Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!toddpw
From: toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Pirating Hardware
Message-ID: <1991Feb5.022735.24470@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 5 Feb 91 02:27:35 GMT
References: <447@generic.UUCP> <15071@smoke.brl.mil>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 29

gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:

>a "frame grabber" to work in conjunction with Apple's VOC (which is already a
>640x480 video card),

nitpick time... that's 640x400.

>deep pixel is the key point), again set up to work in conjunction with the
>VOC (perhaps also without it).  The system software mods to support the VOC
>in 640x480 mode would be wonderful, too.

Convincing Quickdraw to support 16 colors at a nice size like that SHOULD be
trivial, and would be quite adequate! A lot of spiffy things can be done with
VRAMs and a little ingenuity -- if TI had sampled me six 44c251's last year
I might have finished a 768x512 4096-color frame buffer/grabber by now. Since
those chips are in real production quantities now, I might be able to get
samples if I try again.

>Apple's VOC (Video Overlay Card) is a really nice piece of hardware, although
>it's sort of a pity that there wasn't any way to add its capabilities into
>a IIGS without duplicating essentially all the IIGS video circuitry on the

There was and there is. Take about half the digital stuff on the VOC and
cram it all into a _BIG_ ASIC chip driving some VRAMs -- some of it goes
away just because you're using VRAMs. Opinions as to why this wasn't done
are not really fit for discussion here.

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu