[comp.sys.amiga] MB, 16 million colors, etc.

navas@cory.Berkeley.EDU (David C. Navas) (10/17/90)

Well, Situations Being AFU -- I not only lost the post I was going to
Follow-up-to, but my creation of a new thread seems to have indicated I
am in atari.st, and responding to Lord only knows what.  My apologies if
something else turns out wrong....

Marc's big beef has always been that Apple's color system is more "elegant."
That is you can transparently switch from 8 to 24 bits per pixel, without
much knowledge by (most) software running under the environment.  Compared
to what the Amiga offers in response, his point is -=>VALID<=-.

In his eyes, the most important thing about the new Apples is the cheap
standard color gaphics which Apple has never really had.  Again his
point is valid.

Price comparisons with different machines arguing over different philosophical
points (colors, lack of FPU, etc.) gets us nowhere.  It's the old story about
five blind men sitting around an elephant, touching different parts and trying
to describe it -- they will NEVER REACH A CONSENSUS!

Apple is now competition.  Fine.  I welcome the challenge.  But Apple and
Commodore etc.  are fighting one very similar fight -- and that one is
against IBM.

If we continually compare ourselves against Apple, then the amount of the pie
we're reaching for is embarrassingly small.  Let's try and remember that the
"PC" market is, unfortunately, dominated by IBM.  As such, both Apple and
Commodore have reasonable alternatives at competitive prices.

This in no way justifies the way in which Marc presents his points, but
his mannerisms in no way justifies our flames either.  We are, in our bizarre
individual ways, trying to make what is "AMIGA" into what is the "perfect"
computer.  Let's try and have reasonable discussions over those points,
instead of flames (which nobody likes) about <fill_in_the_blank>.

My apologies for wasting bandwidth, feel free to add this to your kill
file if you don't like it's gist.  I hope this has made some sense....
David Navas                                   navas@sim.berkeley.edu
"Excuse my ignorance, but I've been run over by my train of thought."  -me

peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (10/19/90)

In article <28857@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> navas@cory.Berkeley.EDU writes:
> Marc's big beef has always been that Apple's color system is more "elegant."
> That is you can transparently switch from 8 to 24 bits per pixel, without
> much knowledge by (most) software running under the environment.  Compared
> to what the Amiga offers in response, his point is -=>VALID<=-.

Oh, pshaw. You open a new application and all the other window colors change.
Screens are a far superior solution to the problem of sharing color table
space.
-- 
Peter da Silva.   `-_-'
<peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.

navas@cory.Berkeley.EDU (David C. Navas) (10/20/90)

In article <6830@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>In article <28857@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> navas@cory.Berkeley.EDU writes:
>> Marc's big beef has always been that Apple's color system is more "elegant."
>> That is you can transparently switch from 8 to 24 bits per pixel, without
>Screens are a far superior solution to the problem of sharing color table
>space.

I think you've misunderstood my hardware-speak for software.  I was
referring to the ability of taking out those 8-bit boards and just sticking
24-bit boards in there.  That's nice, and an ability we really don't have
on the Amiga [for some good, technical reasons].

I wasn't referring to that software hack Apple added to their system software
that is analogous to ScreenMode in WB2.0 so that some Mac programs which are
too stupid to understand color can work. :)  [Please, it's a joke, okay?]

I agree with your assessment, of course!
It's great to show that Honda HAM motorcycle, and then DRAG it down to
reveal my monochrome workbench.  It's a real eye-opener.

>Peter da Silva.   `-_-'
><peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.

Where is that TCL port (library), anyway?
David Navas                                   navas@cory.berkeley.edu
Get -MB- off the net, elect him as our next Vice President.  [It's a joke.]