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From: mark@dira.rv.tis.com (Mark Sienkiewicz)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Why not buy Matrox Millennium
Date: 21 Aug 1996 12:57:11 -0400
Organization: Trusted Information Systems
Lines: 41
Message-ID: <4vff57$lal@dira.rv.tis.com>
References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <8720hb712j.fsf@xeno.xinside.com> <4utk9j$9nr@dira.rv.tis.com> <4v9ro1$fo@anorak.coverform.lan>
NNTP-Posting-Host: dira.rv.tis.com
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:20768 comp.os.linux.development.system:30187 comp.os.linux.x:38502 comp.os.linux.hardware:48100 comp.os.linux.setup:69746 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:1058 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:4673 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:4454 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:25835 misc.consumers:94890
In article <4v9ro1$fo@anorak.coverform.lan>,
Brian Somers <brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Mark Sienkiewicz (mark@dira.rv.tis.com) wrote:
>: Before changing something simple and fast into something complex and
>: slow, you have to show a compelling reason why the complex/slow version
>: is better than the simple/fast one.
>
>Not if you have both :) The user can decide if he wants complex slow (but
>infinitely more capable - colours, font sizes etc) graphics or if he wants
>snappy straight forward stuff.
There's some merit to your point, assuming that the complex feature
doesn't contaminate the simple one.
For example, having a second console driver that uses the graphic mode
doesn't cause much of problem (unless it somehow becomes the default :),
but having a single driver that does both modes can be a problem.
The difficulty comes when you have to modify the fast/simple code
to make the complex/slow one work. So, for example, if it
was only a matter of
conswrite(...)
{
if (cons_graphic)
cons_graphic_write(...)
else
cons_text_write(...)
}
you don't lose much. But if you end up with something like
conswrite()
{
if (cons_graphic) A;
else B;
C;
if (cons_graphic) D;
else E;
F;
...
}
then you have impending disaster.