Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!sunic!lth.se!efd.lth.se!d89os
From: d89os@efd.lth.se (Ola Sigurdson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Problems with Gif2Bmp and ZSoft's PC Paintbrush...
Keywords: Frustration, GIF files, Da Vinci.
Message-ID: <1990Sep17.164353.5811@lth.se>
Date: 17 Sep 90 16:43:53 GMT
References: available upon request. <1990Sep12.211223.24944@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Sender: newsuser@lth.se (LTH network news server)
Reply-To: d89os@efd.lth.se (Ola Sigurdson)
Organization: Lund Institute of Technology
Lines: 23


In article <1990Sep12.211223.24944@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>,
cci8j@harlequin.cs.Virginia.EDU (Carmen C. Iannacone) writes:

> 	I'm using a standalone DOS exe file called gif2bmp.exe.  It claims
> to convert GIFs to BMP files, but everything I convert shows up as bizarre
> mutilations of the original.  "Smiling Faces" turn into "Beelzebub on 
> Holiday."  Even the Mona Lisa corrupts...
> 
> 	I noticed the same effect when I went from GIF -> PCX (via Hijaak)
> and then from PCX -> BMP via Windows Paint.
> 
> 	Should I expect to see reliable renderings of 256 color gifs in my
> lifetime (and I'm pretty young, if I do say so myself...)?

The answer is no -- if you're using a standard VGA display.
The problem is that Windows uses a fixed colour palette which doesn't match
the palette in your GIF images.
The only reliable solution is to get a display (and matching driver) with
a huge number of colours (say 256000 or 16M) and import the image to 
Windows.

(Mr) Ola Sigurdson      Internet: d89os@efd.lth.se