Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!b.gp.cs.cmu.edu!Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
From: Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Why no graphics in text mode?
Message-ID: <25adcf7a@ralf>
Date: 12 Jan 90 11:37:14 GMT
Sender: ralf@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science
Lines: 17
In-Reply-To: <25820@cup.portal.com>

In article <25820@cup.portal.com>, cliffhanger@cup.portal.com (Cliff C Heyer) wrote:
}I'm assuming that each screen pixel is represented 
}by a bit in memory (or several bits) even in text 
}mode - but in text mode the bits are written with 
}bit maps from the BIOS.

You assume incorrectly.  In text mode, each *character* on the screen is
represented by two bytes--the character and the attribute.  The display
hardware converts this (on the fly) to the appropriate set of pixels using
a bitmap stored on the video controller.
--
UUCP: {ucbvax,harvard}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf -=- 412-268-3053 (school) -=- FAX: ask
ARPA: ralf@cs.cmu.edu  BIT: ralf%cs.cmu.edu@CMUCCVMA  FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/46
"How to Prove It" by Dana Angluin              Disclaimer? I claimed something?
14. proof by importance:
    A large body of useful consequences all follow from the proposition in
    question.