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Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!lethe!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.amiga.tech,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Retargetable graphics. Temporary Stop-gaps.
Keywords: rtg,iff,24bit,video hardware
Message-ID: <16728@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 21 Dec 90 17:06:11 GMT
References: <12437@life.ai.mit.edu> <16612@cbmvax.commodore.com> <7307@sugar.hackercorp.com> <1990Dec20.164538.24027@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 38

In article <1990Dec20.164538.24027@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> kevins@dgp.toronto.edu (Kevin Schlueter) writes:
>Some people are asking why we should accept the limitation of not being
>able to run intuition on new displays.  Basically, the issue is that
>of 2D graphics vs 3D graphics.  

My point, when I first mentioned it, was that such a thing would be quite
useful.  Basically, there are levels of graphic displays.  Things like 
graphics.library and Display Postscript manage an imaging model, which is
what you need, with device independence, to draw a picture of some kind on
any display.  You have to get to that point anyway to go to the next step,
which would be having something like Intuition run on an arbitrary display
device.  Intuition basically deals with the problem of control rather
than display (though it has a few higher-level display primitives, they could
just as easily been part of graphics).  

The problem of re-implementing graphics.library has already been tackled by
C= software engineers, and it hasn't proven trivial to adjust it for new
displays based on the Amiga chip set, like A2024 or ECS.  So I don't expect 
that every 3rd party display maker is going to build a graphics.library
equivalent.  So far, none of them have.  Ideally, Intuition would be fully
threaded through graphics, so if you replaced graphics.library and said the
proper magic incantations, you would have Intuition running on the alternate
display.  I doubt reality would be this kind, at least not yet.

I would happier than the proverbial pig in sh*t at this point if I could hook
up a 1024x1024 or 1600x1200 monitor and have virtually any program display 
just it's imaging work on the alternate device.  This is actually rather 
common in CAD work, to have separate image and control displays.  RTG would
be even better, but it would only be gravy for the kind of stuff I do.

The other thing to address in an imaging model is printers.  Ideally, your
display and your printer speak the same exact language, and it should be a
higher language then either would naturally speak, since displays and printers
don't each do everything well.
-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
		"I can't drive 55"	-Sammy Hagar