From: bloc1469@ee.ee.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: The 'Screens' debate:
Date: 24 Dec 92 04:54:31 GMT
Organization: Electrical Engineering Dept. University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.2.33

In article <1992Dec24.015546.22863@usl.edu> das9674@usl.edu (Stephenson Daniel A) writes:
>As far as I can see, only real use for these 'screens' on Amigas 
>is to simultaneously display a resolution/colors combination radically
>different from the WorkBench.  

More than that, but I'll answer each of your points.

>It is a nice thing to pull down the WorkBench, and see a largely differnt
>resolutions/colors scheme, but I don't see how it is terribly
>useful.  To make a generality, Amigas really need this mostly in cases
>where the 'standard' mode they are in is insufficient.  Right?

Not exactly.  More that 1)things are better when they are grouped, 2)
some programs want total and irrevocable control over the palette
(such as a paint program) and the best method for that is to open
their own screen (preventing from screwing up someone else's colors),
and 3) the user might not WANT to have a large/deep WB.

>If the WB was in a 16color, higher-res mode (say, an A3000), and you 
>wanted to display or use an art program that used 256 colors, you
>could easily give it its own 'screen' to 'HAM-it-up' or what-not.  Then
>you could 'drag' down the screen and still access the WB.

Right.

>NOW: is this better than running a hires, 256-color WB *anyway* and then
>running the art program, and *iconizing* the art program to get back to
>the WB?  Or having it truly 'windowed' on the 256-color WB and simply 
>DRAG that windows it is in 'off' side of the screen into virtual-WB
>space?  It is still full-screen, and you can still see the WB (ala
>'pulling' down a screen).

Yes.  Why?
	Iconizing:  It requires a total redraw.  While this looks
pretty, it's a petty solution.  Besides the fact that your 256 color
program is going to mess up the colors for the rest of the
applications you happen to be running on that screen, you're stuck
waiting for this thing to redraw.  Depending on the complexity, it's a
definite lag in productivity.

	"Windowed":  You're still messing up your colors, and on top
of it, you're requiring yourself to both go through a redraw, and move
a window back to where you wanted it to be.  One of the biggest
problems with having the ability to move windows partially off-screen
is that they're tough to position so that they're not partially
off-screen when that window is nearly the size of your screen.  It's
something I don't miss.

Having multiple screens gives the program the ability to own its
pallette and screen space, and has ZERO redraw time.  As a matter of
fact, it updates itself even though you can't see it.

>My friends, that is basically what all these people with Windows and 
>OS/2 do anyway.  If I wanted to run art programs, and liked hi-color

We know that.  The Mac's are the same way.  Except their screen
redraws are usually slower, and that's the last thing you need when
you're iconifying/moving crap around.

>desktops in Windows anyways (background, whatever), I'd run a 
>256-color driver.  I could maximize/minimize the art program easy enough,
>or 'flip' through apps to get to it.  And in OS/2 I could simply drag that
>full-screen 'down' with the title bar...'down' or sideways, whatever - it
>would just be a *window* that _happened_ to be the full-screen size.

Right.  Don't you see that that's not always a really cool thing?
Drag it up, down, sideways, and then try to position the window so
that it's back onscreen without going over the edge.  It's an annoying
pain, though it's cool for small windows.  Get something the size of
your screen in either height or width, and you give instant migranes.

>So while 'screens' are in fact pretty nice, they do not seem to be
>the savior of Amigas like so many people on this group say they are.

Nah, they're just a better solution.

Greg



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