| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 4277.1 | | TLE::RMEYERS | Randy Meyers | Wed Nov 14 1990 18:12 | 8 |
| Re: .0
> an amiga 2000 with the new video toaster, which has 16M colors (how do
> they translate into the 4k max of the amiga), and a wide array of
The video toaster is a completely independent graphics subsystem: it doesn't
use the Amiga graphics at all, and only programs written specially for
the toaster can talk to it.
|
| 4277.2 | thanks, and... | CIMBAD::QUIRICI | | Thu Nov 15 1990 12:01 | 14 |
| re: .1
i assume you mean then that if you had the time you could plug in the
video toaster and write a completely new amiga operating system using
16M colors? the toaster has like bit blitters and stuff so you could
program text-output, graphics editors, and the like? is the video
toaster then better than 640x400 (and non-interlaced to boot?)
if the answer to all these is yes, i wonder how much money that part of
the video toaster that simply upgrades the amiga video operating system
would cost, assuming you could isolate that part of it and assign a
cost to it.
i hope these questions make sense.
|
| 4277.3 | More colors, same resolution | TLE::RMEYERS | Randy Meyers | Thu Nov 15 1990 13:03 | 15 |
| Re: .2
You could indeed write a new version of AmigaDOS that did all graphics
to the video toaster, but it would be a major undertaking.
The video toaster isn't higher resolution or non-interlaced. Both those
properties are useless in video work. In video work, your goal is to
create a signal that can be displayed on a TV screen, not a computer
monitor. The current Amiga resolutions are as good as television gets.
Period. The only drawback of the current Amiga video modes with regards
to television is that they do not support enough colors. The toaster
corrects that problem, and adds features for combining multiple video
signals into one, and for performing special effects.
Interlace isn't a drawback for video work: it is a requirement.
|
| 4277.4 | Software first... | FROCKY::BALZER | Christian Balzer DTN:785-1029 | Tue Nov 20 1990 09:03 | 13 |
| Re: all
As Randy already stated, it all depends on how you define "up to date".
Given substantial investments, an Amiga XXXX with gazonga graphics
within a few months would be no problem hardwarewise.
However the resulting price increase and years of development (or
an immense and probably unaffordable increase in the CBM software crew)
make an "up to date" Amiga that's still in a sensible price range a
fantasy.
What's needed is device/resolution graphics.library. This takes time.
<CB>
|
| 4277.5 | | CIMBAD::QUIRICI | | Tue Nov 20 1990 10:25 | 7 |
| re: .4
could you explain what you mean by device/resolution library? are
you saying the major problem, time-wise (not cost-wise) is writing
software? what kind of software?
ken
|
| 4277.6 | Independent... | FROCKY::BALZER | Christian Balzer DTN:785-1029 | Fri Nov 23 1990 11:06 | 16 |
| Re: .5
Argh, my fingers have been faster than my brain again.
That should be device/resolution _independent_ library.
And graphics.library would have to be rewritten completly, eventually
intuition, too. If you want backwards compatibility, things don't get
easier.
And this takes time and is expensive. CBM started to take steps in that
direction with the new font stuff and the resolution independant font
engine currently under construction, but one has to wait and see
if they can do it in time to stay competetive with other platforms.
(And yes Virginia, a home computer doesn't really need this features,
but a low-end workstation does.)
<CB>
|