CompuServe Messages

That may be enough for some operations – mostly, it's not enough though. The thing about IM is that it is competely open-ended. We don't automatically "hog" memory like some software does, nor do we require that the memory be in contiguous regions – both of these appraches help smaller memory users. The math goes something like this… you have 3 megs, 2 of it "fast". When you load IM, about 1.25 megabytes is taken by the software. You now have about 750k of fast memory left, and most of your chip is still untouched. buffer space (memory taken by an image) is calculated two ways; either 7*X*Y (if the undo buffer is used) or 4*X*Y (no undo buffer). If the undo buffer is off, then (a) you can't undo, and (b) about 50% of the image processes will not operate. 750k / 7 = 107k, more or less. Thats the number of pixels you can have. Square root of 107000 is 327 or so. So, you can work on a 320×200 image and have some room left over. Only that one image. With undo off, you go for 750k / 4 = 187k, square root of which is 433; you can do a 320×400 image comfortably in that much room. Just one, though. 24 bit images eat memory like starving grasshoppers eat crops. Imagemaster has the capability of loading any number of images, of pretty much any reasonable size – providing you have the memory. There really isn't an upper "reasonable" limit, either – I have 18 megs on my 2500/030 system and I have been known to bump the limit without really realizing I was going to hit it. Also, Imagemaster can multitask with a number of other programs to good effect. Running public interface modules requires memory for them to be loaded into – sometimes a fair bit. Certain other software (which should be released shortly – at which time I'll be happy to discuss it) will also multitask with Imagemaster and it for sure will use more memory. No question about it. 24-bit image handling isn't a job for a small machine. And as I said before – accellerators are a good idea. –Ben