#WB 1.4 revealed!
14 messages in this thread
Did they say how big 1.4 will be? still 256k or 512k? And if it'll work on the
1000..
Marc!
Marc,
I am told that 1.4 will still be on a 256K ROM, but that a 512K can be used in
the future if needed. Actually, I understand that many things now in the 1.3
ROM are to be removed to the WorkBench in order to make room there for the new
things.
For the 1000 – it is not easy to make this work. You might look through this
message base for information about a board Gregg Tibbs is building. He already
HAS a fat Agnus in his 1000, on a board he is creating. He will be showing the
board at AmiExpo in Chicago, I believe.
Betty
What, will 1.4 NEED the fat Agnus to work? Would you happen to know why?
Marc!
As I understand it, as usual 1.4 will be usable with the two disk combo,
but the new chips won't be. Of course, as betty points out, someone hacked the
new Agnus on and the new Denise probably isn't far behind (once its released,
that is.).
— Ethan
The new Denise.. mmmh, could you tell me what it'll do more than the on
in my AMIGA? It's the sound chip, right?
Marc!
No, denise handles graphics. There will be a new 1280×200 mode with 4
colors out of 64 which will work on current monitors, according to Amiga
Sentry. The other modes include 640×400 non-interlaced and 640×800 interlaced,
all of which will require a multisync and have the same color restrictions as
1280×200. All the old modes will be kept. The workbench screen can be made into
any of these modes.
— Ethan
4 colors out of 64? I feel strangled! 4 out of 4096, OK! but not out of 64.
Marc!
Well, the colors limit may be annoying but how many colors do you see on
your workbench screen?
— Ethan
P.S. Or for that matter on your wordprocessor screen, desktop publishing
screen, …
Yeah, I guess so. OK, 4 colors out of 64 is not too bad after all, but it makes
me feel as though I'll be loosing a bit of power on color selection. If C=
would have implemented a more colorfull one too, then I'd be happy(er).
Marc!
Well, the problem isn't something that Commodore could fix without coming
out with a whole new motherboard, as I understand it. The blitter simply can't
address the amount of information needed for a more colorful screen within the
time the monitor needs to have the information again. This is what people are
looking for in a A3000…
— Ethan
Ethan, the blitter isn't involved with the display circuitry (well, not in this
area it isn't anyhow).
But I think Marc's point is that he has to select those few colors he sees on
his workbench screen from a pre-selected 64.
For example, suppose you want green text, but there are only four greens in the
64 colors. One is too bright (and if you turn the monitor brightness down,
your background color is too dim or somesuch), one is too dim, and the other
two have blue or yellow casts. With 4 out of 4096, you can pick the 4 colors
that are — to quote a famous little blond — "juuuuuuuuuust right!". With 4
out of 64, you're restricted to what someone else has picked.
Did I get it right, Marc?
Rick
You've got it perfectly Richard. Getting a pre-defined palette is like getting
back to the ol' days of my COCO.
Marc!
64 is hardly 4096 or even 16.7 million, but it really isn't the worst
that could happen! Some applications don't really require colors at all. For
those that do, and those that really like colorful lives, can always use the
old modes!
— Ethan