Graphics & Related Discussion (TI Only)

[Omega-TI]

Getting the ball rolling....

 

BTW - What is YOUR favorite graphics display program on the TI?

A TI Graphic in XB Format is Enclosed in this ZIP.zip

[Omega-TI]

On another note while I've been playing this morning...

 

Tursi has a great PC program that will convert graphics to: "Paletted Bitmap F18A" and to "Scanline Palette Bitmap F18A". Does anyone know the name of the program that will display these better format images on real iron?

[+Schmitzi]

Hi, do you mean Convert9918 ?

[Omega-TI]

Hi, do you mean Convert9918 ?

 

Yes. It's an awesome program, but I cannot find a program that will view them on an F18A equipped TI.

I don't know if it's due to memory limitations of the TI, or little interest in doing graphics on the TI. If it's due to memory, this would be a perfect time for someone to write a program for it that utilizes the new Super AMS remake that Ksarul is working on.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

I liked the small GR (?) format that was common for making disk labels. If I recall correctly, they were 3x3 characters and printed nicely on disk labels. I wrote a database and label maker program for them; I wonder if that disk survived, now that you 'reminded' me about it.

[+Schmitzi]

Do you remember the name of the prog or something (string) I could search for ?

[Asmusr]

 

Yes. It's an awesome program, but I cannot find a program that will view them on an F18A equipped TI.

I don't know if it's due to memory limitations of the TI, or little interest in doing graphics on the TI. If it's due to memory, this would be a perfect time for someone to write a program for it that utilizes the new Super AMS remake that Ksarul is working on.

 

There's assembly code in the examples directory, but no finished viewer exists afaik. Note that "Paletted Bitmap F18A" is just normal bitmap mode with a custom palette, while "Scanline Palette Bitmap F18A" requires a GPU program running that changes the palette every scanline.

 

The F18A firmware version 1.6+ also supports a 128x192 16 color bitmap mode that Tursi's tool doesn't support. It could be used to display images like the attached.

 

[Omega-TI]

I liked the small GR (?) format that was common for making disk labels. If I recall correctly, they were 3x3 characters and printed nicely on disk labels. I wrote a database and label maker program for them; I wonder if that disk survived, now that you 'reminded' me about it.

 

I have a copy of that program (sort of), it's a HIGHLY HACKED version actually. I doubt the author would ever want it to see the light of day. I modified it to use the CorComp clock, multiple drives and to track expense/profit per order and save the customers information and quantity ordered and time order was printed. There were a few other things I did to it, but I cannot remember exactly what they are at the moment. I even created a ton of extra graphics for the program.

[Tursi]

There's assembly code in the examples directory, but no finished viewer exists afaik. Note that "Paletted Bitmap F18A" is just normal bitmap mode with a custom palette, while "Scanline Palette Bitmap F18A" requires a GPU program running that changes the palette every scanline.

 

The F18A firmware version 1.6+ also supports a 128x192 16 color bitmap mode that Tursi's tool doesn't support. It could be used to display images like the attached.

Convert9918 doesn't support that mode because it's a full per-pixel graphics mode, so is completely independent of the search routine that Convert9918 is built around (that being the bitmap 8x1 pixel limitation). I suppose support could be offered off to the side, but a perl script with Imagemagick could do it too.

 

As for displaying the enhanced F18A images, the only program I know that does it is the CF7 slideshow demo I released some years ago, somewhere here on the forums. (There's certainly no memory limitation -- it is a real graphics mode that runs on hardware. I don't release vaporware ). As Rasmus noted, the code needed to display the images is included with Convert9918, just no programmer has had any need to incorporate them into their programs.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

 

I have a copy of that program (sort of), it's a HIGHLY HACKED version actually. I doubt the author would ever want it to see the light of day. I modified it to use the CorComp clock, multiple drives and to track expense/profit per order and save the customers information and quantity ordered and time order was printed. There were a few other things I did to it, but I cannot remember exactly what they are at the moment. I even created a ton of extra graphics for the program.

Sounds interesting though I don't think we're talking the same program, as mine was never released. It was something I wrote for personal use when I had hundreds of floppies and wanted to make various labels for them.

 

The internet was down for a while so I went looking through my disks. The program is called "GR BASE" and it uses David Rose's "/GR" files. I will try to copy it and see if it is worth releasing. The date/time stamps on the files show the files were last updated in 1991.... 25 years ago. Time sure flies...