Picasso96 RTG Software

Introduction:

A new graphic card software grows up in the year 1996 while Village Tronic was developing their new PicassoIV graphic card.
Picasso96 is a modular and system friendly software enviroment for many different Amiga graphics cards. It`s main intentions are to provide a solution which is as system and software compatible as possible, transparent and reliable. To be that compatible, only the really neccassary functions were patched. This results in very high level of compatibility.
Another main feature of the Picasso96 system is the ability to use serveral graphics cards at the same time, even cards of the same type.

Hard/Software requirements:

• Kickstart v3.0 (v39+),
• Motorola MC68020 processor or better,
• at least one of the following graphiccards:
• Cybervision 64
• Domino
• Merlin
• oMniBus
• PicassoII
• PicassoII+
• PicassoIV
• Piccolo
• Piccolo SD64
• Spectrum

We also advice you to use a harddisk, some extra RAM and a (state-of-the-art) VGA Monitor.

This requirements are mandatory because only Kickstart 3.1 provides some features the Picasso96 Software use. The minimum of a 68020 processor is needed because the old 68000/010 doesn`t offer enough computing power to use a graphics card (larger displays need more computation - it would get unbearable slow). Therefore, parts of the code have been especially written for the MC68020+.
The above mentioned cards are those which are supported by February 1997. Drivers are being developed for Retina BLT Z3 and Z2. Others can be adapted on request soon.

Compatibility:

All programs that handle their graphics using standard system calls and do not modify the graphics memory directly bypassing the operationg system.

Direct software support for applications is available namely for:

• "Art Department Professional" by ASDG
• Photogenics by Almathera
• ShapeShifter (Apple Macintosh® emulator by Christian Bauer)
• XiPaint (24bit paint program by Thomas Dorn and Herbert Beilschmidt)

Further modules are being developed.
Programs using the CyberGraphics API or the vilintuisup.library work with Picasso96, too, e.g. CyberWindow or ShowGIF.

Distribution:

There are two way to get Picasso96:

• the AnyWare version, which is free to use and without individual user support.
• the Picasso96 Gold edition which features a printed manual and hotline/E-Mail support by Village Tronic.