[Coco] The myth of the Coco3 256 color mode :)

[John W. Linville]

On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 09:08:31AM +1000, jmlaw at iprimus.com.au wrote:
> Hey John,
> 
> >AFAIK, Jason Law discovered this independently around the end
> >of 2009.  I saw the postings on coco3.com at that time and asked
> >Jason for info about using the mode.  I used that info to produce
> >my own slideshow stuff (somewhat similar to Joel Ewy's version).
> >Since I was developing my coco video player at about that time,
> >I also added support for that mode to the video player
> 
> I in no way discovered the CoCo 3 256 artifact colors, nor have I
> ever claimed that. Potatohead's (Doug Dingus of the Atari Age
> forums) post at coco3.com got Briza interested, who in-turn...

<snip>

> My apologies that the explanation is long, and probably still vague,
> but there is a lot to the initial development and hopefully it
> answers some of the questions others may have had.

Thanks for the detailed history -- that was the first time that I
had heard most of it.

> >Since then I have discovered that Jason thinks that I tried to take
> >credit for his work or at least that I failed to properly credit him.
> >I presume that your video is the source of his angst, although I
> >would refer people to watch it (esp. around the 2:48 mark) and judge
> >for themselves.  At any rate, from forthwith please let the record
> >show that Jason provided me with the info I initially used to support
> >that mode in the programs mentioned above.
> 
> My issue with it John (and hypothetically if I was your best mate
> I'd say exactly the same) is that using someone else's work to
> greatly enhance your project without credit is unchivalrous.

Here's the rub, Jason -- I spent months of spare time working on
the video playback, writing the tools for converting the videos,
analyzing different algorithms for each, etc.  The video player
already supported 2-color, 4-color, and 16-color modes in a variety
of spatial resolutions.  Supporting different video modes is nearly
trivial.  If Nick ever finds his white whale, I'll probably be able
to add support for that in an afternoon.  It really is no big deal --
the 256-color NTSC "artifact" mode is definitely cool, but IMNSHO
it could be removed completely without significantly devaluing the
overall project.

I'm glad that you shared the palette information and the basic
description of the video mode setup to me.  But I bristle at the notion
that I "greatly enhanced" my video player with that info.  In fact,
the extra memory requirements of that mode make it perform a bit poorly
compared to the 16-color modes.  For that reason, I generally avoid
even demoing the 256-color mode.  Any "great enhancement" came later
when I rewrote the whole thing to produce version 2, which performs
much better in every mode...

So anyway, when someone asked me an impromptu question about
the 256 color mode in the midde of filming a 6 1/2 minute video,
I referred them to the best source of information that came to my
mind -- coco3.com, where you and others had been working on it and
publishing information.  Could I have provided a better answer, a
detailed history of the project, and an exhaustive list of everyone
involved and their accomplishments?  Actually, no -- but maybe I
could have done better than I did.  Mea culpa.

> I'd say to anyone who
> finds themselves using a big portion of someone else's work in their
> project, just mention them somewhere for the sake of community
> spirit if for no other reason :) Unless you have more to say about
> it, I'm happy to leave it at that.

As above, we disagree on the significance of the 256 color mode "howto"
information to the overall video player project and on whether or not
a reference to coco3.com was sufficient credit for the contribution.
I tried to be as nice and as deferential as possible in our earlier
private discussions, but I have to admit that my tolerance for this
subject has grown a bit thin.

At any rate, you now have aired your grievance in public.
I congratulate you on not sinking to the lows you reached in our
previous private discussions.  You even got another apology from me,
albeit a less generous one than I suspect you would like.  Is this
finally the end of it?  Or should I continue to look forward to your
next elegant missive on what a bad community member I have been or
how fat I am or whatever?  In any case, I'm done apologizing.

John
-- 
John W. Linville		Someday the world will need a hero, and you
linville at tuxdriver.com			might be all we have.  Be ready.