6-Bit Color

In my copious spare time I like to design electronic circuits. I am by no means an expert, but I know enough to be dangerous. Inspired by Ben Eater's "Let's build a video card!" page [1], I started thinking about a video circuit for a 6-bit controller so it could drive a small touch-screen display.

As part of that design process I came up with a very simple 6-bit color model. It sort of reminds me of the good 'ol 8-bit days when the 16 colors of the Commodore 64 and TI-99/4(a) were considered amazing.

The block below shows the different colors as a grid. And then there are a couple of pictures which have been modified to use that palette.

 

And here are the pictures. They're not horrible when you consider the target for these images is a process controller that uses a touch-screen for a simple user interface and the 6-bit color scheme is extremely näive.

Young man picks leaves from his girl's hair after they had embraced on the banks of the Frio Canyon River Near... (By Marc St. Gil, released into the Public Domain)
Well dressed couple, Michigan Avenue, Chicago, July 1975 (By Perry Riddle, released into the Public Domain)

References

  1. Ben Eater's "Let's build a video card!" page, https://eater.net/vga