4 ms·

This effect is enshrined into the default EGA palette[1] -- you'll notice that the bit pattern sent to the monitor is always either 000xxx or 111xxx except in t

This effect is enshrined into the default EGA palette[1] -- you'll notice that the bit pattern sent to the monitor is always either 000xxx or 111xxx except in the case of brown, which is 010100. In any given color, the base bits (0..2) contribute 66% of the RGB channel levels, and the intensity bits (3..5) provide the other 33%. In the case of brown, which should be an "intensity all off" color according to the pattern, the green-base bit (which strong green) is disabled and replaced with the green-intensity bit (which produces weaker green). Without this, the default color would be #AAAA00, which has it's uses I'm sure, but in the abstract is a difficult color to love. [1]: https://moddingwiki.shikadi.net/wiki/EGA_Palette https://moddingwiki.shikadi.net/wiki/EGA_Palette

adrian_b 2y ago
As also mentioned in the article, the root problem is that for all the other pairs of colors defined by IBM the hue is the same and only the brightness varies, while for the pair yellow and brown both the hue and the brightness are different and many early implementers have failed to take this into account. Brown is just dark orange, but what is interesting is that there exists no dark yellow, which is why IBM had decided to define the paired low intensity color for yellow as the more useful brown. When the brightness of yellow is reduced without changing the hue, at some threshold the sensation of yellow disappears and the color is perceived as some kind of dark olive green. Changing continuously only the hue at low brightness passes continuously between a dark yellowish green and a greenish brown, without any intermediate color being perceived as yellow. It seems that the sensation of yellow is produced by the approximate equality of the detected red and green components, but only when their intensity is high enough. This is similar to the sensation of white, which is quite distinct from the sensation of gray, even if these colors differ only in brightness.
- b112 2y ago
  Brown is just dark orange How dare you. Brown is beautiful, unique, a flare of joy! You shall not sully its wonder, with such tryptophan-derived fantasy.
- dahart 2y ago
  > Brown is just dark orange Fun fact, human skin is orange - both dark and light. If you saturate the colors of photos of people of any race, everyone is orange. Some AI face detectors use this to help identify where people are in images.
  - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
    Yeah you can do a fast approximate skin detector as just red minus green
  - amelius 2y ago
    Are you the next president?

adrian_b 2y ago

As also mentioned in the article, the root problem is that for all the other pairs of colors defined by IBM the hue is the same and only the brightness varies, while for the pair yellow and brown both the hue and the brightness are different and many early implementers have failed to take this into account. Brown is just dark orange, but what is interesting is that there exists no dark yellow, which is why IBM had decided to define the paired low intensity color for yellow as the more useful brown. When the brightness of yellow is reduced without changing the hue, at some threshold the sensation of yellow disappears and the color is perceived as some kind of dark olive green. Changing continuously only the hue at low brightness passes continuously between a dark yellowish green and a greenish brown, without any intermediate color being perceived as yellow. It seems that the sensation of yellow is produced by the approximate equality of the detected red and green components, but only when their intensity is high enough. This is similar to the sensation of white, which is quite distinct from the sensation of gray, even if these colors differ only in brightness.

b112 2y ago
Brown is just dark orange How dare you. Brown is beautiful, unique, a flare of joy! You shall not sully its wonder, with such tryptophan-derived fantasy.
dahart 2y ago
> Brown is just dark orange Fun fact, human skin is orange - both dark and light. If you saturate the colors of photos of people of any race, everyone is orange. Some AI face detectors use this to help identify where people are in images.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
  Yeah you can do a fast approximate skin detector as just red minus green
- amelius 2y ago
  Are you the next president?