The Sinclair QL Forum

On the QL Facebook group someone just posted that the new core will handle up to 16-bit color eventually:

Τhe Next can display 9bit colour.... and if it's run as a QL, there's a good chance it can display 16bit colour in an Aurora memory space to boot!

So currently 512 colors?

Next has a 9bit (3x3bit) dac for the vga output so 512 colors from the vga but using the hdmi the output is 64K colors, the dac is at the output device end.
So the same image displays concurrently from the 2 output ports but with a different dynamic range for the colors.

This is done by using the 3 most significant bits of the 5bits per basic color for the vga.

lliont wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 10:20 am Next has a 9bit (3x3bit) dac for the vga output so 512 colors from the vga but using the hdmi the output is 64K colors, the dac is at the output device end.
So the same image displays concurrently from the 2 output ports but with a different dynamic range for the colors.

This is done by using the 3 most significant bits of the 5bits per basic color for the vga.

Can the Lion Card for the QL use a similar video output?

The final QLion Gold card will use a 12bit vga output giving 4096 colors, see the image at the QLion Gold topic, with a similar RRRRRGGGGGBBBBBX pattern using the 4 most significant
bits/basic_color for each pixel.
Many things, no surprise, are very similar to the QLion card, can't be totally compatible but programs will easily be ported from one to the other.
For example the galaxianish clone game runs unchanged to both systems.

lliont wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 4:19 pm The final QLion Gold card will use a 12bit vga output giving 4096 colors, see the image at the QLion Gold topic, with a similar RRRRRGGGGGBBBBBX pattern using the 4 most significant
bits/basic_color for each pixel.
Many things, no surprise, are very similar to the QLion card, can't be totally compatible but programs will easily be ported from one to the other.
For example the galaxianish clone game runs unchanged to both systems.

Mode 64!

lliont wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 4:19 pm The final QLion Gold card will use a 12bit vga output giving 4096 colors, see the image at the QLion Gold topic, with a similar RRRRRGGGGGBBBBBX pattern using the 4 most significant bits/basic_color for each pixel.

That's the Q40/Q60/Q68/QIMSI pattern with red and green swapped.
Why define yet another mode with a different bit pattern, carrying the same information?

Derek_Stewart wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 6:02 pm

lliont wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 4:19 pm The final QLion Gold card will use a 12bit vga output giving 4096 colors, see the image at the QLion Gold topic, with a similar RRRRRGGGGGBBBBBX pattern using the 4 most significant
bits/basic_color for each pixel.
Many things, no surprise, are very similar to the QLion card, can't be totally compatible but programs will easily be ported from one to the other.
For example the galaxianish clone game runs unchanged to both systems.

Mode 64!

Everybody is of course free to create new modes but to be compatible across QL platforms it may be wise to look at the screen modes already defined for SMSQ/E in GD2. E.g. Mode 64 is a sprite mode with 32 bits per pixel.
https://dilwyn.theqlforum.com/docs/smsqegd2/index.html

BSJR

So one format has it as R...RG...GB...BX where ... depends on extend of color (i.e. 12 vs 16 bit), and another has it G...GR...R.B...BX.

QDOS color order makes sense since bit 1 (001) represents blue, bit 2 (010) represents red, and bit 3 (100) represents green and the other bits between 0 and 7 represent the combinations of light colors that would garner, i.e. 110 is yellow which is combing 100 (green) with 010 (red). I don't know why having blue be bit 1 and red being bid 2 and green being bit 3, but the QDOS ordering does reflect the general color test images that you see -- though in reverse order, although that makes sense since 000 ought to be black and 111 ought to be white. So why aren't all implementation following the GRB order?

Don't know it felt more natural to store RGB information in a RRR...GGG...BBB... pattern

lliont wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2025 1:55 pm Don't know it felt more natural to store RGB information in a RRR...GGG...BBB... pattern

The advantage of following the established order is getting a "free" driver for your high colour mode