Statement of Direction - IRIX 4.0

[Jeff Weinstein]

In article <4195.2763c5cb at cc.helsinki.fi>, osmoviita at cc.helsinki.fi writes:
> In article <1990Dec8.160035.12417 at odin.corp.sgi.com>, karlton at sgi.com
(Phil Karlton) writes:
> > see the full color capabilities of X11 R4, to use the Motif toolkit
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
>
> Will this say that we are finally going to see full 48bit RGB output in 
> hardware too? (16 bit integers for each primary -- 16 bit DACs.)

   No, what this means is that a full range of Visuals will be available
to support the various hardware modes.  For example there will be a 24 bit
TrueColor visual on machines with 24 bit planes.  I think all SGI machines
use 8 bit DACs.  It seems silly to me to use anything more since I don't
believe the human eye is that sensitive.  Supposedly normal humans can only
see 6 bits, and some specially trained people like radiologists can see
8-10 bits gray scale.

	--Jeff

Jeff Weinstein - X Protocol Police
Silicon Graphics, Inc., Entry Systems Division, Window Systems
jsw at xhead.esd.sgi.com
Any opinions expressed above are mine, not sgi's.