Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

For awhile now I've been using various distributions, including Ubuntu, Windows,
Puppies.

Windows 10 appears to have superior graphics to Ubuntu 20.04.
Windows 10 is able to use what I call true 32 bit color depth, whereas
Ubuntu 20.04 uses some type of 24 bit color scheme.

Are there versions of Puppy, Ubuntu, linux that have true 32 bit color
capabilities.

Perhaps windows 10 uses graphics drivers that just aren't available in linux.
If this is the instance is there anyway around this.
I don't think Wine is the answer.

In the past, MS Windows gave you a choice of color depth including 16 bit and 32 bit.
This was not wrong, the color numbers were being stored in 32 bit binary blocks, which a computer whether 16 bit or 32 bit or 64 bit can work with very efficiently.
But 32 bit video was really only using 24 bits of each 32 bit block.

MS Windows refered to it as 32 bit.
Linux refered to it as 24 bit.

Both are correct.
Referring to it as 32 bit is correct because 32 bit blocks were being used, because a 32 bit computer can handle 32 bit blocks easily and efficiently.
Referring to it as 24 bit is correct because only 24 bits of each 32 bit block were being used.

Basically, the color depth is 34 because the computer is using RGB24.
RGB32 exists, but is usually is considered to be RGB24 (a red pixel, a green pixel, and a blue pixel) plus an extra alpha pixel. In most practical implementations, the alpha pixel is ignored.

RGB24 consists of 3 8 bit numbers per 24 bit block, an 8 bit number for each of the red, green and blue pixels.

You could increase the resolution of the pixels by using the extra unused bits, but it is not efficient or practical.
E.g. you could have 3 9 bit numbers, which would be RGB27 (8 bits is RGB24, 9 bits is RGB27)
But 32 bit or 64 bit computers can not handle 9 bit numbers at all efficiently.
Or you could have 3 10 bit numbers (RGB30).
But 32 bit or 64 bit computers can not handle 10 bit numbers at all efficiently.

So it is likely that computers will continue to use RGB24 color depth, using 32 bit blocks.

It is just that Linux and MS Windows calls the exact same thing 24 bits and 32 bits respectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_depth

Okay, however; why does Win10 display look better than Ubuntu 20.04 display.

There's also RGBA, which Win10 may use while Ubuntu 20.04 uses RGBxx,
where xx=24.

I'm using a 64 bit PC for Win10 64bit and Ubuntu 20.04 64bit .
Also I'm using the same graphics card for both OS.

It's possible Win10 is using the extra 8 bits for, for example, a greyscale alpha pixel, overlaid over the RGB pixels.

I don't know much about Win10, older versions of MS Windows definitely use only 24 bits of the 32 bits that are available.
A little like binary coded decimal (BCD), 4 bits allows for 16 numbers, decimal digits are the 10 numbers from 0 to 9, which leaves 6 numbers in the 4 bits unused.

I suspect the hardware would have to support any scheme that would make use of the extra unused 8 bits.

I doubt it would be using 9 or 10 bit RGB values, it would be much harder work, would run hotter, and would run slower.

edmont wrote: ↑Tue Sep 29, 2020 6:28 am Okay, however; why does Win10 display look better than Ubuntu 20.04 display.

There's also RGBA, which Win10 may use while Ubuntu 20.04 uses RGBxx,
where xx=24.

Go ask Ubuntu this question.
We in Puppy Land have no control on how Ubuntu works!!

Sounds like an issue i'm having on my Lenovo IdeaPad.

Win 8.1 had a brilliant looking display. Very bright and clear.

Tahr 6.0.2 and Slacko 6.3.2 also have a very bright (not to say 'overbright') looking display, but a little washed out colors and low contrast. Since it's a Notebook, there's not much to adjust the monitor. Dimmed the backlight to ~25% and reduced screen colour temperatur to ~5800°K. Not brilliant but it doesn't hurt in the eyes that much.

But what's really annoying is, when trying some more recent Puppies, the display shows massive colour banding. Check your display here

Of course it is related to driver, but (at least in my case) it is related to the display too, because it's a 6 bit panel.

IIRC i've read somewhere that from Kernel 4.5 onwards, video driver kernel modules were changed/updated.

Tried some different Kernels in Puppy Linux and Porteus. Anything newer than Kernel 4.4 causes this colour banding on this machine.

Changing topic title won't help to answer your initial question

Referring to my previous post: Lenovo delivers a driver (for Windows only) for especially this Ideapad's graphic chipset. Smells like they have to fix something...

See if settings in Gama settings have any affect.
Change them equally at first, but one adjusted more over another may be needed.

The Gama setting program is usually someplace in the menu->setup
Depends on the Puppy version where they put it in the menu.
Example:
menu->Setup->Screen/Graphics Wizard->Advanced->Monitor Gama Calibration