On Jan 4, 2005, at 5:32 PM, Larson, Tim (Corporate) wrote:

> Is it possible to use nonstandard bit depths in X11 in general, and 
> the mac68k color X server specifically?  I've got machines with 512kB 
> VRAM, which should theoretically support 640x480x13, if 13-bit color 
> is possible.  I've always wondered if the restrictions to 4-, 8-, 16-, 
> 24-, and 32-bit depths was arbitrary or some limitation inherent in an 
> algorithm used somewhere.  It would be kind of neat to squeeze more 
> color out of the machine than was capable with the MacOS.

The bit depth is limited by the capabilites of the CLUT/DAC hardware. 
On most hardware this is fixed to certain powers of 2.

However, on some hardware (like DAFB or CIVIC based machines) you could 
tweak the video resolution by playing with timing values and timing 
sources but that's not going to get you any more color.

-- 
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  Michael Zucca - mrz5149@acm.org
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  "I'm too old to use Emacs." -- Rod MacDonald
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