----- Original Message -----
From: Glenn Saunders <cybpunks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <stella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 4:49 AM
Subject: Re: [stella] Hardware comparisons
> At 11:04 PM 4/25/00 -0500, you wrote:
> >Has anyone pointed out yet that C64 bitmap mode is laid out like custom
> >character set storage? It's really weird.
>
> There are all sorts of wacky modes you can enable on the Atari by setting
> the mode to decimal points or really large values that seem to mix
> attributes from two or more modes into one.
I have absolutely no idea what you mean by this. Any graphics mode request
to the O.S. is going to be automatically truncated to an integer, and if
it's greater than 16, I believe that gets AND'ed off as well. Maybe you're
thinking of the extra recognized modes added to the XL/XE O.S.?
> There is one mode that works like GTIA mode (16 shades of one hue) but you
> can type characters into it. But the characters come out two pixels by 8
> pixels in various shades of grey depending on the underlying pixel
encoding
> of the characters. Very strange.
Nothing really strange about it once you realize that the GTIA modes are, in
fact, generated by the GTIA (big surprise, eh?). Unlike modes 0-8, which are
generated by ANTIC, modes 9-11 are created by configuring ANTIC to Graphics
8 (320x200 mono), then setting some bits in the GTIA. But in fact, anything
ANTIC feeds GTIA will be processed, so you can have GTIA character modes,
for instance (just with 2-pixel-wide characters!).
--
Clay Halliwell | ATARI XL/XE DO + THE
clay.FAKEMEAT.h@xxxxxxx | 8 - B I T S --------
e.halliwell@xxxxxxxxx | /////////// M A T H
Keeper of the Atari Jaguar Cheats and Codes FAQ. Request your copy today!
Editor, Jaguar Explorer Online - More Jaguar News Than Should Be Allowed!
http://www.atarihq.com/jeo/ "Where do you want to play Atari today?"
--
Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/
Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/
