Spent some time today with my IIci.
Basically, I confirmed that in fact, a Daystar accelerator and a Radius PhotoEngine is a bad idea. Not an Earth-shattering revelation actually given that the information is out there on the internet.
But, then understanding that the two would not play nice with one another, I decided to look into which one helped more, and where. Here are some benchmarks:
Boot: 1:05 with DayStar 50MHz, 1:03 with PhotoEngine
Open PhotoShop 3.0: 0:29 with DayStar, 1:02 with PhotoEngine
Open New 1152x870 File: 0:05 with DayStar, 0:06 with PhotoEngine
Gradient Tool Black to Red Corner to Corner: 0:13 with DayStar, 0:25 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Type Tool "TEST!" at Size 300 in Center of File: 0:33 with DayStar, 1:15 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Gaussian Blur, 10 Pixel Rdaius: 0:58 with DayStar, 0:09 with PhotoEngine
Spherize 100%: 0:59 with DayStar, 2:28 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Dust and Scratches 10 Pixels, 50 Levels: 1:52 with DayStar, 3:53 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Crystallize 20 Pixels: 4:08 with DayStar, 10:10 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Lens Flare: 1:27 with DayStar, 2:04 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Diffuse: 0:09 with DayStar, 0:11 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Now, obviously, many of the functions there are not accelerated. A list of which are is not readily available on the internet, but an issue of MaUsE's Double Click from July 2001 states that:
"PhotoEngine accelerates such operations as RGB-to-CMYK conversion, on-screen CMYK display, and Scale and Skew, as well as Blur, Gaussian Blur, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask, Emboss, and Despeckle filters."
I didn't cherry pick the filters, and I didn't know which ones were and which ones weren't, I just selected random functions.
Something disturbing: Even while operating the PhotoEngine without the DayStar Accelerator installed, interference patterns appeared on my display. These patterns looked like shear, or what, I suppose, you might imagine radiation interference to look like if depicted in a movie. Say BattleStar Galactica flying through a nebula or taking a nuke hit or some such. Not all at first, mind you, and not all the time, but frequently enough and then as time progressed, persistently enough that I grew concerned, especially when they showed up after shutting down, removing the PhotoEngine, and pulling the extensions out. The interference went away after repeated reboots, but for a moment there I thought I had a fried video card or logic board.
I'll investigate further, but thus far leaning toward general acceleration rather than special-purpose acceleration. Perhaps down the line if I can get an accelerator that works with the PhotoEngine, I'll install it, but for now it's on the bench.
Best,
John
Basically, I confirmed that in fact, a Daystar accelerator and a Radius PhotoEngine is a bad idea. Not an Earth-shattering revelation actually given that the information is out there on the internet.
But, then understanding that the two would not play nice with one another, I decided to look into which one helped more, and where. Here are some benchmarks:
Boot: 1:05 with DayStar 50MHz, 1:03 with PhotoEngine
Open PhotoShop 3.0: 0:29 with DayStar, 1:02 with PhotoEngine
Open New 1152x870 File: 0:05 with DayStar, 0:06 with PhotoEngine
Gradient Tool Black to Red Corner to Corner: 0:13 with DayStar, 0:25 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Type Tool "TEST!" at Size 300 in Center of File: 0:33 with DayStar, 1:15 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Gaussian Blur, 10 Pixel Rdaius: 0:58 with DayStar, 0:09 with PhotoEngine
Spherize 100%: 0:59 with DayStar, 2:28 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Dust and Scratches 10 Pixels, 50 Levels: 1:52 with DayStar, 3:53 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Crystallize 20 Pixels: 4:08 with DayStar, 10:10 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Lens Flare: 1:27 with DayStar, 2:04 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Diffuse: 0:09 with DayStar, 0:11 with PhotoEngine (not an accelerated function)
Now, obviously, many of the functions there are not accelerated. A list of which are is not readily available on the internet, but an issue of MaUsE's Double Click from July 2001 states that:
"PhotoEngine accelerates such operations as RGB-to-CMYK conversion, on-screen CMYK display, and Scale and Skew, as well as Blur, Gaussian Blur, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask, Emboss, and Despeckle filters."
I didn't cherry pick the filters, and I didn't know which ones were and which ones weren't, I just selected random functions.
Something disturbing: Even while operating the PhotoEngine without the DayStar Accelerator installed, interference patterns appeared on my display. These patterns looked like shear, or what, I suppose, you might imagine radiation interference to look like if depicted in a movie. Say BattleStar Galactica flying through a nebula or taking a nuke hit or some such. Not all at first, mind you, and not all the time, but frequently enough and then as time progressed, persistently enough that I grew concerned, especially when they showed up after shutting down, removing the PhotoEngine, and pulling the extensions out. The interference went away after repeated reboots, but for a moment there I thought I had a fried video card or logic board.
I'll investigate further, but thus far leaning toward general acceleration rather than special-purpose acceleration. Perhaps down the line if I can get an accelerator that works with the PhotoEngine, I'll install it, but for now it's on the bench.
Best,
John