Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    The Atari defaults to a 320 x 200/4 color desktop, but a 640 x 200/4
    color setting is optional.  This applies to the color monitor only.
    The monochrome desktop is 640 x 400/1 color only.
    
    The odd thing on the Atari is that all the icons and desktop graphics
    are designed to have the proper aspect ration on the 320 x 200 and
    640 x 400 screens.  With the 640 x 200 settings, which is probably
    the most popular (Atari sells far more color systems than mono),
    the icons are rather tall and skinny, much like the Amiga icons
    are short and fat in 640 x 400 mode.
    
    You'd think that enough intelligence could be programmed in to keep
    the icons at the same aspect ratio regardless of screen resolution,
    much as DPaint does with it's tool icons.
    
    The Mac uses an odd 512 x 380 or thereabouts display.  The Mac ][
    uses 640 x 480, which is the ideal aspect ratio.  The new PS/2 also
    uses these setting.
    

The Atari numbers are 4-plane 320x200, and 2-plane 640x200 color.
					   -------
There are 16 colors in the 320x200 mode, which is used mostly for video
games and artwork applications, but only 4 colors in the 640x200 mode,
which is used for running applications that want to represent a typical
80 column display worth of information.  Most applications that use the
4-color mode will run more pleasantly in the 640x400x1 high resolution
mode used on the 70hz monochrome monitor.

    re:.2
    Does the ST DESKTOP actually use the 16 colors for the 320x200 DESKTOP
    display?  Or just the same 4 colors it uses for the 640x200 DESKTOP?
    
    -dave

>    Does the ST DESKTOP actually use the 16 colors for the 320x200 DESKTOP
>    display?  Or just the same 4 colors it uses for the 640x200 DESKTOP?

I don't understand.  The only "color" in the ST desktop is the screen
background.  The windows with icons in them are strictly bitonal, and
with the default color map settings, are black and white.  The icons
in the desktop display are pretty dumb - there are only four different ones:

	file drawer == device
	file folder == directory
	"window" ==  executable program
	"paper" ==  everything else

So I guess the answer to this is "no", the desktop uses the same four
colors in low-res [320 wide] mode that it uses in medium-res mode [640
wide].

What I don't understand is why you ask?  To what purpose could the ST
desktop make of additional colors?  About the only things you can do
with it are copy files and run programs.  The important thing is what
happens once the program starts running.  In the 320-wide mode, the
programs can (and often do) use all 16 colors.  Note that on the Atari,
a program cannot change the display resolution after the system has
booted, unless it chooses not to use the ROM drawing services or to
allow the desk accessories to run.  There is no "change screen mode"
system service that informs all the interested software components that
the screen resolution is changing, so you have to reboot into the
resolution you need for the program you are intending to run.

[Actually, I perefer high-resolution monochrome for any real work. 
Color is for toys.  That's the main reason why I put up with the Atari
instead of getting an Amiga.] [An no comments from those of you who know
that I entered this note on an 8-plane VSII/GPX please.]

    Actually, four colors on the Amiga Workbench are put to fairly good
    use...
    
    Any icon can have any color in it.  When an icon is selected, the
    highlight is indicated by the change in color, or, optionally, the
    backfill color changes.  Additionally, window gadgets are generally
    a different color than the Workbench background color or the window
    border color.
    
    Oddly, I find I've been using a single plane Workbench lately. 
    With over four thousand colors to choose from, I find that the desktop
    is most pleasing when I make it look like a Mac.
    
    

    
    re: -1
    Ed,
    
    Have you got a way to throw the workbench into an actual single
    plane or are you just using only two colors?  Not much different
    just more chip memory.
    
    - steve

    Steve, I stumbled upon a small hack called WBDEPTH that accepts
    the argument -n where n is 1 through 3 bit planes.  Used in conjunction
    with PopColor, you can actually get a moncochrome, 4, or 8 color
    Workbench.                            
    
    It is useful if you're really running low on chip ram to free up
    an additional 16k by dropping the WB back to one plane.  It also
    speeds up TextCraft Plus a bit.
    
    If you're interested, I'll upload it here over the weekend.  The
    icons that rely on color registers 2 and 3 look a bit bland using
    colors 0 and 1, but it's still pretty functional.
                                   
    Ed.

Ed, Jeff,

You two have no poetry in your souls with this monochrome desktop
business: color is there to make it pretty. :-)

After getting use to a color desktop, I happened upon a Mac in a
local department store and I was surprised at my reaction.  My first
thought was "look at that tiny little black and white screen, it looks
like a cheap rip off of real computers."  Then I remembered that just
a few years ago I thought that same display was pretty sexy.

I'd rather have color than a simple doubling of vertical resolution.
This seems to simply be a matter of taste on both sides.  I must admit
that I intrigued by the not-yet-a-product 1008 by 800 four gray level
Amiga monitor.  Six times the display area does beat color.

    Ed,
    
    I wouldn't mind trying it if you're willing to upload.   I poked
    around a few of the PD accounts just now and couldn't find it.
    
    thanks,
    
    steve

    I've always had a soft spot in my heart for a crisp mono display,
    although I'd go berserk if glorious color weren't there on command.
    
    Say, how this for an idea... we start a directory somewhere with
    everyone's system-configuration files in it; this way we could try
    out what others found pleasing.
    
    Ed.

    OK, I've uploaded WBDepth.arc and PopColors.arc to 
    LEDS3::USER6:[ACCIARDI.AMIGA] in case anyone wants to experiment
    with a monochrome WorkBench.
    
    PopColors is a quick pop-up color requestor, but it has the
    added slickness of allowing you to adjust the color registers of
    the WorkBench and a simultaneous custom screen.
    
    Ed.