#HamE Software Upgrades
20 messages in this thread
Newsletter? What newsletter? Is this another case of newsletters never
getting past the Canadian border?
Blaq! – via Whap!
Blaq-
After the GST and exchange…probably not muchg left. 8)
Michael
Don't feel bad, Charles. I don't have one either…. from HOT-SUNNY (at
last) Seattle 🙂
–jp–seattle–
I received the newsletter today. Although for us regulars it may seem
like old news, I can just imagine the intense excitement felt by a HAM-E
owner who doesn't use an online service! Ip 4.2! SpectraColor! ClickFax!
That newsletter is just bursting with developments! I gotta hand it to you
guys, you sure know how to keep the excitement going.
Blaq! – via Whap!
We got a call that I can only describe as "panicked" from a HAM-E owner who
had an early version of reg paint and not much else… he said he was
perfectly happy with it – until the newsletter arrived. :^)
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ben,
I have one small gripe with ip. When some features are selected the
program goes back to the main menu and just sits there for a few seconds
with no notification that anything is happening. Suddenly, a "gas gage"
will pop up and I'll know the program is working. It would be nice if ip
could turn the pointer busy when the program is thinking. (It "busies"
with some features but not all.)
Another quick question; does ip work faster on an accellerated machine?
I have an A2000 with a 68000 processor and 512K chip RAM. I have processed
some pictures extensively and when I wanted to do that "one more thing" the
processing menu will lockup and guru the machine. I have also done some
extensive altering to a picture and the program will refuse to save the
image. I have assumed these problems are because I only have 1/2 meg of
chip RAM. I am also one revision behind.
Finally, could you explain the "Dynamic" option in nice simple terms? Am
I correct in thinking it darkens the darks and lightens the lights? Thanks.
Leslie,
you betcha ip runs faster on an accelerated machine! I'm used to using
HAM-E software on a 25 MHz Amiga 3000, and felt quite a chill when I demo'd
IP to a friend with an unaccelerated 2000! However, this summer Black Belt
will rewrite their software in assembler and you should definitely see an
improvement in speed.
Blaq! – via Whap!
I thought ip ran faster with an 030. The program kind of acts like it
was developed on an accelerated Amiga. I'm looking foward to the release
of ip in assembler.
It was developed on an accellerated Amiga. :^) Several of them, in fact.
IP 4.5 is the first release containing serious optimization code… we're
just beginning, but you'll see a major increase in drawing times for many
operations, sometimes as much as 1000% (yes, one thousand). :^)
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Er, _decrease_ in drawing times.
Think, _then_ write. I'll get the hang of this yet. :^)
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Re the busy pointer, there are many many things that IP will do, depending
on what it is trying to accomplish, before it begins the actual process.
We're still inthe process of adding "busy" indications to all of them, but
we are aware of this and are taking steps to make it smoother.
IP is much faster on an accellerated machine; you hardly even see those
moments.
It's as much faster as the accellerator is. For instance, it's ten times
faster on a CBM 68030 system – an operation that takes 50 seconds on your
machine takes 5 seconds on a 2630 equipped machine.
I don't know what your lockups would be due to – We're not seeing them
here, so I think your guess of chip memory or memory in general would be
the answer. If you can give a more concrete example of a lockup, we can
probably nail the problem for you.
Dynamic finds out what the brightest level is in all three of the R, G and
B components is, then it finds the darkest level in all 3 components. These
are taken to be the black and white levels. If they are not already full
white or full black, the image is "stretched" in color space so that the
black level is moved down to black (if there was any room left to move it)
and the white level is stretched up to pure white (if there was any room to
move it). All in-between colors are stretched linearly to match. This
results in an image that uses the entire available color space, with
enhanced contrast over the original, if there was room to make more
contrast. The advantage is that no image data is lost, or distorted
non-linearly.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ben,
Thanks for the explaination of the Dynamic option. It is pretty much
what I thought. That explains why Dynamic affects some pictures greatly
and some pictures very little.
I figured ip worked faster with an 030 chip. When/if I can afford to
upgrade my chip RAM I would probably go with a MegaChip 2000 and I was
wondering if ip has been tested with two megs of chip RAM. I know it
sounds like a dumb question but I am amazed at some of the things that
breaks programs (like software that MUST have fast RAM.)
As for the lockups are concerned I will try to give you something more
specific. Even though I have 512K of chip RAM I have a full 8-up! board
giving me the system max. I tested all the memory and there are no holes.
I'll let you know what I find.
I'm sure Ben will verify it, but I have 2megs of Chip in my 3000 and IP
works fine with the extra Chip. Most Image Processing programs eat Chip
memory and the more the better. If I could add another 2meg of Chip, I
would probably do so 8^)
John (in beautiful downtown Walla Walla) – via Whap!
IP really isn't all that bad on chip – worst case is when you are running
with an interlaced screen, have a rendered image ready to go to disk, also
in interlace plus overscan. In an NTSC machine, this is one 640x400x4
screen (128k) plus (max) a 768x480x4 screen (185k), plus a vgad screen at
640x200x3 (48k) for a grand total of 361k of chip in use. You can manage
that even in a 512k chip ram machine – I know, because I'vce tried it.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ok, good on the bug(s). The better we can id them, the faster they get
fixed.
There are no known problems with 2 megs of chip – we make no assumptions
whatsoever about either chip or fast ram; the program asks the system for
memory in the standard fashion, and returns it likewise. It doesn't know,
or care, what portion of memory it gets as long as it meets the
requirements (chip, or not).
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ben,
I just tried to process a picture and had the computer lock up again.
Here is what I did. I took a picture I got from the Graphics Corner here
on CI$ called BB084.GIF and converted it to a 24-bit file via convert.
1. I rebooted the comuter.
2. Typed ip from the shell. (Did not run the program.)
3. Loaded the 24-bit program.
4. Went to the Display Panel and selected Hi-Q HAM-E, Lace, and Done.
5. Went to the Process Panel and selected Dynamic Range, Entire Image
(at this point I think the pointer should turn busy right away instead of
waiting for the "gas gague" to pop up.)
6. Went to HAM-E Render and selected V Overscan, Interlace Screen, V
Overscan, Done, HAM-E Mode 18-bit render, Generate new Palette was
highlighted, Done, Entire Image… and then the screen did nothing.
I could not save the picture. I tried to process the picture further
but when I selected Dynamic Range and freehand I got the "FINISH ALL TASKS"
message and had to reset the computer. Any ideas?
A whole bunch; none of which can be confirmed at this point.
I'd like to know how much chip memory you had left when you began the
render step – that same sequence works fine here on both 4.4 and the
current 4.5.x;
From your description, IP was unable to open the second (render) screen for
output.
I can give you one suggestion – when you start the program, use the same
steps except do NOT use the LACE option for display or editing. It makes no
difference to the final output what resolution or mode the edit screen is
in – so use 200 lines, that will free up a great deal of chip memory.
let me know if that helps; if so, then we've identified a failing of IP
when it's too short of chip.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ben,
I'm going to have a few problems working with Amy for the next few days.
My 80 meg Quantum, which had all of my experimental stuff, froze on me. I
do have most of my files backed up but I want to wait to see if the chip
fix Quantum is sending me will work. I'm glad you told that mods can be in
low res and then rendered in high res. I'll be in touch as soon as my
drive gets it's memory back.
It really stinks working with floppies once you get used to a hard
drive. Everything is in slow motion and it's driving me crazy!
Leslie,
I too have a 80 meg Quantum that did the samething. I did install the
new chip that Quantum sent me but started getting phantom r/w errors. So I
placed the original firmware chip back in. It the drive is just stuck try
the following.
1. Remove the hd and hold it level.
2. While holding it level gently twist your wrist to break the platter
free.
3. Reinstall and see if she spins up.
To be honest I don't trust the drive anymore as it seems to have weired
problems with slow startup now.
Um…. are you a registered user? That is, did you send in your
registration card/sheet? If so, you should have gotten a newsletter – we
sent one to *every* registered user here and out of the country. It took us
about a week and a half to do it, too. If you didn't get one, call Erin at
(406) 367-5513 and request same.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S