Date   : Thu, 28 Feb 2002 13:40:02 -0000
From   : "John Richardson" <j.m.richardson@...>
Subject: MODE 7 & memory WAS: The License Fee 

      > And we wouldn't have had MODE 7 without the Beeb! Didn't
      even the text only
      > MODE 6 use up 10K? That's 9K not available for all those
      text-only programs.

      <pedant>
      8K, I believe.  Modes 4 and 5 used 10K, but mode 6 had fewer
      lines of text.
      </pedant>

      James

Thanks. Couldn't remember OTTOMH. So we save 7K even over MODE 6. 9K over
4/5. 19 (!) over 0/1/2.

Surely the lack of MODE 7 and therefore memory was the singles biggest
limitation of the ectron compared with the Beeb (Model B and even Model A).
I had thought that the huge memory saving of MODE 7 was only realised and
exploited after the BBC said that had to have TELETEXT capability. But page
150 of the User Guide (pub. 1982 - I don't know about the Provisional User
Guide) says:

"MODE 7 is a Teletext compatible display mode which is very economical in
its use of memory..... This mode is strongly recommended for applications
which do not require very fine graphics detail"

For me, read NO graphics detail. I could never be bothered to program
graphics in MODE 7. Even with a screen editor....

And anyway, the 40 x 25 text of MODE 7 was so much nicer (IMHO) than the
40x25 of MODE 6.

John