Subject: Re: FASTCONSOLE on cgsix
To: Curt Sampson <cjs@portal.ca>
From: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>
List: port-sparc
Date: 11/05/1996 10:18:28
On Mon, 4 Nov 1996 17:55:54 -0800 (PST) 
 Curt Sampson <cjs@portal.ca> wrote:

 > Has anyone checked out FASTCONSOLE on a cgsix? I didn't notice much
 > (well, any) difference when I moved up to 1.2 on my SS 1, so I
 > figured it didn't do much. But I just happened to be on a 3/60 with
 > a bgtwo running 1.2, and it scrolls easily five or six times as
 > fast as my cgsix. What's up?

I think the option you're looking for is RASTERCONSOLE, and, yes,
I use it on my SS2 w/ cgsix.  There's a little bit of a trade-off,
I think, when using it.  While it does draw the characters _much_
faster than the Forth prom routines, the Forth prom routines seem to
do a slightly better job at scrolling the screen.

In any case, I have no doubt that the bwtwo on sun3 is faster.  Actually,
my sun4/260 bwtwo is faster than an SS1 bwtwo.  This is likely because
the SPARCstation proms are interpreted Forth.

Also, a 1-bit deep display will probably update faster than an 8-bit deep
display, but that's just a hunch.

Jason R. Thorpe                                       thorpej@nas.nasa.gov
NASA Ames Research Center                               Home: 408.866.1912
NAS: M/S 258-6                                          Work: 415.604.0935
Moffett Field, CA 94035                                Pager: 415.428.6939