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Conference 7.286::macintosh

Title:Apple Macintosh Volume II
Notice:Mac is NOT an acronym - it's Mac or Macintosh *not* MAC
Moderator:SMURF::BINDERONS
Created:Sun Jan 20 1991
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:964
Total number of notes:30983

947.0. "16 colors on a Power Mac?" by ORION::GENT (Revolutionize yourself) Wed Jan 29 1997 10:13

    I suspect that this is either a stupid question with a simple
    answer or there is no answer. If there is a simple answer,
    it escapes me. If there's no answer I'd like to stop trying to think
    of one! (It isn't important but my curiosity is killing me...)
    
    I have several old games that insist on running in 16 colors; no more,
    no less. My new Power Mac, on the other hand, doesn't seem capable of
    anything less than 256 colors.
    
    Is there some way to fool these games into thinking there are just 16
    colors?
    
    --Stumped in Southern New Hampshire
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947.1DPE1::ARMSTRONGWed Jan 29 1997 12:065
>    My new Power Mac, on the other hand, doesn't seem capable of
>    anything less than 256 colors.

    You're kidding.....
    can you do 'black and white'?  Grey Scale?  but not 16?
947.2only 256 or greaterORION::GENTRevolutionize yourselfWed Jan 29 1997 12:265
    No black & white. Only 256 or above, grey or color. I believe it is
    an attribute of the video card. This is true of the PowerBase 180
    I have at home and the Apple 8500 at work.
    
    --Andrew
947.3REGENT::POWERSWed Jan 29 1997 12:3519
I'm not .0, but I just checked my monitors control panel.
I have a 7100 with its two monitors: a primary (19") 1024x768 with enough VRAM
for thousands of colors and a secondary (17") 640x480 with only enough
DRAM for 256.  (7100s came with two video outs, one out of VRAM, and the other
out of DRAM.)
The control panel has radio buttons for colors and grays, but only lists
"256" and "thousands" as allowed settings for the larger monitor.
There are settings for 256 and 16 for my smaller monitor.

I'm running MacOS 7.5.3.  I think there was a new monitors control panel
in 7.5.3 that changed the interface, including adding gamma settings.
One thing that I remember that I used to have was an indication
of where the video memory was, VRAM or DRAM; that's gone and replaced by
redundant presentation of monitor 1 vs. monitor 2.

So unless there's a backwards compatible monitors control panel,
the base poster may be out of luck.

- tom]
947.4Try an alternate color depth setting toolUNIFIX::HARRISJuggling has its ups and downsWed Jan 29 1997 14:0312
    There are some INITs available that can be used to set the number of
    colors on a monitor via a hot corner or an F-Key.  Maybe they will set
    the monitor to 16 colors even if the control panel doesn't provide the
    option.
    
    Here are 2 from MacOnLine (there are most likely others in the world). 
    Don't know if they still work or not, but it is worth a shot.
    
HUMANE::MAC$ROOT:[SYSTEM.CONTROL_STRIPS]CONTROL_STRIP_MONITOR_BITDEPTH.STUFFIT
HUMANE::MAC$ROOT:[SYSTEM.FKEYS]DEPTHKEY_V1_4.STUFFIT
    
    					Bob Harris
947.5AppleVision software as an alternate color depth control toolAZUR::HUREZConnectivity & Computing Services @VBE. DTN 828-5159Wed Jan 29 1997 14:3816
    Maybe try Applevision software...  I have an AppleVision 1710 connected
    to a Centris and an Apple 16" connected to a PowerMac 7200.  So, out
    of curiosity, and since the AppleVision software interface was great,
    I tried the AppleVision software on the PowerMac... and it worked
    alright with the 16".  One can get rid of the sound control panel
    that way, as the AppleVision software integrates it as well (with
    better control).
    
    I cannot remember exactly which color depth ranges it allows; I'll check
    tonight and write an update tomorrow.
    
    I think the AppleVision kit is available from the Apple support FTP
    servers.  The current version is likely to be 1.1.2.
    
    	-- Ol.
    
947.6REGENT::POWERSThu Jan 30 1997 12:265
Define a disk partititon to boot from system 7.1 or earlier...

(Only partly in jest...)

- tom]
947.7RE: .6ROCK::PARKERThu Jan 30 1997 12:376
    Actually, that would work.
    
    And you could use the RAM Disk without having to repartition any
    physical hard disk! :-)
    
    /Wayne
947.8TALLIS::HERDEGMark HerdegThu Jan 30 1997 14:205
I really think the ability to pick color depths less than 256 is a function of
the video hardware, not of the control panel software. The software constructs
its list of choices by querying the hardware.

-Mark
947.9NPSS::NEWTONThomas NewtonTue Apr 15 1997 12:039
Re: .8

The software list is not always accurate, though.  If you pick the "thousands"
item and the "grays" button on a Quadra 660av, you'll get thousands of colors,
not thousands of grays (or even 256 grays).

I presume this is because everything in VRAM is, or maps to, 24-bit color, and
grays are just the special cases where Red == Green == Blue.