kmarko@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Kurt Marko) (10/30/90)
We, like many others on the net, have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Apple's GC/8-24 (w/ AMD 29K accelerator) card. Well, we finally got the first one late last week, and either I (and my authorized Apple dealer) read between the lines of Apple's original announcements on this card, or Apple has not been entirely truthful regarding the card's capabilities. The 8-24 does indeed support large (19-21") third-party color monitors (we tried it on a new 20 or 21" SuperMac [looked like an OEM from NEC; definitely wasn't a Sony]) with a resolution of at least 1024x768 (probably higher, I don't remember the details now). However, it DOES NOT support 24-bit color in this mode, no matter how much video memory you have (we had it max'ed out at 4MB). [Yes, we have 32-bit QuickDraw; we were using a IIfx with 32-bit QD in ROM]. According to Apple (this is directly from our authorized Apple rep, and also mentioned in the documentation supplied with the 8-24), the board only supports 24-bit (or 32-bit) color with Apple's 13" Trinitron monitor. The extraneous video memory when the card is in 8-bit mode (i.e. the memory above about 1MB, since that is all that's necessary for the frame buffer) is only useful to the 29K coprocessor for acceleration. If you want large-screen (19-21"), accelerated, 24- 32-bit color on a Mac, the bottom line appears to be; don't get the 8-24. We're probably going with the SuperMac Spectrum 8/24-III. Kurt Marko kmarko@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com
boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin) (10/30/90)
kmarko@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Kurt Marko) writes: >We, like many others on the net, have been eagerly awaiting the >arrival of Apple's GC/8-24 (w/ AMD 29K accelerator) card. Well, >we finally got the first one late last week, and either I (and >my authorized Apple dealer) read between the lines of Apple's >original announcements on this card, or Apple has not been >entirely truthful regarding the card's capabilities. >The 8-24 does indeed support large (19-21") third-party color >monitors (we tried it on a new 20 or 21" SuperMac [looked like >an OEM from NEC; definitely wasn't a Sony]) with a resolution >of at least 1024x768 (probably higher, I don't remember the details >now). However, it DOES NOT support 24-bit color in this mode, >no matter how much video memory you have (we had it max'ed out >at 4MB). [Yes, we have 32-bit QuickDraw; we were using a IIfx >with 32-bit QD in ROM]. According to Apple (this is directly >from our authorized Apple rep, and also mentioned in the documentation >supplied with the 8-24), the board only supports 24-bit (or 32-bit) >color with Apple's 13" Trinitron monitor. The extraneous video memory >when the card is in 8-bit mode (i.e. the memory above about 1MB, since >that is all that's necessary for the frame buffer) is only useful >to the 29K coprocessor for acceleration. >If you want large-screen (19-21"), accelerated, 24- 32-bit color >on a Mac, the bottom line appears to be; don't get the 8-24. We're >probably going with the SuperMac Spectrum 8/24-III. Apple never claimed 24-bit support of displays larger than 13"; however, the 8*24GC will accelerate any NuBus 19" video card, by acting as a bus master. Boris Levitin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WGBH Public Broadcasting, Boston boris@world.std.com Audience & Marketing Research wgbx!boris_levitin@athena.mit.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily coincide with those of my employer or anyone else. The WGBH tag is for ID only.)
rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert K Shull) (10/30/90)
In article <15590007@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com> kmarko@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Kurt Marko) writes: >we finally got the first one late last week, and either I (and >my authorized Apple dealer) read between the lines of Apple's >original announcements on this card, or Apple has not been >entirely truthful regarding the card's capabilities. I think you read around the lines, actually. I remember from the product rollout, and from the spec sheets, that 24-bit color on a large monitor was NOT one of the supported configurations. The announcement listed all of the Apple monitors, and what bit-depth was supported for each one, along with a note that large color monitors were supported in 8-bit mode only. Somewhere, they stated that extra video memory was used for storing off-screen bitmaps. I can't remember the exact quote, and the spec sheet is long gone, but that was the basic idea. Robert -- Robert K. Shull rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu chinet!uokmax!rob
pld@whopper.lcs.mit.edu (Peter L. DeWolf) (10/31/90)
kmarko@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com wrote: > The 8-24 does indeed support large (19-21") third-party color > monitors (we tried it on a new 20 or 21" SuperMac [looked like > an OEM from NEC; definitely wasn't a Sony]) with a resolution > of at least 1024x768 (probably higher, I don't remember the details > now). However, it DOES NOT support 24-bit color in this mode, > ... According to Apple (this is directly > from our authorized Apple rep, and also mentioned in the documentation > supplied with the 8-24), the board only supports 24-bit (or 32-bit) > color with Apple's 13" Trinitron monitor. Yes, this is exactly what was advertised from day one of the board's announcement. What's the problem? - Peter L. DeWolf Motorola Cambridge Research Center pld@mcrc.mot.com -or- pld@abp.lcs.mit.edu
tv0c+@andrew.cmu.edu (Thomas Edward Van Lenten) (10/31/90)
From the apple spec sheet for the 8-24GC:
Display modes:
Apple High-Resolution 640x480
Monochrome Monitor 2, 4,16, 256 grays
Apple Color High-Resolution 640x480
RGB Monitor 2, 4, 16, 256, 16.7 million colors
Apple Macintosh Portrait 640-870
Display 2, 4, 16, 256 grays
Apple Two-Page Monochrome 1152x870
Monitor 2, 4, 16, 256 grays
Interlaced video divices 640x480
2, 4, 16, 256, 16.7 million colors
(Apple Convolution enabled up to 256 colors)
TVL