Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mcnc!decwrl!public!death From: death@public.BTR.COM (David Burrowes death@btr.com) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: bits per pixel (was: NeXT General Educational Disqucount?) Message-ID: <2776@public.BTR.COM> Date: 12 May 91 17:53:12 GMT References: <1991May11.075053.10746@ccu.umanitoba.ca> <1991May12.044514.329@cbnewse.att.com> <1991May12.052853.27513@neon.Stanford.EDU> Distribution: usa Organization: BTR Public Access UNIX, MtnView CA. For info contact Customer Service cs@BTR.COM Lines: 17 In article <1991May12.052853.27513@neon.Stanford.EDU> ly@neon.Stanford.EDU (Eric Ly) writes: >In article <1991May12.044514.329@cbnewse.att.com> cafe@cbnewse.att.com (richard.dib) writes: >>> I think 4, 16, or 32 bit is more accurate. >>> or even 2+2, 12+4, or 24+8 bit. >>Why 4 bits??? There are only four diferent "shades" on the B&W monitor: >The 4 bits, or 2+2 bits, refer to two bits of data and two bits of I condeed in advance that I may be way off in la-la land here, but it runs in my mind, from something I distantly remember reading back in the 0.8, 0.9 or 1.0 docs that the 2 transparancy bits were allocated 'on the fly'. That is, by default, the screen is 2 bits deep, but when one needs to go do transparancy work, enough extra bits are allocated for this purpose by DPS or whoever. Obviously, even if this is so for the Megapixel monochrome/grey/whatever screen, it ain't true for the color machines! \david john burrowes death@btr.com