1. What Operating Systems are supported by the Raptor GFX 8P?

The GFX-8P is currently supported on Solaris 2.5.1, 2.6, 2.7, Solaris 8 and Solaris 9.

2. Why would I need to run 8-bit and 24-bit applications simultaneously?

Many of  the older X Window System applications were written before  Sun supported 24-bit graphics cards like the Creator. These applications assume a graphics card is either 8-bit or 1-bit (monochrome). Since the current Raptor X Servers For Solaris 2 true color mode server supports 24-bit and 1-bit visuals only and does not support 8-bit visuals, these applications  either assume the card is 1-bit (monochrome) or they do not work at all.

Similarly  when running the server in 8-bit pseudo-color mode, the server  supports 8-bit and 1-bit visuals only and does not support  24-bit visuals. Therefore, 8-bit applications will work fine, but the 24-bit applications will be forced into 8-bit mode and there will be a colormap flashing problem due to windows competing for the 256 colors available in this mode.

The current  software provides 24-bit, 8-bit and 1-bit visuals simultaneously  on the Raptor GFX-8M.

3. Does the Raptor GFX-8P come with the mixed mode server?

Yes, the Raptor GFX-8P comes with GFX OpenWindows For Solaris 2 which supports all Raptor GFX cards and defaults to the mixed mode server.

4. Will I be able to run Insignia's SoftWindows 95 in the mixed mode server?

Yes. This server will support 24-bit, 8-bit and 1-bit visuals simultaneously. The SoftWindows 95 software required an 8-bit visual to operate properly and therefore only worked in the pseudo-color mode server with the current release. The new server will allow true color windows to co-exist with SoftWindows applications. This should eliminate or dramatically reduce any colormap  flash problems.

5. Can the mixed mode server solve a colormap flashing problem?

In most  cases, Yes. Colormap flashing is caused by two or more applications competing for the 256 color available in an 8-bit visual.  The mixed mode server will support both 24-bit true color and 8-bit psuedo-color applications. The 8-bit psuedo-color  applications will still compete with each other for the 256 colors. However, because there is also support for 24-bit  true color many applications will operate in that mode. These  applications do not require any of the 256 colors in colormap because they have their own 16.7 million color palette.

6. Will I need to change my applications to use the mixed mode  server?

No. The new mixed mode server handles both old and new applications without change.

7. Will the mixed mode server run faster or slower than the current version?

In general the server will run the same speed. The best performance will  be achieved by running 8-bit applications in the 8-bit only server since there is 1/4 the amount of data to move around  the system. When 8-bit applications are running in the mixed mode server, the server must still manage this data as 32-bits  per pixel. Therefore, 8-bit applications in the mixed mode server will run the same speed as 24-bit applications. The mixed mode server will perform the same as the 24-bit only  server when running 24-bit true color applications.

8. What is a Pseudo-color?

A pseudo-color is a color that is represented by a number (called a pixel value). The actual color displayed on the monitor can be changed  dynamically by changing its definition in the color lookup table.

9. What is a True-color?

A true-color is represented by a number which is the color rather than an index into a color lookup table. The number is typically  24-bits representing a true color value using 8-bits each for red, green and blue.