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From: izumi@mindseye.berkeley.edu (Izumi Ohzawa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: ColorStation questions
Message-ID: <1991Apr25.083735.27737@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 25 Apr 91 08:37:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: agate.1991Apr25.083735.27737
References: <1991Apr24.082948.17763@cs.ucla.edu> <559@rosie.NeXT.COM> <1991Apr24.231003@ece.arizona.edu>
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In article <1991Apr24.231003@ece.arizona.edu> 
  dan@ece.arizona.edu (Dan Filiberti) writes:
quoting Ali Ozer, I beliveve,

>>Yes, it is, of the 4096 different color values each pixel can take on,
>>16 of them are pure gray (Red == Green == Blue). However, PostScript 

>This is just wonderful! Here, we thought we were getting a good price
>on a workstation, and 4096 simultaneous colors to boot.  Now, we find
>that the price isn't the only thing that is cheap.  Let's look at the
>bigger picture.  NeXT claims that it can "display" 4096 colors on the
>screen at one time.

NeXT's claims is true.  Each Video DAC's for R, G, B produce
16 different levels of voltages. So, it can produce
16 x 16 x 16 colors which are 4096 colors.  There is
no misrepresentation here.

>  What they don't tell you, is that you really have
>control over only 16 colors!.  The rest are all permutations of the
>six that you pick!  You know that is just lovely...once again research
>succumbs to the will of the masses.

This is not true.  They are not permuations of 16 colors.
And just what's wrong with your research succumbing to the will
of the masses?

>Our research deals with images of skin, which unfortunately, may contain
>over 256 shades of red, pink, various browns, greys, blues, and who
>knows what else.  We are trying to determine which colors are important,
>and which aren't in the diagnosis of skin disorders.  How can we do
>this on the NeXT ColorStation, everything is dithered, and most colors
>probably won't be represented.
>
>I guess this could be expected.  After all, they didn't even allow 
>for RGB input into the NextDimension board.  I guess we can use these
>workstations to replace our video recorders, but not for research.

So, don't use NeXT Colorstaion for your research.
24 bit per pixel enough?  You can probably use NeXTdimension
for your research, with 256 levels of black-gray-white.
If that's not enough, buy a system with 10-bit DACs from elsewhere.
Pixar had such an option, I believe.

I see that you qualify for Edu discount, so you can get
NeXTdimension board for $2600 or so.  This is a tremendous
deal for what NeXTdimension offers.

I have checked on high-end PC plug-in graphics board from
places like Number Nine, Imagraph, Matrox, etc.
(> 1024x1024 pixels, > 24-bits/pix, VRAM >3MB, non-interlaced)
And their boards are EXPENSIVE coming in at $4000 or more,
yet they don't even come close in terms
of the functions integrated and performance.
And, nobody has Display PostScript for these boards.

NeXTdimension's functionality and price is, I would say,
unparalleled, even without RGB video in, and even without
working JPEG chip, it is a great deal.

I just thought this guy's whining is totally off the mark.

Izumi


Izumi Ohzawa             [ $@Bg_78^=;(J ]
USMail: University of California, 360 Minor Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Telephone: (415) 642-6440             Fax:  (415) 642-3323
Internet: izumi@violet.berkeley.edu   NeXTmail: izumi@pinoko.berkeley.edu