking DOS operating system, I'm MORE than familiar with
it!
 
You can't compare any graphics on raw resolution. It is, to 
some extent, application specific. Certainly CAD is better suited
to higher resolutions with precision. But most people dont
realize that color choice is far more important than pixels.
 
Consider the pictures on your television set. TV is of amazing
quality. How good is TV resolution compared to EGA? A few
million times better? Actually, it's the other way around. 
Television is only 160 X 200 (or so) hi-res. (Remember that 
8-bit's 320 resoultion is HALF a color clock, which is 
basically a pixel.) On the other hand, it's in 16 Million
colors! (well, analog!) 
 
EGA can't touch the 8-bit's 256 color onscreen capacity. Likewise,
sprite support is worth a LOT. Try doing sprites on an ST or EGA.
These bit-mapped screens are great - but on an ST, every sprite
you draw IS going to steal a color - and there aren't that 
many available.
 
The fact that EGA is slower than molasses might be worth
mentioning.
 
In the speed vein, the 8-bit's redefinable character sets are
a GREAT tool for fast, super compact graphics. Look at Bruce
Lee, a masterpiece in character graphics. It's hard to believe
that that game fits IN MEMORY with all those animated, colorful
hi-res screens. Enter 4-color character set mode. 
 
The 8-bit may lose in CAD apps, but when it comes to overall
graphic output, the 8-bits power tools easily match EGA's
slow-and-simple approach.

Terry Conklin
conklin@egr.msu.edu
uunet!frith!conklin
The Club    (517) 372-3131
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