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Info-Graphics Digest	Sun May 10 03:00:26 PDT 1987

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Today's Topics:

 Re: Distributed Computation for Computer Animation
 Looking for PHIGS and GKS-3D standards
 Distributed animation summary
  IBM Graphics Cards and Monitors
 Addition

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	  Tue, 5 May 87 10:30:45 +0100
Date: Tue, 5 May 87 10:22:42 -0100
From: unido!gmdzi!hops@seismo.CSS.GOV (Peter Seuffert)
Subject: Re: Distributed Computation for Computer Animation

peterson@cs.utah.edu (John W Peterson):
>
>
> I'd like to thank all the people who responded to my "Distributed
> computation for computer animation" survey.  I received several
> interesting responses.  Since the summary of these responses was
> rather long, I've mailed it directly to the people who requested a
> summary rather than post it.  If you'd like a copy, send me e-mail and
> I'll send one off.
>
> Cheers,
> John Peterson
>
> peterson@cs.utah.edu
> {ihnp4,decvax,seismo}!utah-cs!peterson
>
 Interested. Please send me a summary.
 Greetings,
 Peter "hops" Seuffert


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Date: Wed, 6 May 87 12:08:23 edt
From: ho@rti.rti.org (Don Rich)
Subject: Looking for PHIGS and GKS-3D standards


    Does anyone know where I can get copies of the (proposed?) standards
for PHIGS and GKS-3D ?  Or, if standardized, what the magic ANSI or NBS
numbers for them are?  Thanks,
						ho@rti.rti.org
---
Don Rich, Research Triangle Institute, Box 12194, Res. Tri. Park, NC 27709

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 7 May 87 11:03:19 EST
From: munnari!goanna.oz!gl@seismo.CSS.GOV (Leachie)
Subject: Distributed animation summary

Could you please send me a copy of the summary?

Ta

Geoff Leach
Department of Computing
RMIT
Melbourne, Australia

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 6 May 87 17:05 EST
From: INTORCIO%ecs.umass.edu@RELAY.CS.NET
Subject:  IBM Graphics Cards and Monitors
X-Vms-To: CSNET%"Info-Graphics@ADS.ARPA"

>I have just started looking at all these graphics cards for PC's (we have
>zeniths with IBM cards here at Queens)  and am frankly getting quite confused
>about all the different standards (CGA, EGA, HERC, ...the new IBM standard)
>as well as what screen works with what (monochrome, high-res, ttl...)
>
>I have some vendor documentation but it's difficult to see the forest for the
>trees.  Is there any article or reference out there that gives a clear,
>simple overview of the whole subject of graphics cards/standards/monitors?

In response, I offer a bulletin that I prepared for an MS-DOS bulletin 
board that I am associated with.  It's somewhat dated in that it was 
written before the PS/2 line came out and, as such, contains no onformation 
on the new displays and adapters.  It may, however, prove a worthwhile 
introduction:


= W H A T   A R E  M D A,  C G A,  E G A,  A N D  H E R C   D I S P L A Y S  ? =

Although the technical details are beyond the scope of this bulletin,
it may serve to clarify the some of the differences between the various
types of display adapters available for he IBM PC and its compatibles. 
There are other display adapters available and this does not claim to
be an exhaustive survey but rather an introduction.

Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA)
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

    This adapter provides only monochrome text on a monochrome monitor. 
    It will will not work properly with a color monitor.  This adapter
    is not capable of displaying any "bit mapped" graphics whatsoever. 
    It is important to realize that the ASCII line characters such as B
    and G are not true graphics but are merely characters that may be
    put together to resemble graphics.  In fact, such displays are
    often referred to as "character graphics".  So, even on a
    monochrome display adapter which cannot display graphics, graphs
    such as the following are possible:

                    Sales of Personal Computers
                 4
                 3       ZDDD?
                 4       3   3
                 3       3   3
                 4       3   3
                 3       3   3      ZDDD?
                 4       3   3      3   3
                 3       3   3      3   3
                 @DDDDDDDADDDADDDDDDADDDADDDDDD
                          IBM       Other

    (If the above looks like garbage, chances are you're not working on
    an IBM compatible machine.  My apologies for the mess.  Try to
    imagine that as a nice little graph.)

    Again, this is not a true graphic.  The MDA can display only the 256
    characters which make up the IBM standard character set.

    The MDA will work only with a monochrome monitor.  Further, the
    monochrome monitor most accept TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic)
    input.  The MDA is connected to the monitor with a cable (usually
    attached to the monitor) equipped with a DB-7 plug.

    The MDA will function only with software that does not require a
    graphics display.  A database or wordprocessing program for example
    would likely function just fine with an MDA.  A graphics oriented
    program such as the AutoCAD drafting system would not function with
    an MDA.

Hercules Graphics Card (HGC)
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

    The Hercules Co.  was the first to introduce a display adapter
    which could produce bit mapped graphics on a monochrome monitor. 
    They made a fortune.  HGC now refers to cards from a number of
    manufacturers which implement the Hercules graphics standard.

    In addition to being able to do all that the MDA does, this card
    can display bit mapped graphics with a resolution of 720 x 348.

    To understand what that means, just look real close at you screen. 
    You'll see that each character is made up of lots of little dots. 
    The number of little dots that an adapter/monitor combination can
    display is know as the resolution and is expressed as "seven-twenty
    by three-forty-eight" or "six-forty by four-hundred".  The first
    number is the number of little dots horizontally across the screen
    and the second, the number vertically.  Each dot is an individually
    addressable location that, at least for monochrome, may either be
    "on" (have a bit value of 1) or "off" (have a bit value of 0).  The
    pattern of bits in the computer which represents the display gives
    rise to the term "bit mapped graphics".

    The fact that the HGC can display "bit mapped graphics" or merely
    "graphics" means that it is especially desirable to those who wish
    to use a program such as Lotus 1-2-3 which has the ability to draw
    pie charts and other graphs or AutoCAD which allows the user to
    draw any number of shapes.  The pseudo-graphics provided by the
    ASCII characters are not sufficient for such applications.

    Again, the HGC will work only with a monochrome monitor.  Further,
    the monochrome monitor most accept TTL (Transistor-Transistor
    Logic) input.  The HGC is connected to the monitor with a cable
    (usually attached to the monitor) equipped with a DB-7 plug.

    The HGC is the display adapter most often provided with discount
    IBM pc compatibles.  It will operate with most software and is
    widely supported amongst the commercial vendors.  The notable
    exception is most game software which will not function with the
    HGC without the use of special software to "fool" the game program.

Color Graphics Adapter (CGA)
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

    The IBM CGA is perhaps considered the industry standard display
    adapter.  It can operate in one of six display modes:

        1.    BW80    Where it acts the same as the MDA and displays only 
                      characters and only in white on black.

        2.    BW40    Where again only monochrome characters are displayed 
                      but this time at double width, only 40 characters
                      per line.

        3.    CO80    Character mode with 80 characters per line but this 
                      time with eight colors at two intensity levels
                      effectively providing 16 colors.

        4.    CO40    Same as above but with only 40 characters per line.

        5.    MEDIUM  "Medium" resolution graphics mode providing a 
                      resolution of 320 x 200 with four colors (one of
                      which is black) from a choice of two pallets (one
                      provides cyan-magenta-white, the other,
                      yellow-red-green).

        6.    HIGH    "High" resolution graphics mode providing a 
                      resolution of 640 x 200 but with only two colors
                      (white on black).

    The CGA will work with either an RGB or Composite color monitor or
    a composite monochrome monitor.  It displays only monochrome images
    on the monochrome monitor, not shades of gray (The Compaq portables
    have been available with a special type of monochrome monitor that
    functions with a CGA compatible card to provide shades of green
    instead of colors.).  It connects to a composite color or
    monochrome monitor with a coaxial cable equipped with RCA plugs and
    to an RGB monitor with a DB-7 plug.

Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA)
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

    The EGA card is IBM's latest offering in the graphics adapter line. 
    Now being offered by other manufacturers as well, it's still high
    priced but it does do much more than any of the other adapters
    discussed so far.  Being new, there's still a lot of confusion
    around about what it is and what it does.  (This author being among
    the confused, much of what appears here is excerpted from several
    articles appearing in PC Magazine.)

    The EGA standard provides for 12 graphics modes (for some silly
    reason, they're numbered 0 through 7 and 13 through 16).  Which of
    those modes is actually available depends on the monitor to which
    the EGA is attached.

    With a TTL Monochrome monitor:

        Mode  Type      Resolution  Colors  Comments
        DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
          7   Text      720 x 350      4    Compatible with MDA
         15   Graphics  640 x 350      4    (The four colors are black
                                            and three shades of green)

    With and RGB color monitor:

        Mode  Type      Resolution  Colors  Comments
        DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
        0&1   Text      320 x 200     16     CGA Compatible - 40 Char
        2&3   Text      640 x 200     16     CGA Compatible - 80 Char
        4&5   Graphics  320 x 200      4     CGA Compatible
          6   Graphics  640 x 200      2     CGA Compatible
         13   Graphics  320 x 200     16
         14   Graphics  640 x 200     16

    With an Enhanced color monitor:

        Mode  Type      Resolution  Colors  Comments
        DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
        0&1   Text      320 x 200     16     CGA Compatible - 40 Char
        2&3   Text      640 x 200     16     CGA Compatible - 80 Char
        4&5   Graphics  320 x 200      4     CGA Compatible
          6   Graphics  640 x 200      2     CGA Compatible
         13   Graphics  320 x 200     16
         14   Graphics  640 x 200     16
         16   Graphics  640 x 350   4 or 16  The number of colors 
                                             depends on the amount of 
                                             graphics memory installed 
                                             on the EGA card.  64k gives 
                                             4 colors, 128k gives 16.

    These modes are for the IBM version of the EGA adapter.  Many other
    manufacturers produce cards with other modes as well.  It should
    also be noted that although the EGA claims compatibility with
    software written for the MDA and CGA, that compatibility is not
    absolute and some programs written for the CGA or MDA will not
    function with the EGA.  Most notable of these are Flight Simulator
    from Microsoft and Lotus 1-2-3 Release 1A.  Also, the card may have
    additional memory beyond 128k which will not provide additional
    colors in the high resolution mode but will provide faster display
    of complicated images and faster scrolling.

Other Graphics Adapters (OGA's?)
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

    Of course, other than the above "standards" there are a whole bunch
    of other cards around.  Some things to be aware of follow:

    Other EGA Cards

        There are a lot of companies making IBM EGA compatible cards
        these days and some have approved upon the original IBM design. 
        Even IBM itself is due to release a revised EGA.  Some things
        to look for are an added mode which mimics the HGC (Quadram
        QuadEGA+, Video-7 Vega, etc.), the ability to display more
        modes on monochrome and standard color monitors (ATI's
        EGAWonder which even supports composite color monitors), 132
        column modes, etc.  Additionally, although the IBM EGA was a
        full length board, many of the other cards on the market are
        half length or shorter.

        Many of these cards offer much improved compatibility with the
        MDA, CGA, and HGC cards and some are even able to detect what
        type of adapter the software is looking for and switch into
        that mode (Paradise AutoSwitch etc.).

    CGA Like Cards

        Other display adapters are available that offer graphics
        similar to the CGA but with enhancements which allow for more
        colors at higher resolution.  Some notable cards include the
        Tecmar Graphics Master offer 640 x 400 with 16 colors and the
        Plantronics card offering 4 colors at 640 x 200.

    Professional Graphics Adapter (PGA)

        Another high resolution high cost offering from IBM, this card
        is priced out of reach of most home users and was aimed at the
        serious CAD users.

    Higher Resolution Cards

        There are cards available, at higher prices, that will provide
        the user with resolutions of 1024 x 1024 or better (Number
        Nine, BNW Graphics, etc.).  These cards generally have a
        standard mode which emulates the CGA and offer the enhanced
        graphics modes only to programs specifically written to take
        advantage of their abilities.  AutoCAD for example supports
        many of these cards.

I hope that all of this is helpful.  I hope it's fairly accurate as
well.  Please drop a note if you find any mistakes and we'll try to
pick 'em up.  Enjoy reading!

                                           >>> John <<<
                                              2/5/87

===============================================================================

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 7 May 87 16:52:27 CDT
From: Kevin Black <MEPCOM-IM@STL-HOST1.ARPA>
Subject: Addition


Please add me to your mailing list.
Thank you in advance

Regards,

Kevin Black
-------


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End of INFO-GRAPHICS
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