SecondSight press release
Sequential Systems
Copyright (c) 1995 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
Sequential Systems is pleased to announce that the SecondSight SVGA
card is now shipping. The SecondSight is a True Colour 24-bit video card for Apple II computers
Monitors
The SecondSight card works either with standard VGA/SVGA monitors, or with the standard IIGS RGB ("AppleColor RGB") monitor & compatibles.
Modes
The following existing Apple II and IIGS video modes are emulated for display on an SVGA monitor: 40 & 80 column text, Lores / double lores, Hires / double hires, 320x200x16, 640x200x4/16
The card is capable of the following SVGA video modes: Graphics: 320x200, 640x200, 640x400, 640x480*, 800x600*, 1024x768*; Text: 40x25, 80x25, 80x43*, 80x50*, 80x60*, 132x25, 132x60*
There are three basic graphics modes: indexed (palette), Hi-Color, and
True-Color.
In indexed mode, each pixel can be one of 256 colors that are specified in a palette. Each of these 256 palette entries can be one of 16.7M colors. (All modes)
In Hi-color mode, each pixel can be any of 32768 direct colors (no index or palette lookup). (resolutions up to 800x600)
True-color mode is similar, but each pixel can be any of 16.7M (million) colors. (resolutions up to 640x480)
Note: existing software titles will not automatically use the high-resolution modes. * indicates that the mode is not available when used with an AppleColor RGB monitor. Since the VGA chip is completely programmable, there are actually a potential of millions of different text and graphics video modes - the above list is just the most commonly used ones.
Software Support
SecondSight comes with an image viewer program that supports GIF and 8-bit TIFF images. A Photo-CD viewer will be forthcoming soon.
A programmer's library with on-disk documentation is also available, to facilitate the development of third-party software for the card.
At the current time no QuickDraw II support is provided.
Cost
The SecondSight SVGA card is available directly from Sequential Systems. The price is US$179 with 1Meg of video memory and 24-bit True-Color. MasterCard and VISA are accepted.
Sequential Systems
1200 Diamond Circle
Lafayette CO 80026
303-666-4549
Expected Third Party Software Support: Sequential Systems discQuest(tm) and discQuest Encyclopedia(tm); Procyon GNO/ME (high resolution text drivers); Todd Whitesel Lord High Giffer (GIF image viewer); Tim Meekins imageQuant; Aurora Software dungeonQuest; Digisoft Innovations Twilight II.
Common Questions and Answers
Q. How much video memory can the SecondSight support?
A. 1MB (megabyte). The card comes standard with 512K (IIe) or 1MB (IIGS), enough to support up to 1024x768x256 resolution.
Q. Does the SecondSight have a "blitter" chip on it?
A. Yes and no. There is no dedicated hardware "blitter" chip, but the 20MHz Zilog Z180 processor, in conjunction with the Oak VGA controller, can quickly perform many blitter functions.
Q. How fast is the SecondSight blitter?
A. The Z180 can copy one byte of memory in 6 20MHz clock cycles. This works out to around 3.3 MB/s. Using the help of the VGA controller to do read/modify/write cycles, you can get about 5MB/s blitter action.
Q. What types of operations can the Z180 do?
A. The Z180 can scroll screen data, accept blocks of screen data from the IIGS, clear the screen, perform and/or/xor operations on screen data, etc.
Q. What kind of developer information is available for SecondSight?
A. A System Tool set is provided, along with documentation on using it. The tool set takes care of most common tasks programmers will do. Programmers can upload their own Z180 code to the SecondSight card to completely customize the card, or provide brand-new features (a sprite manager, for example).
Q. How many colors can SecondSight display at one time?
A. VGA mode: 256 at a time (256 colors per pixel, or 8-bit pixels) from a total of 16.7 million colors (up to 1024x768 resolution); HighColor: 32768 direct colors (up to 800x600 resolution); TrueColor: 16.7M direct colors (up to 640x480 resolution)
Q. Do existing applications, like Finder or AppleWorks GS, take advantage of the higher resolutions, like 640x480 or 800x600?
A. No. There is no support for patching the IIGS' QuickDraw tool, which is what would be required for current programs to automatically use the SecondSight board's special features. Such a patch isn't impossible, and we will work with programmers who would like to attempt it.
Q. What part did you have in the development of this card, Jawaid, and if you worked on it, do you ever sleep?
A. I helped lay down the requirements for the card, and have been helping on various bits of hardware and software for the card itself, and all IIGS applications, of course. No, I never sleep. Andrew Vogan, designer of the RamFAST, and Joe Yandrofski of Sequential, did most of the hardware design, and I did the majority of the firmware.
Q. What kind of monitor do I need, if I want to buy a new one?
A. Any "VGA" or "SVGA" monitor will work fine. Any monitor sold for use with an IBM PC clone (386/486) computer will work. You want a monitor with a small dot-pitch; .39 dot pitch is not very good; .28 dot pitch is better, and .23 dot pitch is best. Sequential Systems is selling a very high quality Samsung 14" Multi-Sync monitor; call for details.
Q. Do I have to use two monitors with SecondSight, one for VGA graphics, and one for regular IIGS graphics?
A. No. The SecondSight "shadows" existing IIGS video modes onto the card, and emulates them through the VGA monitor. If you want to, you can run two monitors off your GS, one from the built-in video, and one from the SecondSight. There might be some interesting applications possible with this setup. In short, all your existing IIGS applications and games will work with SecondSight, and on a VGA monitor.
Q. How is existing software improved by the SecondSight?
A. Existing software is not generally improved automatically, except for one thing: because the IIGS's super hires mode is simulated using a 640x400 mode in the VGA controller, there are no black lines running through graphics or text.. pictures and text are solid on a VGA monitor.
Q. Can I use SecondSight on my Apple IIe?
A. Yes. The IIe's video modes are emulated just as they are on a IIGS. SecondSight will allow IIe users to view quality pictures, such as GIF images, for the first time. Die-hard AppleWorks users on IIe's will now be able to use large paper-white monitors. This will also have applications in large monitors for people with handicaps.
Q. I want better graphics, but I can't afford to buy the card and a new monitor. Can I use the SecondSight on my current Apple RGB monitor?
A. Yes, although you are limited to 640x400x256 interlaced, in graphics mode, and 80x25 in text mode.
Q. Does the SecondSight have a graphics "overlay" mode, like the Video Overlay Card?
A. No.
Q. How will existing programs that directly access the IIGS video hardware work with SecondSight?
A. SecondSight watches the IIGS I/O bus for writes to the IIGS video memory, and when they occur, it copies the data onto the card. Software on the card then updates the VGA memory periodically to correspond to the IIGS screen information. This process is called "shadowing".
Q. What happens if I run a program that needs a high-res video mode on an Apple RGB monitor?
A. The program will most likely return an error. The SecondSight card will prevent any possibly damaging video modes from being sent to an Apple RGB monitor (as long as you use the card's firmware to set the video mode).
Q. Does SecondSight have to go in a particular slot?
A. Yes. On a ROM 01 IIGS, the card must go in slot 3. On a ROM 03 IIGS, the card may be in any of slots 1 through 6. In a IIe, the card can be in any slot.

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