[comp.sys.ibm.pc] MS Windows 2.03 Software Development Kit

couch@mill.me.toronto.edu () (06/24/88)

Does anyone have experience with gray scale images with MS Windows.

I am trying to display a 16 level gray scale image within a Windows
application.  I am using a VGA compatible card (ATI VIP). If I retrieve
the screen display context and create a compatible bitmap, the bitmap is
in the following form:

red scan 0..n-1
green scan 0..n-1
blue scan 0..n-1

where n is the height of the image in raster lines.


Pixels in a scanline are represented by one bit per colour.
The problem with this arrangement is that only eight colours can be specified.
I want to use the full 16 available with the VGA standard.

Thanks in advance.

roper@june.cs.washington.edu (Michael Roper) (06/26/88)

couch@mill.me.toronto.edu writes:
>
> Pixels in a scanline are represented by one bit per colour.
> The problem with this arrangement is that only eight colours 
> can be specified.  I want to use the full 16 available with 
> the VGA standard.

Microsoft Windows has always used 3-plane bitmaps because
they were concerned about performance.  However, there is
at least one driver for EGA systems which supports 4-plane
bitmaps, providing 16 colors.  The driver is called "EGA-16"
and is available for about $40 from:

hDC Computer Corp.
15379 N.E. 90th St.
Redmond, WA  98052

phone (206) 885-5550
fax   (206) 881-9770

Unfortunately, it does not support VGA, although it works
fine with a VGA in EGA mode.  hDC is currently working on
VGA-64, which would provide 64 colors in some VGA modes.
I don't know when they expect to ship.

EGA-16 also comes with a Windows utility for setting your
16-color palette (from up to 256 available).

If it matters, I work for hDC, although not on EGA-16.


-- 
Mike Roper
                                      *  "I think I'm going to sneeze."
ARPA:  roper@june.cs.washington.edu   *  "A Klingon?"  "Sneeze?"
UUCP:  ihnp4!uw-beaver!uw-june!roper  *  "It's the only kind I know."