Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mandrill!gatech!uflorida!umd5!ames!oliveb!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Suggestion for New Graphics Chips
Message-ID: <58012@sun.uucp>
Date: 26 Jun 88 20:25:25 GMT
References: <3150@crash.cts.com>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 22

In article <3150@crash.cts.com> (Greg Beckham) writes:
> I have a suggestion for the new graphics chip (really obese agnus?)... To
>have a graphics mode with 256 colors on screen from a pallette of 4096.
>Interlace or Non-Interlace. Nuff' Said.
>             Greg Beckham

An excellent suggestion, except that 256 - 12 bit color registers is 
roughly 25,000 transistors, which in a 3 micron techonology is 225
square mils and that may not fit into Denise any more. There is a way
however, and that involves taking all of the D/A stuff out of Denise
and putting it into a separate RAMDAC. (Brooktree makes a really nice
one, Apple uses it I believe). Then, one could make the video color
resolution what ever they wanted. Just depends on how much they want
to spend on the DAC. At the higher resolutions these things get pretty 
hot so we might need fins on the back of the case. 

The original suggestion though bears repeating, lets get more colors
even if it is only in the 'high end' machines.

--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.