You can set the screen to grayscale in universal access, and turn the enhance contrast slider below it all the way up. This turns the screen on my 15" pb to black & white. Why do you need this by the way?
You can set the screen to grayscale in universal access, and turn the enhance contrast slider below it all the way up. This turns the screen on my 15" pb to black & white. Why do you need this by the way?
I can't tell. You'll laugh at me.
OK, it's to play Beyond Dark Castle! There, I said it!
(There are a couple of other Classic apps that also require a B&W monitor.)
When BDC launches, a error dialogue demands a 2-bit setting. Haven't had any success playing with monitor prefs or with u-access.
As noted... OS X officially no longer supports bit depths that low (which is why the monitor settings control panel doesn't normally offer anything below thousands of colours anymore). Laptops differ additionally because some pixel resolutions are 'native' and UI designers have optimized shading and smoothing targeting this res and bitdepth.
Some of the old games in Macintosh Garden require 16 colours or 256 grays or even less, and may have palette switching (Director maybe) frontends. SimEarth(colour) will switch you to 16c, for example, but the Gray version is there too. A few others require a copy of the OS 9 Monitors control panel or 'user switch'.
I've noticed that the default display of the OS 9 Monitors control panel in Classic doesn't normally include really old (low bitdepth) settings. If I run one of the old games that has its own switcher function to drop down below 256, then Exposé out or switch apps, upon inspection of the Monitors panel, the current archaic bitdepth is now reported. In most cases, quitting the app will revert the bitdepth back and the option will disappear from Monitors again.
The monitors panel does have a "show all resolutions" rather than just 'recommended' options.
I'm certain there are script hacks that would enable all its legacy bitdepths too.
Otherwise, find an app with a b/w switcher (there are some) and run that first.
Then shell out to Finder (without quitting the app that switched you) and run the one you want.
Works for me. I've run several 'unsupported' bitdepths/res on my iBook that way.
And no, I won't confess what the games were, just that they were mostly from the Garden for retro sake.
Comments
There's also an app called "Black Light" which inverts screen colours (not quite B/W but cool).
Versiontracker has Black Light if you want it, otherwise System prefs -> Universal Access.
Originally posted by curiousuburb
Universal access has a "Black on white" setting for readability.
There's also an app called "Black Light" which inverts screen colours (not quite B/W but cool).
Versiontracker has Black Light if you want it, otherwise System prefs -> Universal Access.
Thanks, but not what I'm looking for. I need to set the display to true 2-bit B&W.
-K
Originally posted by Kabeyun
Thanks, but not what I'm looking for. I need to set the display to true 2-bit B&W.
-K
Well there is a "Set to Grayscale" button in system prefs next to the Black on White button.
Closer?
2 colour display isn't formally supported in OS X without a 'colour switcher' like some classic apps (where you can get 16 colours sometimes).
Originally posted by ericeason
You can set the screen to grayscale in universal access, and turn the enhance contrast slider below it all the way up. This turns the screen on my 15" pb to black & white. Why do you need this by the way?
I can't tell. You'll laugh at me.
OK, it's to play Beyond Dark Castle! There, I said it!
(There are a couple of other Classic apps that also require a B&W monitor.)
When BDC launches, a error dialogue demands a 2-bit setting. Haven't had any success playing with monitor prefs or with u-access.
-K
As noted... OS X officially no longer supports bit depths that low (which is why the monitor settings control panel doesn't normally offer anything below thousands of colours anymore). Laptops differ additionally because some pixel resolutions are 'native' and UI designers have optimized shading and smoothing targeting this res and bitdepth.
Some of the old games in Macintosh Garden require 16 colours or 256 grays or even less, and may have palette switching (Director maybe) frontends. SimEarth(colour) will switch you to 16c, for example, but the Gray version is there too. A few others require a copy of the OS 9 Monitors control panel or 'user switch'.
I've noticed that the default display of the OS 9 Monitors control panel in Classic doesn't normally include really old (low bitdepth) settings. If I run one of the old games that has its own switcher function to drop down below 256, then Exposé out or switch apps, upon inspection of the Monitors panel, the current archaic bitdepth is now reported. In most cases, quitting the app will revert the bitdepth back and the option will disappear from Monitors again.
The monitors panel does have a "show all resolutions" rather than just 'recommended' options.
I'm certain there are script hacks that would enable all its legacy bitdepths too.
Otherwise, find an app with a b/w switcher (there are some) and run that first.
Then shell out to Finder (without quitting the app that switched you) and run the one you want.
Works for me. I've run several 'unsupported' bitdepths/res on my iBook that way.
And no, I won't confess what the games were, just that they were mostly from the Garden for retro sake.
Originally posted by curiousuburb
Otherwise, find an app with a b/w switcher (there are some) and run that first.
Then shell out to Finder (without quitting the app that switched you) and run the one you want.
Works for me. I've run several 'unsupported' bitdepths/res on my iBook that way.
And no, I won't confess what the games were, just that they were mostly from the Garden for retro sake.
I hear you, brother!
I'll mess around some more and see what I can come up with. Thanks for your 2c.
-K