dg@sundog.caltech.edu (DALE GARY) (08/31/90)
I would like to use an IBM PC with Super VGA to display images from our solar observatory. I would like to make use of the 640x400, 256 color mode, but I will take whatever I can get if it is quick. The system is a 386 with a TVGA board, and it does support the above mode. I am very ignorant of IBM PCs, but I have the following thoughts about what I want to do: 1) I would like to use an existing program, hopefully available for ftp, to display the images. 2) I see a number of GIF compatible display programs available, so GIF sounds like a logical choice. 3) Since the images I want to display are not already in GIF format, I would have to convert them, preferably on our VAX, then download them to the PC. I can easily do that, if I know the specs of the GIF format, which I do not. 4) I could convert the images to some other format, if there is a better one, for which there is a freely-distributable viewer. 5) I would consider a commercial program for display if there is a real advantage over the available freely-distributable ones. Therefore, my specific questions: Is GIF a suitable format to tackle for this purpose, or is there another that is better? Where can I get a document that describes the GIF (or other) format so that I can do the file conversion? What is the best GIF viewer program (or other) that I should use to do the displaying of the image? Please e-mail me if you have suggestions, and especially if you have documention (or can point me to a good book) that describes the GIF format. Dale Gary dg@sundog.caltech.edu