Wed. May 1st, 2024

Toshiba’s Pasopia7 displays over digital RGB, as was typical for Japanese machines of that era. Most of them were limited to 8 colors. The PC-6001mkII and its later siblings boasted 15 colors with the right monitor. But the Pasopia7 claimed 27 colors on *any* (digital RGB) monitor. You won’t see all 27 on the screen at the same time, but they’re in there across the array of images below if you care to count them.

But most digital RGB monitors are limited to 8 colors. How is this displaying 27? It’s not… it’s faking it with hardware dithering. The PC-6001mkII, etc. show a true 15 colors over digital RGB, but you need a special monitor (you guessed it – rare and expensive!). The hardware dithering is the standard 8 colors so it is just a trick, but it’s a pretty convincing trick.

The above images are from the Pasopia7 demo tape.

By Sean

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