English Amiga Board - View Single Post - 256 Colours, Chunky Vs Planar, what was better?

zero · 13 October 2017, 13:24

Planar made sense initially because graphics performance was relatively low and planar made it easy to scale memory, DMA and performance. It was a good trade off of flexibility and a slightly awkward format.

When AGA was being designed they just wanted something quick, so they simply increased the number of available bitplanes and added 32 bit capability to support them. Even later the Akkiko chip was thrown in, but it was all just because unsufficient resources went to developing AAA with proper chunky modes.

13 October 2017, 13:24	#4
zero Registered User Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: UK Posts: 428	Planar made sense initially because graphics performance was relatively low and planar made it easy to scale memory, DMA and performance. It was a good trade off of flexibility and a slightly awkward format. When AGA was being designed they just wanted something quick, so they simply increased the number of available bitplanes and added 32 bit capability to support them. Even later the Akkiko chip was thrown in, but it was all just because unsufficient resources went to developing AAA with proper chunky modes.