CompuServe Messages

#Market Survey

    22-Jan-88 06:32:38
Sb: #104666-#Market Survey
Fm: Ben Blish 72667,1341
To: CTS/NP 74240,1176
Ok, Jo, fair question. <rubbing hands together>. First of all, the 500 does use interlace…. the ST does not. This means that (A) 400 line mode on the ST does NOT flicker. (B) the ST cannot display standard NTSC video, which in turn means it and your VCR are incompatible. (C) it means that OUR 400 line mode DOES flicker when using a stadard monitor (all that is available at this time). Now, there are a LOT of other things, but I wanted to address that first, since you brought it up. The ST's display is overall MUCH inferior to the Amiga's; specifically, Since the color and monochrome modes require entirely different handling, you need to rebbot and possibly change monitors to use them – unless you have a multisync type monitor. Not the AMiga. The ST has FAR inferior color capability; I have long since forgotten the details, but it is something like, we can do any 32 of 4096 colors, they can do any 16 of 512 colors (I think that's correct, too) We can show all 4096 colors (HAM mode) they can't, period. 16. hehe. We can have multiple graphics screens in multiple resolutions in multiple color depths running under mutiple or single programs or a combination thereof…. they can't. ANY of that. <grin> WE have hardware support for sophisticated sound generation. THEY don't. We have a multitasking operating system, they don't. That is important, as they can run only 1 main program at once, unless they wish to give up all vestiges of ST-ness and run OS-9, a wonderful operating system that won't let them do diddly with the sorry hardware they DO have available to them. We have a marvelous many-channeled logic engine misleadingly called a blitter. Why misleadingly? Only because Atari has what they call a blitter, too; let me put it in perspective for you. WE have a Lamborghini; THEY have a Hyundai. Really. <continued next message – read thread>