Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!shelby!rutgers!att!mcdchg!ddsw1!corpane!sparks
From: sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: How about Sliced EHB ??
Summary: Stretching the Amy to the limit
Message-ID: <1247@corpane.UUCP>
Date: 5 Dec 89 14:17:25 GMT
References: <568@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu> <8912030118.AA15320@en.ecn.purdue.edu>
Reply-To: sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks)
Organization: Corpane Industries, Inc.
Lines: 53

In article <8912030118.AA15320@en.ecn.purdue.edu> bevis@EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Jeff
Bevis) writes:

>Is it just me, or is anyone else out there getting disturbed by all of the
>dynamic/sliced/diced/minced display modes involving cpu-intesive activity,
>just to bring up the image?  I mean, what are things migrating toward here?
>The hardware should display the images, and the software should NOT have to
>worry about them.  (you know what I mean)

I think I know what you mean. You're not complaining about the new modes, but
about all the software hassle we have to go through to *get* these new modes,
right? I agree. It seems to me that this is a sign that the Amiga is lagging a
bit in it's graphics technology. When the Amiga came out in '84 it's graphics
was astounding, but geez that was almost 6 years ago. Now most everyone else is
catching up and surpassing us. IBM has new extended VGA cards that do 640 x 480
with 256 colors (not interlaced either) and the Mac has the same resolution
with what? 16 million colors?

Sure they cost more, but they cost more back when Amy first came out too, and
we had better graphics then they did too. Time marches on, and those who sleep
get left in the dust. 

I really appreciate the new software that let's you have sliced ham and
superhires ham, but to me these are interesting hacks. It reminds me of the 
latter days of my Atari 800 days (just before the Amiga came out). There were
all sorts of hacks coming out to let you have more colors, etc. 

I take it all as a sign that we need to improve the graphics in the hardware.
I think the new productivity modes in 1.4 are a step in the right direction,
but how about giving us a super hi-res ham mode in hardware? It's time Amiga
took the lead again. Heck, forget the hires ham and give us 24bit graphics like
the Mac. 16 million colors in 640 x 400 would be great. 

Of course if you change the graphics technology you run into the problem of
backwards compatibility. It's hard to change once something has been
established, isn't it? so keep the old modes and add some new 16 or 24 bit
modes. it would be a good thing to have for release 2.0 of workbench, eh?

>We definitely need drastically improved graphics in the A3000.  That's all I
>can say.
>

We need it for the 2000 (and 500) also. That's where the largest group of
customers is. I for one can't afford the 3000 when it comes out. 

(anybody ever notice how CBM conveniently names their Amiga's by approximate
retail price? ;-)

-- 
John Sparks   |  {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps
|||||||||||||||          sparks@corpane.UUCP         | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 
Mixed Emotions: When you see your mother-in-law back over a cliff in your
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