Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!taco!hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu!kdarling From: kdarling@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: De-macification of the Amiga (Re: The Amiga's Future) Message-ID: <1991Jun25.033805.12744@ncsu.edu> Date: 25 Jun 91 03:38:05 GMT References: <85@ryptyde.UUCP> <1991Jun22.045446.2732@Sugar.NeoSoft.com> <102@ryptyde.UUCP> <1991Jun24.092659.28842@Sugar.NeoSoft.com> Sender: news@ncsu.edu (USENET News System) Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 19 >Since the IFF standard is defined in a system-independent manner >(and in fact is used in EA programs on the IBM-PC and the Mac as >well as the Amiga) it's a superior design. Well, I use and like IFF... but I wouldn't claim it as "superior" :) Heck, the IFF chunks used by the Amiga are as Amiga-specific as you can get: a limited number of bitplanes in the ANIM files, 6-bit HAM (versus system independent 12-bit) files, signed 8-bit audio, big-endian layout, etc. Write some HAM->chunky pixel conversion programs and you'll start cussing. The main "system-independent" claim of IFF is that the chunks always contain enough info to convert the files to another format (well, ALMOST always... the halfbrite and HAM Amiga ILBMs ended up needed another type chunk :-(. >If you want to find out more about IFF, look it up. > It's a published standard. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes, _that's_ the most important feature. - kevin