🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1695@atari.UUCP> kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher) writes:
>gl8f@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes:
>
>| 3. Plug in blitter and ROMS. Note the small speed increase, since you're
>|    running TurboST or QuickST already...
>
>  I beg to differ here, Greg.  TurboST 1.6 runs _much_ faster on a machine
>with a blitter than one without.  Least it seems that way to me.
>
>-- 
>   |||   Ken Badertscher  (ames!atari!kbad)
>   |||   Atari R&D System Software Engine
>  / | \  #include <disclaimer>

I beg to differ with _your_ observations Ken. My observations using a Mega ST
with TOS 1.2 and 1.4 with and without the blitter, with and without different
software accelerators. I don't disagree that Turbo ST runs faster with the
blitter chip, since it checks for and uses the blitter, but the speed increases
are far from being "_much_ faster". I'd use that term to apply to the speed
increase obtained by using Turbo ST alone, and the term "_slightly_ faster"
to describe the additional speed increase that the blitter gives you. Hope
you're not trying to sell us some vaporware blitter chips <grin>. Someone
else did mention that "your mileage will vary" but you have yet you convince
me that the blitter chip can significantly outperform tightly coded assembler
code in real life situations (not rigged Comdex demos).
Why not just apply some of the same types of optimizations that Turbo ST uses
in the next version of TOS? I'm sure there were better things to do with time
and code than putting rainbows into the desktop.

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Darek Mihocka                   ST Xformer II              CIS: (out of order)
Box 2624, Station B            Quick Utilities                   GEnie: DAREKM
Kitchener, Ontario          MegaBlit   SSG   SPX                DELPHI: DAREKM
N2H 6N2                   Shareware, not Vaporware                 BIX: darekm
Canada      Blitter chip sucks!     CheapNet: ...!uw-beaver!microsoft!w-darekm
(519)-747-0386     A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so JUST SAY NO TO TOS.
Opinions expressed are my own and not those of anyone not named Darek Mihocka.
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