herbw@midas.STS.TEK.COM (Herb Weiner) (08/17/89)
It's time to upgrade my RasterOps Colorboard 64 (24 bit color but NOT compatible with 32 Bit QuickDraw) to a 32 Bit QuickDraw compatible board. The question is, do I need a 32 bit board, or is a 24 bit board sufficient? * A 24 bit board does NOT have the 8 bit alpha channel, which Apple has not yet defined. 24 bit boards therefore ignore the alpha channel in a 32 bit PixMap. * If I purchase a 32 bit board, what will I need to do (in the future) to make use of the 8 bit alpha channel? Will I need any hardware upgrade on the board? Will I need a firmware (ROM) upgrade? Will I need a different cable or monitor? Or will the alpha channel work as soon as software supports it? * The two boards I am considering are the RasterOps Colorboard 264/II (aprox $700 with my developer discount) and the RasterOps Colorboard 232 (aprox $1500 as an upgrade from my Colorboard 64). The Colorboard 232 offers additional video options which I am not likely to use. Therefore, is it worth spending an additional $800 for the extra 8 bit alpha channel? * Are there any other alternatives I should consider? (I am currently using this board with an AppleColor 13 inch monitor as a second monitor.) Herb Weiner (herbw@midas.STS.TEK.COM)
Fabian@cup.portal.com (Fabian Fabe Ramirez) (08/18/89)
Herb, Consider SuperMac's TrueColor TradeUp Program. For $3999, we'll take your old chunky planar RasterOps ColorBoard 64 and then give you our Spectrum/24 video card and a $1500 refund. Remember that even though we have 32-Bit QuickDraw, Apple has NOT define how the extra 8-bit (aka Alpha channel) will be used. And a 32-bit video would be more expensive that a 24-bit video card that supports 32-Bit QuickDraw. Fabian Ramirez SuperMac Technology fabian@cup.portal.com sun!cup.portal.com!fabian