Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!apple!netcom!ergo
From: ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: HERCULES Graphics
Keywords: vs. VGA, EGA, CGA, whatever.  What's the difference?
Message-ID: <12703@netcom.UUCP>
Date: 27 Aug 90 21:59:59 GMT
References: <39522@cci632.UUCP>
Reply-To: ergo@netcom.uucp
Organization: UESPA
Lines: 55

In <39522@cci632.UUCP> sjo@cci632.UUCP (Steve Owens) writes:



>	The title says most of it.  Is HERCULES a hi-res graphics output
>for monochrome?  What does it do (or not do) that the others can't (can?)

>	Thanks for the help!
I might have some of the historical details wrong, so please flame
gently.

Hercules graphics (I mean the kind of graphics invented by Hercules
Inc., not graphics hardware that happens to be made by them) allows
you to get good-resolution monochrome graphics cheaply.  I seem to
recall that when it first came out, nobody else (including IBM!)
had a graphics adapter for the PC.

The problem with Hercules products is that they never quite seemed
to understand software or the practical problems of their users.
The last time I bought a "real" Hercules board, it came with
configuration and font-editing software that was so buggy as to be
useless.  And, except for their InColor card, they made no concession
to IBM-compatible video as a defacto standard (I guess they felt
that since they were there first...)  It's not just that they didn't
emulate CGA graphics, they didn't even emulate basic text-mode
functions.  As a result, many programs written in IBM/GW Basic or
other early MS-DOS languages lock up your system when run with a
Hercules adapter.  This can be fixed with a TSR, but it slows down
your system, causes weird problems....

And the only libraries for writing Hercules software were those
programmers provided for themselves.  Since a minor mistake in such
libraries could destroy your monitor, obviously people weren't
anxious to experiment.

You *do* need Hercules compatibility, since there's still a lot of
Hercules software out there.  But the worst way to get it is with
a Hercules card or a simple clone of a Hercules card.  If I could
afford to just discard my Hercules RAMFont card and TTL monitor
monitor (too bad RamFont sofware is almost nonexistant), I'd get
a VGA card with Hercules emulation.

It's not that all us people who bought Hercules 3 to 5 years ago
were stupid.  It's just that Hercules was the only decent video we
could afford.  CGA video was no good in text mode, and EGA was 3
or 4 times as much.  Now you can get a VGA adapter and a monochrome
monitor for it for about $200, which is why even Hercules Inc.
concentrates on VGA hardware these days.
-- 

ergo@netcom.uucp			Isaac Rabinovitch
atina!pyramid!apple!netcom!ergo		Silicon Valley, CA
uunet!mimsy!ames!claris!netcom!ergo

Disclaimer:  I am what I am, and that's all what I am!