Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!ritcv!cci632!ccicpg!leo!harald
From: harald@leo.UUCP ( Harald Milne)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Flicker Fixer
Message-ID: <2907@leo.UUCP>
Date: 29 Mar 88 09:26:45 GMT
Organization: CCI CPD (Advanced Development), Irvine CA
Lines: 64


	Just my opinion, beware!

	I like it, but a 13 inch monitor just doesn't cut it. A 20 inch monitor
would be more like it. Just too much resolution (Interlace mode) and not
enough screen size.
	Speaking of which, my screen is bit smaller now. Why? Well the higher
scan rate does tend to make the screen less wide. Then when I adjusted for
a perfect circle using DpaintII, the screen became less tall. I'm talking
about 12 inches diagonally on a Mitsubishi Monitor. It's a big scrunch from
working in non-interlace mode.
	Non-interlace mode looks, well "blocky" as far characters are concerned.

	Somebody mentioned a while back that the "ultimate display bar none" was
interlace using dropcloth, dropshadow, and morerows.

	It does look fantastic, but this setup is not without problems.

	1) Morerows is a must, unfortunately this breaks a few programs.
	   Notably Sclupt3d (sob), VideoTitler Vseg, boing demos, etc.

	   Overscan hasn't been handled well yet. This is a nasty test.
	   I know, I know, it's not supported. 

	2) DropShadow is very impressive, but the version I have from the net
	   sends some blasted diagnostic message to the serial port whenever
	   the right mouse button is pressed. Needless to say, this renders
	   any program using the serial port useless.

	   The second problem is, Intution gets very hard pressed to try to
	   "rethink" this type of display. When you start to have a lot of
	   workbench windows present, the refresh time becomes unbearable,
	   and your mouse even locks up in the process. (It comes back)

	   Not enough CPU! A shame, because this is a very NICE display!
	   Certainly the best I have ever seen on any Workstation!

	   I can live with the slow refresh, the display has such a 3
	   dimensional feel to it, you wan't to touch the screen of the
	   monitor to make sure!


	Another thing I noticed is, from the 8088 bridgecard scrolling,
	is the same problem seems to exist in hi-res interlace mode.
	When the screen scrolls, in scrolls in halves horizontally. (barely
	noticable as opposed to the bridge card scrolling vertically in bursts)

	The other problem is when you have multi-color text scrolling.
	Say for example you have text from the Manx ls command which shows
	directories in another pen color. When the display scrolls, it appears
	the bit planes are out of sync, and you see an orange/white flicker
	as it scrolls by.

	Well I'm not trying to be a mean and nasty, I'm just trying to point out
	a few problems that exist in this setup. That's what I get for pushing
	the envelope. But, I feel this is all fixable. That's all. I thought
	I'd let you all know.



-- 
Work: Computer Consoles Inc. (CCI), Advanced Development Group (ADG)
      Irvine, CA (RISCy business!) 
UUCP: uunet!ccicpg!leo!harald