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    Main » Discussion » CGA or Hercules?
    Poll
    As per the thread title.
    CGA
     2
    Hercules
     8
    10 users have voted so far
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    Posted on 19-03-09, 04:06
    Custom title here

    Post: #304 of 1151
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    I might have done this just for the sake of creating a poll.

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    Posted on 19-03-09, 04:31
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    Post: #147 of 443
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    Colour is an important signifier, and obviously every later PC graphics card built on top of the CGA legacy, but I've got to give it to Hercules for higher-than-VGA-resolution graphics back in the days before VGA was even a thing.

    The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
    Posted on 19-03-09, 05:26
    Custom title here

    Post: #306 of 1151
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    Posted by Screwtape
    Colour is an important signifier, and obviously every later PC graphics card built on top of the CGA legacy, but I've got to give it to Hercules for higher-than-VGA-resolution graphics back in the days before VGA was even a thing.

    But do you give it on a green monitor or an amber one?

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    Posted on 19-03-09, 05:42
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    Post: #149 of 443
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    I've only ever seen Hercules graphics on green phosphor, so green it is.

    The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
    Posted on 19-03-09, 10:20

    Post: #96 of 210
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    I'll take the amber because it gives me warm, fuzzy memories of my childhood library.
    Posted on 19-03-11, 06:37 (revision 1)

    Post: #59 of 166
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    Not that I had any idea what was CGA or Hercules back then but back in the days, but I've played on rare occasions on a cousin's PC (well, his folks' anyway) games like Alley Cat. I believe that was on CGA.
    Posted on 19-03-11, 08:05
    Not Richard Pryor

    Post: #166 of 598
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    Posted by Broseph
    Not that I had any idea what was CGA or Hercules back then but back in the days, but I've played on rare occasions on a cousin's PC (well, his folks' anyway) games like Alley Cat. I believe that was on CGA.
    You believe correctly.
    Posted on 19-03-11, 08:58
    Custom title here

    Post: #311 of 1151
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    If it's not magenta, it's not CGA™!

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    Posted on 19-03-11, 09:08
    It's a long story that involves a piñata and a gun and a very naughty doggie…

    Post: #167 of 598
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    Do I have to get into the whole thing about CGA text mode again?
    Posted on 19-03-11, 12:40
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    Post: #312 of 1151
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    Yes.

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    Posted on 19-03-11, 13:57
    Mythbuster

    Post: #168 of 598
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    Okay!

    CGA has all sixteen colors we know and love. In text mode, any character can have any of the sixteen, on any of the dark eight backgrounds. In the 320×200 graphics mode most associated with CGA, the black entry can be set to, again, any of the sixteen. In the 640×200 higher-resolution black/white mode, white can be replaced with any of the sixteen, and in both cases this can be done per line if you time it right.

    More to the point of "if it's not magenta", that's but the default palette. Green/red/yellow is just as valid a CGA graphics color set as cyan/magenta/white. Cyan/red/white if you tweak it a bit.

    In turn, if you tweak the text mode a bunch and use a lot of half-filled block characters, you can have 160×100 16-color graphics. That's only 44 lines less than a Game Boy.

    For comparison, Hercules was 720×348 with no color options at all beyond that of your monitor. So resolution is literally the only thing on which Hercules beat CGA (on its own merits without considering crappy monitors).
    Posted on 19-03-11, 15:08

    Post: #89 of 449
    Since: 10-29-18

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    Posted by Kawa
    CGA Graphics - Not as bad as you thought!


    My current setup: Super Famicom ("2/1/3" SNS-CPU-1CHIP-02) → SCART → OSSC → StarTech USB3HDCAP → AmaRecTV 3.10
    Posted on 19-03-11, 21:35
    Custom title here

    Post: #313 of 1151
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    Fiiiiiine.
    If it's not magenta, it's not CGA™!*

    *Offer not valid if developer gave a damn, but most didn't.

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    Posted on 21-05-08, 07:17
    Custom title here

    Post: #993 of 1151
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    But what if MCGA?

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    Posted on 21-05-08, 10:47
    I was frozen today!

    Post: #552 of 598
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    Posted by CaptainJistuce
    But what if MCGA?
    Then you'd basically have a VGA without EGA compatibility.
    Posted on 21-05-08, 10:49
    Custom title here

    Post: #994 of 1151
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    Posted by Kawa
    Posted by CaptainJistuce
    But what if MCGA?
    Then you'd basically have a VGA without EGA compatibility.
    But also more letters!

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    Posted on 21-05-08, 11:12
    The Brickshitter™

    Post: #553 of 598
    Since: 10-29-18

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    Fun fact about EGA/VGA cards emulating CGA: when you set one to either of the CGA modes, you can then change those few colors to any of the sixteen. This is because to change the palette on a real CGA, you have to write to specific ports (0x3D9 for example, you can change to bright magenta-cyan-white and any "black" with "outp(0x3D9, 0x30 | bg);", where 0x20 decides the palette and 0x10 the brightness. And you'd want to do that because changing to mode 4 defaults to red-green-yellow) but on EGA those ports don't work! No, you change the CGA palette on an EGA card by changing the EGA palette. Which in turn doesn't do shit on a CGA, so you just gotta do both ways.
    Posted on 21-05-08, 12:12
    Custom title here

    Post: #995 of 1151
    Since: 10-30-18

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    Oh, IBM... you really DID put the interns in charge of this one, didn't you?



    "Yeah, it is totally, 100% backwards compatible. You just have to update the palette through a different mechanism. Old one doesn't work."

    "That's... not 100% compatible."

    "It'll be fine. Programs can just do both ways. No reason CGA apps can't know how to work EGA. They need to get with the future."

    "But what about existing software?"

    "Who cares? Old and busted."

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    Posted on 21-05-08, 15:26
    Universally genre savvy

    Post: #554 of 598
    Since: 10-29-18

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    Old enough software would be stuck with the one palette set up by the BIOS mode switch, I'd figure, but otherwise still work without crashing. That is, if they use mode 4 they're stuck with green-red-brown, if they use mode 5 they get teal-red-gray. No way to activate brightness, switch mode 4 to teal-magenta-gray, or set the background color. Because those things would be done through those two control registers.
    Posted on 21-05-08, 17:07
    Post: #190 of 202
    Since: 11-01-18

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    IBM in the 80's must've been a weird place to work.
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