Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!world!boris
From: boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: 8-24: Truth in Advertising?
Message-ID: <1990Oct30.080032.15637@world.std.com>
Date: 30 Oct 90 08:00:32 GMT
References: <15590007@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com>
Organization: The World @ Software Tool & Die
Lines: 35

kmarko@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Kurt Marko) writes:
>We, like many others on the net, have been eagerly awaiting the
>arrival of Apple's GC/8-24 (w/ AMD 29K accelerator) card.  Well,
>we finally got the first one late last week, and either I (and
>my authorized Apple dealer) read between the lines of Apple's
>original announcements on this card, or Apple has not been
>entirely truthful regarding the card's capabilities.
>The 8-24 does indeed support large (19-21") third-party color
>monitors (we tried it on a new 20 or 21" SuperMac [looked like
>an OEM from NEC; definitely wasn't a Sony]) with a resolution
>of at least 1024x768 (probably higher, I don't remember the details
>now).  However, it DOES NOT support 24-bit color in this mode,
>no matter how much video memory you have (we had it max'ed out
>at 4MB). [Yes, we have 32-bit QuickDraw; we were using a IIfx 
>with 32-bit QD in ROM].   According to Apple (this is directly 
>from our authorized Apple rep, and also mentioned in the documentation 
>supplied with the 8-24), the board only supports 24-bit (or 32-bit) 
>color with Apple's 13" Trinitron monitor.  The extraneous video memory 
>when the card is in 8-bit mode (i.e. the memory above about 1MB, since 
>that is all that's necessary for the frame buffer) is only useful 
>to the 29K coprocessor for acceleration.  
>If you want large-screen (19-21"), accelerated, 24- 32-bit color
>on a Mac, the bottom line appears to be; don't get the 8-24.  We're
>probably going with the SuperMac Spectrum 8/24-III.  

Apple never claimed 24-bit support of displays larger than 13"; however, the
8*24GC will accelerate any NuBus 19" video card, by acting as a bus master.

Boris Levitin
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WGBH Public Broadcasting, Boston                         boris@world.std.com
Audience & Marketing Research              wgbx!boris_levitin@athena.mit.edu
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(The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily coincide 
with those of my employer or anyone else.  The WGBH tag is for ID only.)