Re: 24 vs 8 bit color systems

[Craig Markwardt <craigmnet(at)cow.physics.wisc.edu>]

"Jason P. Meyers" <jpm7934@cis.rit.edu> writes:

> 	However, (and this is the point of this post) I got to wondering just
> how much of an issue this really is in today's environment.  I suspect,
> and would like feedback, that it is rather uncommon now-a-days to find
> an IDL user who is working on an 8-bit color display.  I assume that if
> one can afford IDL, then one can also afford a "decent" graphics card. 
> I ask this question, because I would like to make the going in
> assumption that the user of my project will be working on a 24 bit
> system.  Is this a "bad" assumption to make (i.e. are this still a
> significant number of users still running on 8 bit systems?)

Hi Jason--

I can't speak for everybody.  

I will say that in the astronomy profession there are a lot of tools
that run only on 8-bit displays.  Part of that is just legacy, and
support for 24-bit is improving.  On the other hand, there are a lot
of times where it's really nice to have a color table to manipulate,
to do things like interactive intensity scaling, or just to futz
around with the color scheme.

Lastly, on a lot of systems I've seen, the 24-bit graphics are quite a
bit slower, and of course they use more memory.  In "economy"
situations, 8-bit would be the way to go.

Craig


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Craig B. Markwardt, Ph.D.         EMAIL:    craigmnet@cow.physics.wisc.edu
Astrophysics, IDL, Finance, Derivatives | Remove "net" for better response
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