blgardne@esunix.UUCP (06/06/87)
Now that the A500 is in the stores the local Amigaoids are going nuts
over Extra Half Brite. This was discussed somewhat a month or so ago,
but would someone at C-A care to answer some questions?
1) Do all A500s and A2000s have Extra Half Brite (EHB)?
2) Is EHB an officially supported video mode?
3) Will future color expansion interfere with EHB?
4) Are the A500 based coin-op games using EHB?
5) Where can documentation on EHB (hardware and programming) be found?
6) Is it true that the new Aegis software supports EHB?
7) Will there be an official upgrade policy for non-EHB A1000s?
8) If not, what is the part number and price, and how can we order the
required chip (and make sure it really is EHB)?
9) How can you distinguish an EHB chip from a non-EHB chip (by part
number, revision number, or date code)?
As you can tell this is one Amiga owner anxious to tear open the case
and drop in the new chip (and maybe a 68010 while the hood is up)!
--
Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland
UUCP Address: {ihnp4,decvax}!decwrl!esunix!blgardne
Alternate: {ihnp4,seismo}!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!esunix!blgardnespencer@eris.UUCP (06/10/87)
In article <341@esunix.UUCP> blgardne@esunix.UUCP (Blaine Gardner) writes: >Now that the A500 is in the stores the local Amigaoids are going nuts >over Extra Half Brite. This was discussed somewhat a month or so ago, >but would someone at C-A care to answer some questions? > >1) Do all A500s and A2000s have Extra Half Brite (EHB)? Yes! > >2) Is EHB an officially supported video mode? Yes! > >3) Will future color expansion interfere with EHB? No, EHB must be specified to get it, you don't just turn on 6 bit planes > >5) Where can documentation on EHB (hardware and programming) be found? Addison Weseley (?) > >6) Is it true that the new Aegis software supports EHB? Yes, they went whole hog > >9) How can you distinguish an EHB chip from a non-EHB chip (by part > number, revision number, or date code)? I believe that all chips past rev 6? or 7 support it >-- >Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland I personally was supprised to hear all the above. The machine is not spec'ed to support 64 colors, and when I spoke to the Developer Support people in August last year they said that EHB was a fluke and not supported. I guess that they didn't want to start handing out all these extra chips so people could get the EHB in their Amiga. I have 2 home Amigas and one at work and NONE of them have EHB. Such is life! I read something on usenet or some such about it impeading future expansion, but when Dale Luck brought up EHB at the last Badge meeting I asked him point blank what the Amiga people thought of it, and he said that Amiga (commodore too?) has ALWAYS supported EHB. Hmmm... news to me, guess I need to buy me 3 new chips! While I am speaking about chips I spoke with Jeff Porter (Mr. A500) at CES and he told me that the A500 was designed to accept (at a later date) one full meg of chip memory (not two, now, that was just a rumor, seems he ran out of pins.) The memory that is currently residing at $C00000 would be moved (with different pals) to the chip memory space, and a new Agnus would be droped in (pin compatible). That would give you the one meg of Chip. I remember Andy (I think) saying that it wouldn't make sense to come to market with new machines that had lots of chip memory. All the A1000 owners would cry bloody-murder, so first you flood the market with A500s and A2000s and then you release the new chips and drop them into the new machines. That way there wouldn't be the same public outcry. I agree completely. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)284-4740 I N F I N I T Y BBS: (415)283-5469 Now working for |||||||||||::::... . . BUD-LINX But in no way |||||||||||||||::::.. .. . Officially representing ||||||||||||:::::... .. ....ucbvax!mica!spencer s o f t w a r e spencer@mica.berkeley.edu -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
grr@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (George Robbins) (06/11/87)
In article <3912@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> spencer@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Randy Spencer) writes: > In article <341@esunix.UUCP> blgardne@esunix.UUCP (Blaine Gardner) writes: > >Now that the A500 is in the stores the local Amigaoids are going nuts > >over Extra Half Brite. This was discussed somewhat a month or so ago, > >but would someone at C-A care to answer some questions? > > > >1) Do all A500s and A2000s have Extra Half Brite (EHB)? > Yes! > >2) Is EHB an officially supported video mode? > Yes! > >3) Will future color expansion interfere with EHB? > No, EHB must be specified to get it, you don't just turn on 6 bit planes > >5) Where can documentation on EHB (hardware and programming) be found? > Addison Weseley (?) > >6) Is it true that the new Aegis software supports EHB? > Yes, they went whole hog > >9) How can you distinguish an EHB chip from a non-EHB chip (by part > > number, revision number, or date code)? > > I believe that all chips past rev 6? or 7 support it > >-- > >Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland > > > I personally was supprised to hear all the above. The machine is not > spec'ed to support 64 colors, and when I spoke to the Developer Support > people in August last year they said that EHB was a fluke and not supported. > I guess that they didn't want to start handing out all these extra chips > so people could get the EHB in their Amiga. I have 2 home Amigas and one > at work and NONE of them have EHB. Such is life! I read something on > usenet or some such about it impeading future expansion, but when Dale Luck > brought up EHB at the last Badge meeting I asked him point blank what the > Amiga people thought of it, and he said that Amiga (commodore too?) has > ALWAYS supported EHB. Hmmm... news to me, guess I need to buy me 3 new > chips! The story is somewhat confusing. EHB was added when a new revision of some of the custom chips made it into production. It was a new feature, but there was no way for a customer to know whether any particular Amiga on the shelf would have it or not. Also, while a user could theoretically order a replacement part to upgrade his system, both production and service had the old and new parts listed as interchangable, since either performed the advertised Amiga functions. The result was EHB not being supported in a "product" sense. The software has (since 1.2?) always supported EHB as an option that may be available and will continue to do so. There was some discussion about whether future Amiga chips would support EHB. Basically, EHB is a kludge to let you get 64 colors despite the fact that you only have a 32 entry color lookup table. This might not make too much sense if some *hypothetical* future chipset were to implement a larger color lookup table. Of course it should be possible for the software to emulate EHB with the color lookup table, or we might chose to leave EHB in for compatibility reasons. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {ihnp4|seismo|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@seismo.css.GOV Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)
blgardne@esunix.UUCP (06/13/87)
in article <2005@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>, grr@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (George Robbins) says: >> In article <341@esunix.UUCP> blgardne@esunix.UUCP (Blaine Gardner) writes: >> >Now that the A500 is in the stores the local Amigaoids are going nuts >> >over Extra Half Brite. This was discussed somewhat a month or so ago, >> >but would someone at C-A care to answer some questions? > Also, while a > user could theoretically order a replacement part to upgrade his > system, both production and service had the old and new parts listed > as interchangable, since either performed the advertised Amiga > functions. So is it in fact NOW possible to order the correct part? How much does it cost, and how do we order it? Any chance of quantity discounts for user's groups? > The software has (since 1.2?) always supported EHB as an option that > may be available and will continue to do so. > So it IS officially supported? Where is EHB documented? I'd really like to get EHB into my Amiga, and a lot of people in our local user's group want EHB too. Should we pester our local dealer (and will he know what we're talking about), or should we send our cash directly to C-A? -- Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland UUCP Address: {ihnp4,decvax}!decwrl!esunix!blgardne Alternate: {ihnp4,seismo}!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!esunix!blgardne