Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> Sindi Keesan wrote:
> >
> > Steven, what video chip/card actually displays either 
> > 8 or 12 bit color for you?  
> 
> I don't know how many bits it is.  All I know is:  I see no 
> improvement going from 640x480 to any number less than 12.  
> At 640x480x12, I get lots more colors.  So that's what I used
> in BL3.  

I think this is because when you ask Xvesa to do 12-bit it is doing 15 or 
16-bit, and when you ask for 8-bit you are getting 4-bit, but your 
card/chip may be different from mine.  I checked what was happening by 
seeing how much RAM was used.  12-bit used the same as 15.  11-bit was the 
same as 8-bit which might also be the same as 4-bit if your card does not 
do 8-bit.  


> 
> As I've said before, Xvesa is flakely.  It was *very* difficult
> to compile and it clearly doesn't like being booted from DOS.
> I've given up trying to understanding it and am simply trying
> to live with it.  I wish we could use something else.  But Xvesa 
> is currently the best thing we have.  (sigh)
> 
> > I can't get Xvesa to display 8-bit.  
> 
> I'm certainly not disagreeing with you.

So I think it is probably best NOT to include 8-bit as a choice for
beginners.  And unless some video chip/card that one of our group is using
specifically supports 12 bit as opposed to 15-bit, give a choice of 4-bit
or 15-bit, not 12-bit color depth, which I found confusing.

> 
> > Are there some laptops which WILL display 8-bit color with
> > Xvesa?  
> 
> I don't think it makes much difference on a mono laptop.  
> I currently have four 486 laptops: three of them are mono 
> and the fourth gives me lots of colors at 640x480x12.

But this is probably the same number of colors as it gives at 15-bit 
because when you ask for 12-bit it is doing 15-bit (or 16-bit, depending 
on the card).

> 
> Cheers,
> Steven
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