Differences between version 3 and revision by previous author of Hercules.
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| Newer page: | version 3 | Last edited on Friday, October 10, 2003 8:34:12 am | by AristotlePagaltzis | Revert |
| Older page: | version 2 | Last edited on Thursday, October 9, 2003 10:20:30 pm | by MarcelVanDeSteeg | Revert |
@@ -1,23 +1,9 @@
-Ancient
black and white technology
superseding the
[MDA] system
.
+An ancient
black and white video graphics adapter
superseding [IBM]'s
[MDA]. In addition to the 80x25 text mode, programmers could also take advantage of a 720x350 pixel monochrome graphics mode. These display adapters occasionally came with other interfaces built onto the card such as a parallel or serial port
.
-The Hercules display system was one
of the earliest methods for attaining dual
display support on your computer before the advent
of dual
[VGA
] cards
. Some
software applications (
such as the Borland TurboPascal IDE) allowed for dual
display support, displaying the code on one screen
and the execution
on a second colour
screen.
+; [PCGuide | http://www.pcguide.com/ref/video/std.htm] says : %%% One weakness
of the original [MDA]
display was that it did not
support graphics
of any kind. A company named
[Hercules
] created in the early 80s an [MDA]-compatible video card that supported monochrome graphics in addition to the standard text modes
. %%% %%% The [Hercules] card was actually a very widely-accepted standard in the mid-80s; eventually [Hercules] clones even appeared on the market. Support for the card was included in popular
software packages
such as Lotus 1-2-3 to allow
the display of graphs
and charts
on the computer
screen. It has of course been replaced by later, color, graphics adapters
.
-Supported
resolution
-* 80x25
, text
-* 720x350
, graphics
+Neither the later designed [CGA] standard nor its successor, the [EGA], managed to eclipse [Hercules]. [CGA] only offered abysmal
resolution (and hence
, display quality)
, and the [EGA] text modes did not match the quality of a [Hercules] card either. Only with [VGA] did an adequate standard emerge that could replace [Hercules] in all respects.
-These display adapters occasionally came with other interfaces built onto the
card such as a parallel or serial port
.
+Nevertheless, [Hercules] compatible cards remained popular particularly among programmers, because they could be used alongside a graphics
card of the aforementioned standards, in effect offering one of the earliest methods for attaining dual display support on [PC]s. While few end user applications took advantage of this, [Borland] developer applications (
such as TurboPascal) were capable of displaying the [IDE] on the [Hercules] screen while the program being written would run on the primary display adapter. Some other applications had similar support for secondary [Hercules] displays
.
-To quote the [PCGuide | http://www.pcguide.com/ref/video/std.htm]%%%
-
-"One weakness of the original MDA display was that it did not support graphics of any kind. A company named Hercules created in the early 80s an MDA-compatible video card that supported monochrome graphics in addition to the standard text modes.%%%
-
-The Hercules card was actually a very widely-accepted standard in the mid-80s; eventually Hercules clones even appeared on the market. Support for the card was included in popular software packages such as Lotus 1-2-3 to allow the display of graphs and charts on the computer screen. It has of course been replaced by later, color, graphics adapters."
-
-----
-
-one
somewhere, along with a working screen.
-
-
-
-Superseded by [CGA]
+(
GerwinVanDeSteeg might still have a [Hercules]
somewhere, along with a working screen.)
