lane@sumex-aim.stanford.edu (Christopher Lane) (09/25/90)
For functionallity and economy purposes, does anyone know if it is possible to purchase the color NeXTstation CPU with the monochrome MegaPixel display in order to have 12 bits of grayscale (& 4 of alpha) instead of the standard 2 bits and in the process save $2K list on the price of the color system? I asked this question of some NeXT marketing folks but they neither knew the answer nor even understood why I would want to do such a thing. We don't need color (yet) but don't want to rebuy the machine(s) when we do and we could make use of the extra bits of gray for displaying monochrome images. Anyone know? Thanks, - Christopher -------
rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) (09/25/90)
In article <2367@shelby.Stanford.EDU> lane@sumex-aim.stanford.edu (Christopher Lane) writes: >For functionallity and economy purposes, does anyone know if it is possible to >purchase the color NeXTstation CPU with the monochrome MegaPixel display in >order to have 12 bits of grayscale (& 4 of alpha) instead of the standard 2 >bits and in the process save $2K list on the price of the color system? Probably it is not possible as you get the machines delivered. But I would guess someone will hack an interface cable within short time, as there are a couple of people thinking like you. Ronald ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Bernhard Shaw | rca@cs.brown.edu or antony@browncog.bitnet
izumi@fugitive.berkeley.edu (Izumi Ohzawa) (09/25/90)
In article <2367@shelby.Stanford.EDU> Christopher Lane <lane@sumex-aim.stanford.edu> writes: >For functionallity and economy purposes, does anyone know if it is possible to >purchase the color NeXTstation CPU with the monochrome MegaPixel display in >order to have 12 bits of grayscale (& 4 of alpha) instead of the standard 2 This is a good idea. I would like to buy such a configuration too, if it is possible. Though, you can't have 12 bits of gray scale if you mean 4096 different shades of grays. There aren't any Video DAC's with 12bits resolution. Izumi Ohzawa, izumi@violet.berkeley.edu
scott@NIC.GAC.EDU (09/25/90)
lane@sumex-aim.stanford.edu (Christopher Lane) writes: >For functionallity and economy purposes, does anyone know if it is possible to >purchase the color NeXTstation CPU with the monochrome MegaPixel display in >order to have 12 bits of grayscale (& 4 of alpha) instead of the standard 2 >bits and in the process save $2K list on the price of the color system? > >I asked this question of some NeXT marketing folks but they neither knew the >answer nor even understood why I would want to do such a thing. We don't need >color (yet) but don't want to rebuy the machine(s) when we do and we could >make use of the extra bits of gray for displaying monochrome images. Same here. Actually, what I would want would be something a little less ambitious. Say, 4 bits gray, 4 alpha. Or 6 bits gray, 2 alpha. Our NeXT rep. didn't understand the question, either (well, the question was more like "Is there going to be an i860 board running monochrome at something like 12 bits?", which I would like). Obviously, he's never had a 12+ hour programming session, after which even the MegaPixel gets a little bleary, and headache-inducing. I don't _need_ color. I'd like the high performance, and with monochrome, the cost should be about halved, or even cut to a third, compared to color. That would be nice. Should be faster to boot. How about DPS running on a 2-processor i860 board with 8 bits of gray . . . sigh. scott hess scott@gac.edu Independant NeXT Developer (Stuart) NeXT Campus Consultant (Not much, really) GAC Undergrad (Horrid. Simply Horrid. I mean the work!)
edwardj@microsoft.UUCP (Edward JUNG) (09/28/90)
In article <50960@brunix.UUCP> rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) writes: > >Probably it is not possible as you get the machines delivered. But I >would guess someone will hack an interface cable within short time, as >there are a couple of people thinking like you. Don't forget, however, that you will somehow tell Display Postscript that the monitor in use is not a color monitor, or the outputs will have to be separated. In essence by attaching a grey-scale monitor to a color board you are mapping colors to a set of grey-scale representations behind the back of Display Postscript. Short-circuiting DPS will mean that you can no longer assume a uniform representation when you program, unless again the DPS is made aware of the characteristics of the monitor. To an extent, variations in the color monitor make this problem as well, although they tend to be more subtle. RasterOps and Radius have Macintosh products to color correct color monitors to make the computer color representation agree with the actual color representation. -- Edward Jung Microsoft Corp. My opinions do not reflect any policy of my employer.