Enable 24bit in Xserve

[Sheridan]

Hi everyone,

I am new to SGI and recently acquired a Fuel with V10 and 2Gb RAM running IRIX 6.5.

Have a question relating to enabling 24bit color on Xserve desktop which is stuck in 8bit mode. I am running at 1920x1200 resolution and the frame buffer depth is set to 8. If I select 16 it does not allow me to go into very high resolutions. I am assuming the 8 refers to the pixel depth for RBG - aka 256 colours per R, G and B - so 16.7m colors?

I followed the instructions here, adapting the line as requested.

https://software.majix.org/irix/desktop-depth.shtml

Problem is nothing happens - it stays in 8bit mode. The boot up (pre-xserver and log in screen clearly are in 24bit color).

I have no clue how to troubleshoot shoot this? Can anyone help?

Andrew

 

[Irinikus]

Can you show us a screenshot of your Xservers file?

This videos that I made cover this subject: (This may help)

 

[Sheridan]

Hi Irinikus, I am tearing my hair our (I don't have any by the way . I have an Indigo2 and Fuel and both exhibit the same behaviour :

:O secure /usr/bin/X11/X -bs -nobitscale -c -solidroot sqilightblue -cursorP6 red -cursorBG white -depth 24 -class Truecolor

 

[Irinikus]

Judging by your wallpaper, you may be running in 24-bit mode! (Also, in you console, it states TrueColor!)

Try and open up a bitmap or jpeg and show me a screenshot or try to run quake, as if it's in 24-bit colour then quake won't run. (In software mode!)

 

[Sheridan]

I did think about that knowing that the desktop icons may well still look 8-bit. See the open app - Maya and you can clearly see the gfx output is dithered. My other though is the monitor itself although it seems rather unlikely. It's a Samsung SyncMaster 120M. Same on SGI flat screen.

 

[Irinikus]

What did you type to get that output in your console?

What are your render settings in Maya?

 

[Sheridan]

The output in the terminal window is from xdpyinfo - just to prove to myself that the machine was capable of 24bit which given that it's High Impact Indigo2 - it is.

I can't work on my fuel because my keyboard input is screwed and I can't get into the machine to enter Delete /etc/ioconfig.conf. I am waiting for the USB to Serial cable to arrive before I can correct that.

Still I can't understand why TWO different machines are exhibiting the same issues. There is definitely dithering. Even the 3D demos are dithered.

Maybe it defaults to dithering because it does not understand the monitor definition?

 

[Irinikus]

I'm starting my Tezro to see what it outputs when I type in "xdpyinfo".

 

[Sheridan]

Would you mind to connect directly / chat over WhatsApp for example? I really know ZERO people when it comes to SGI. Maybe something for a future video?

 

[Irinikus]

Here's what my machine outputted, and it's definitely running in 24-bit TrueColor:

Here's the important info:

 

[Irinikus]

What does your visual id: 0x2d indicate?

 

[Sheridan]

Hi. Ok. Very interesting. I cross checked the 0x2D and its 24bit just like yours. What's more interesting is that your display desktop picture looks just like mine in terms of the artifacting and dithering present. I see the same in your image too. I am now convinced the display is 24bit but unless the applications actually take advantage of this, all you will see from the windows, icons, and GUI elements is no different to what an 8bit mode will look like. I tested hardware rendering in Maya and I am convinced that output was 100% 24bit. I believe even the app you are using to display your desktop picture is NOT rendering in full 24bit - I can see dithering. However you may have to confirm the image you sent to me is true PNG and not compressed JPG which may also introduce dithering?

Your thoughts?

 

[Sheridan]

In fact I even found post in another forum with someone asking the same question - why when he switched to 24-bit did the desktop look like it was still 8bit. The answers were similar to what I mentioned above. For someone used to operating in true 24bit on iPhones and Macs, I assumed the same would be true of a machine from 15+ years ago.

 

[Irinikus]

The image isn't compressed, so you are seeing the actual image.

Try setting a background like the one that I have set in 8-bit, and you'll see that it's not possible!

I will agree that the image quality on these machines isn't the best!

 

[Sheridan]

Thanks for your help. I will set up a background image once I get the machine properly networked.

 

[Irinikus]

Thanks for your help. I will set up a background image once I get the machine properly networked.

Cool!

 

[Irinikus]

During this experiment, I noticed that the V12 does indeed support 30 colour planes! So today I took the chance and successfully managed to set the system up to use 30 colour planes instead of the usual 24 that I had set: