🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 4 Dec 1994, Steven Mark Hartland wrote:

> You are wrong in one sence when a manufacture says a 64 bit or in the
>case of Number 9 the 128 bit card means that the processor is the bits
>specified, i.e. the processor on a 64 bit card uses interleved (1-2)
>instructions therefore it can theoreticaly process 2 32bit chuncks in
>one clock cycle.

	Nope.  What I meant was that in addition to the bit-specification
of the graphics coprocessor on-board, it specifies what maximum resolution
the card is capable of in displaying true-color graphics.  For example, a
64-bit graphics board is capable of displaying 24-bit color (16.7 million
colors) at 1024x768 resolutions.  And one will need 4MB of video RAM to do
that.  The Imagine128 can display 24-bit color at 1280x1024 resolutions
maximum, I believe.  I haven't seen all the specs so I can be wrong in
this respect. 

	As far as the interleave is concerned, it does nothing to change 
the fact that the PCI, VLB or EISA buses have 32-bit-wide data paths.

>Some systems do use upto 64 bit colour representation,
>but you wont find it on a PC. I believe that 32 bit colour
>representation is the highest that is found on PC graphics cards.
>Steve. 

	I have never seen *any* computers display 64-bit color, let alone
PCs that display 32-bit color.  The highest is 24-bit-per-pixel palettes
(a PC can't display all the colors simultaneously anyway), at 16.7 million
colors, e.g. 2 to the 24th power is 16,777,216 colors.  I don't think
there is such a thing as 64-bit color, let alone 32-bit color. 
64-bit-color per pixel is simply impractical because 2 to the 64th power
is 1.84 x 10 to the 19th power, or about 18 *quintillion* colors.  32-bit
color is flat-out impossible on a PC because 2 to the 32nd power is 4.3
*trillion* colors.  I don't know if even graphics workstations can do
this.  As I said before, when people say 24, 32, 64 or 128-bit video
cards, they don't mean the amount of colors that can be displayed nor do
they mean how wide the bus width is.  The designation simply means the
highest resolution at which the card can display 24-bit color palettes. 

TRH Sends