Bob Spelten wrote: > WMAN2 provides support for up to 32K colours for PE window elements, > direct or through the use of 1 to 4 System Palettes or a User Palette set > up in RAM.
True. This was the main reason for WMAN2. > It also supports sprites in 8, 16 or 24 bit modes with Alpha masks or no > mask, with RLE compression, of sizes only limited by its window These, however, are strictly speaking not WMAN2 features, but GD2 features (the original GD2 drivers didn't have them either, I added that stuff later). > and chained as extended sprites for each mode of the clickable > items. This, again, is a WMAN2 feature. Okay, I'll try to reiterate the facts: WMAN2 is like WMAN1, but: - can make use of high colour (GD2) drivers - introduced the "system palette" so that windows can conform to a "colour theme" of the user's choice - sprites in loose items (buttons) can change depending on the fact if the item is selected, the mouse is hovering above the item etc. - can show the whole window while a window is moved, or at least its outline, instead of just the move sprite. - includes 3D border styles to give windows a more modern 3D look GD2: - Introduced the extended colour modes - Can use high colour sprites - Can use alpha blending for the sprites - As sprite data can become huge, I added simple RLE compression - For solid sprites, the mask can be omitted entirely - Sprites can be as huge as the screen (this change and the last one in effect makes sprites usable as a sort of QL graphics format. The big advantage is that GD2 handles the colour mode conversions automatically) - introduced TRUE background I/O - can use a sprite as the input cursor - introduced "system sprites" (corresponding to the "system palette" users can exchange the sprites with their own and all compatible applications will use the new theme) - introduced "true" shadows for high colour modes As for PE for QDOS: - has all WMAN2 features except high colour support As for the rest of the stuff listed under GD2 I'm not exactly sure. Usually I tried to improve PTR_GEN enough so that apps developed for SMSQ/E can still work under QDOS (i.e. when you use system sprites, it will still work under QDOS). Under Minerva even the background I/O support should work. Marcel _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
