Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1993 01:06 EST
From: "Wonkoo Kim, EE, U. of Pittsburgh" <WKIM AT vms DOT cis DOT pitt DOT edu>
Subject: Re: BGI versus BCC2GRX+GRX
To: acc AT asterix DOT inescn DOT PT, djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT EDU

>Date: Thu, 5 Aug 93 15:06:08 +0100
>From: acc AT asterix DOT inescn DOT PT (Antonio Costa)
>Subject: BGI versus BCC2GRX+GRX
>
>Yesterday I got the new version of the SVGA BGI drivers (svgabg50.zip --
>by Jordan Hargrave) and decided to compare the demo program that comes
>with BCC2GRX (bccbgi.c) in both environments, ie, BC3.1+BGI and
>DJGPP+GRX.
>...
>svgabg50.zip somewhere (any SIMTEL20 mirror in msdos/graphics)...

The old version was msdos/borland/svgabg40.zip.  new one moved to graphics???

>I have a Trident 8900C and I tested every reasonable resolution.
>Some conclusions are interesting:
>
>(BGI side)
>- the EGAVGA BGI driver is fast in all resolutions
>- the SVGA BGI 16 color driver seems to be slow
>- the SVGA BGI 256 color driver is almost as fast as EGAVGA!
>
>(GRX side)
>- the TR8900 GRN driver is fast and seems to be better in 256 color mode
>  (a lot more faster than SVGA BGI 256 color driver in any resolution!!!)
>- the STDVGA GRN driver is also fast, although not as fast as the EGAVGA
>  and TR8900 GRN (I think!)
>- STDVGAX and VESA GRN are also as fast as STDVGA GRN (I cannot use VESA
>  GRN in 256 color mode above 640x480 -- it causes an exception!)
>
>In short, with the latest BCC2GRX version my old Turbo C code is running
>a lot faster and without those nasty allocation problems...


First of all, Turbo C or Borland C can't compete with djgpp in performance. 
One is 16-bit compiler and the other one is 32-bit compiler.

I was using svga bgi driver in my image rendering program under turbo C 2.0 and
bcc 3.1 until the introduction of Hartmut's BCC2GRX that made me easily to move
to djgpp. Currently, I have two exactly same versions; one is compiled by bcc
with svga bgi driver, the other one by djgpp/bcc2grx/libgrx. 

In my experience in image rendering, djgpp-compiled program was about 2-3 
(almost 3) times faster than bcc-compiled one.  Of course this comparison is 
not general (putpixel() was used), but I guess most functions would show the 
similar performances.
(Roughly, djgpp took about 2 sec. and bcc took about 6 sec. in flipping 
 image(512x512x8bit) on ATI VGA Wonder,486/25MHz. 
 time was for flip(image)+display(image) and counted with my eye and watch.)

>
>Thank you Hartmut, Csaba and all others that are involved in BCC2GRX.
>This is really one of the best software pieces of the year!!!

I really thank them.

Regards,

Wonkoo.