All you want is more SRC than 3, right?

Yes, see how easy my idea is :)

I need 7 sources to 1 destination to cover every possibility.

I currently use 6 layers in the old AGA game.  But it needs 1 more layer for special fx.

The bottom layer needs to be copied over (not cookie cut) while all other layers are cookie cut on top of it simultaneously.

In theory this could be enhanced by adding another SRC DMA.
If we would add another SRC then the Blitter could to the 7 layers combine in just 2 Blit-runs.

But a Interlace TV Picture with movements inside looks better
on Interlace. Without you have ugly stripes ;)

But as it is a scandoubler and *not* a flicker-fixer an Amiga interlace view will be promoted to a SVGA 800x600 resolution in either 50 or 60Hz. The first full frame will contain all odd lines while all even lines are drawn in black/background or whatever. And the second full frame will contain all even lines with the odd ones in black/background or whatever. This method will result in a non-interlaced display with the old and well known interlace flickering. And you will not have to worry about any ugly stripes.

@Marcel
The Blitter (on which I am working right now) will only be able to read and write from/to ChipRAM. The FastRAM side is not done yet. When this is done I will have in mind allowing the Blitter read access to FastRAM. But this is not the highest priority right now.

So long,
Thomas

This is also my main Windoze XP monitor for web browsing at 1280x800.

I don't want to view a 640x512 screen on an 800x600 screen.  That would be terrible.

Not everyone owns a TFT (I never have).

My experience is actually that the eyes are getting more tired after staring into an LCD screen over a period of time. I have a friend who claims the opposite, but I think he used to set the contrast level on his CRT way too high.

If I want a BIG screen then I use the BIGGEST (my 61" DLP)

If I want a flexible nonracist screen that does not discriminate against PAL, or 640x512 or 1280x512, etc, etc then I use my CRT.

I belive a 640x512 screen should fill the entire screen as it does on my NEC Multisync 75.

My CRT is shared via KVM switch between Windoze XP bgcPC and A1200T.

My eyes were getting tired from my new monitor also.  Started to realize it wasn't the contrast but that my eyes were now scanning a larger area than they were accustomed to.

A flat panel does NOT flicker by itself. Only if the source isn't clean. It is true, that the FPS is 60Hz most of the time, but this is only the rate of new content transported to the buffers of the LCD. The actual LCD panel is refreshed far more often. And even if it wouldn't... there is no afterglow. A pixel will not get dark before new content is written to it.

I think your complaints about LCDs are based on hearsay by people stepping from a 17" CRT to a >20" LCD. I'm royally pissed if I have to work on CRTs with 60Hz. I notice this the second the CRT is turned on (while the computer is already running of course), but I don't notice this on any good LCD display (one of my customers has a really cheap LCD monitor, yes, that thing seems to flicker, I think the voltage control isn't smooth).

LCDs have some disadvantages of course. The colors are a bit off (unless you buy a really expensive one with a color correction system) and the black isn't really a black (unless the whole screen goes black with current models, because in this case the backlight is dimmed down or unless you have an LED backlight with local dimming). But eye fatigues (by principle) are not on that list...

BTW any TFT with HDMI should be able to work with interlaced screens, as HDTV has modes like 480i and 1080i, which are indeed used (which doesn't mean I like them... if I have had to do the HD specs, I would have killed interlaced modes from the beginning, well maybe 480i/576i for compatibility to NTSC/PAL, but not in the hidef modes!).

a) they don't flicker.
b) they have a sharp picture.

I was getting tired of the CRTs. Even though I had a pretty good CRT back then, the 60Hz flicker was annoying, and you could either have it sharp in the middle of the screen, or at the edges, but not both. Same with even more expensive screens we had in the office - focus is a principle problem of CRTs since the electron beam must be bend, and for that a round (sphere segment) screen would be ideal, but not a flat one, so you get all problems with geometry. None of that problems exist with LCDs.

No, I don't want to get back. What I do find annoying in the LCD market is that you are no longer able to get a 3/4 screen, but instead all the "wide-screen" displays. Which is nice for movies, but pretty bad for programming since there a long tall screen is much better suited to display program code.

Joe M wrote:

My experience is actually that the eyes are getting more tired after staring into an LCD screen over a period of time. I have a friend who claims the opposite, but I think he used to set the contrast level on his CRT way too high.

I'm getting less tired on the LCD, definitely. The picture is just so much better than the CRT picture. Plus, CRTs tend to collect dust, due to static electricity. Doesn't happen with LCDs.

So long,
Thomas

Back to topic, I can't wait on the next update!!!

Just out of interest, how much more work is needed before it can boot workbench? I undersand if you don't want to say in the public part of the forum.

SyncZorro Interface ... preliminary (PCI) version
Copper ................ fully implemented
Video DMA ............. fully implemented
256 colour regiters ... fully implemented
Video priority ........ half implemented
Scandoubler ........... fully implemented
Audio DMA ............. o
VGA out ............... working
DVI out ............... o
PCI ................... o
IDE ................... o