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From: taab5@isuvax.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: (Video) Hardware Idiots ?
Message-ID: <1991Jun10.103543.22097@news.iastate.edu>
Date: 10 Jun 91 10:35:43 GMT
References: <1991Jun3.202114.4029@newserve.cc.binghamton.edu> <1991Jun3.225024.13052@marlin.jcu.edu.au> <1991Jun4.210724.1246@newserve.cc.binghamton.edu> <1991Jun7.091455.10355@rulway.LeidenUniv.nl> <1991Jun8.085839.3556@news.iastate.edu> <1991Jun8.191231 <1991Jun9.0
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In article <1991Jun9.060440.29078@leland.Stanford.EDU>, bard@jessica.stanford.edu (David Hopper) writes:
>>   There are a hell of a lot more than 20 resolution modes on the Amiga.
>>With the ECS, I think the total number of possible resolution modes is
>>now in the hundreds.  However, all of these are limited in resolution,
>>color capability, or both.
>
>Let's post the list again, shall we?
[stupid incomplete list deleted]

   You are obviously a moron if you think that list you posted is anywhere
near complete.  Every one of those resolution modes in that list has a
large number of variants depending on the display refresh rate.  With
the "super" Denise (an oximoron if I've ever seen one), you are no
longer stuck with 60Hz (NTSC) and 50Hz (PAL).  I don't know what the
range is with this programmable scan rate, but is at least 20Hz (it 
can certainly go as low as 50Hz, and as high as 70Hz.  Higher and low
rates are possible).  These rates are at a price, because the higher
the refresh rate, the fewer scan lines you have on the screen.


>
>>   A good example of how inadequate the current chipset has become is
>>the absurd number of bizarre hacks that have become available from third-
>>party companies enhance the chipset.  Such hacks include the A2024
>>monitor, all display-enhancer and flicker-fixer devices, the HAM-E,
>>colorburst, DCTV, etc.  If the chipset was more adequate for video tasks,
>>such hacks would not be needed.
>
>These are all hacks in what sense, Marc?  By your reckoning, then, the
>Apple video card is a hack.  The 2024 a hack?  That's a giggler.

   My definition of a hack is a device that accomplishes something in
a kludgy manner.  With the A2024, Commodore chose to fix the Amiga's 
resolution problem at the destination instead of the source -- a
true kludge.  With the Display Enhancer, Commodore decided to fix
the flicker problem on the chipset output instead of in the chipset
itself -- another true kludge.  The other video products try to
overcome the Amiga's color problems with more kludges.

   There is one other kludge that I forgot to mention: Commodore's
new high-density floppy drive.  If the chipset is so adequate, then
why did Commodore have to hack up floppy drives (slowing down the
drive motors) in order to get them to work?  That is a kludge in
the first degree. 

   In all of these resolution, flicker, color, and floppy drive
hacks, the problems are not fixed where they should be fixed --
at the source.

>Dave Hopper      |MUYOM!/// Anthro Creep | NeXT Campus Consultant at Stanford
>                 | __  ///    .   .      | Smackintosh/UNIX Consultant - AIR
>bard@jessica.    | \\\///    Ia! Ia!     | Independent Amiga Developer
>   Stanford.EDU  |  \XX/ Shub-Niggurath! | & (Mosh) Pit Fiend from Acheron

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 / Marc Barrett  -MB- | BITNET:   XGR39@ISUVAX.BITNET        /   
/  ISU COM S Student  | Internet: XGR39@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU   /      
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\        The great thing about standards is that          /
 \       there are so many of them to choose from.       /
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