nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA ("Norman R. Frech") (09/19/88)
Dan, I just got Dave Small's newsletter and I am fairly excited about this product. I don't know how to get to Dave on Usenet so I though maybe you could answer a few questions. He talks about a version 2.0 coming up in the near future; will this be a free upgrade from 1.0 or will there be a charge? Second, is it absolutely necessary to have a monochome monitor? Thanks, Norm Frech ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Norm Frech <nfrech@almsa-1.arpa> USAMC ALMSA, ATTN: AMXAL-HL, Box 1578, St.Louis, MO 63188-1578 COMMERICAL: (314) 263-5231 AUTOVON: 693-5231 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
rjung@sal5.usc.edu (Robert allen Jung) (09/20/88)
In article <8809191251.AA15678@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA ("Norman R. Frech") writes: >... is it absolutely necessary to have >a monochome monitor? You don't need a monochrome monitor for the Spectre 128, but it looks nicer. If you're using a color monitor, then grey shades are used for the screen, and the locations of the pixels are mapped to different shades (since the Mac monitor has more pixels vertically than the ST's medium resolution has). You can also hit a key and get a fully-mapped view of the top/bottom half of the screen. --R.J. B-) P.S. This is the same trick the Magic Sac uses for its color monitor support. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: These are my views, and mine alone. # ## # Mailing address: Beats me, just reply to this message # ## # (rjung@sa132.usc.edu?) ## ## ## #### ## ####
ins_bjjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Jared J Brennan) (09/23/88)
In article <1417@nunki.usc.edu> rjung@sal5.usc.edu (Robert Allen Jung) writes: >In article <8809191251.AA15678@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA ("Norman R. Frech") writes: >>... is it absolutely necessary to have a monochrome monitor? > >If you're using a color monitor, then grey shades are used for the screen, and >the locations of the pixels are mapped to different shades (since the Mac >monitor has more pixels vertically than the ST's medium resolution has). You >can also hit a key and get a fully-mapped view of the top/bottom half of the >screen. >(rjung@sa132.usc.edu?) Yes, you can use a color monitor with the Magic Sac or Spectre 128. If a color monitor is all you have, however, you will not be doing yourself a favor by purchasing one of these emulators. I know this too well from my own experience. The half-screen mode is too awkward to use. Manipulation of screen objects becomes much too difficult. It is particularly disconcerting to "lose" the mouse pointer on the other half of the screen. The full-screen mode is also very difficult to deal with. In this mode, half the resolution is lost, which hinders reading text. "Hinders?" Well, come to think of it, it's painful to try . . . . Any advantages of having the two screen modes available at the touch of a key are negated by the loss of speed due to the remapping of the screen. That 20% speed advantage over a Mac evaporates as soon as you start up with a color monitor. The effective speed is probably less than a Mac with the Sac running on a color monitor. If you really want to see what I'm talking about, send me $150 and I'll send you my Sac w/ROMS. 8-) (Actually, I do want to sell it, but you don't want it if you don't have a monochrome monitor.) -- Jared J. Brennan <ins_bjjb@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> BITNET: INS_BJJB@JHUNIX ARPA: ins_bjjb%jhunix@hopkins.ARPA UUCP: allegra!hopkins!jhunix!ins_bjjb "Help me, Spock!"