Chapter 12: Video Cards^257
MonochromeGraphics Adapter (MGA) that combined graphics and text on the mono-
chrome monitor soon followed. A company named Hercules Computer Technology, who is
given credit for beginning the evolution of PC graphics, developed the MGA standard.
AftertheMGA,IBMdevelopedastringofgraphicsstandards,eachwithmoregraphics
capabilities than the last. The first was the CGA (Color Graphics Adapter) standard that
included a range of colors (other than shades of one color). CGA had the capability of
displaying up to 16 colors, but could only display 2 colors at its highest resolution setting
of 640 × 200. Later in the chapter, the relationship between resolution, colors, and memory
will be discussed.
The next graphics standard developed by IBM was EGA (Enhanced Graphics
Adapter), which increased the screen resolution to 640 × 350 with up to 64 colors. Along
with the MDA, MGA, and CGA standards, EGA is virtually extinct.
ThenextIBMvideostandard,VGA(VideoGraphicsArray),releasedin1987,increased
the number of colors available to the display to 256 on a resolution of 640 × 480. VGA has
had an enduring quality. It was a standard adopted by many PC manufacturers, and it is
still the default standard for many operating systems, including Windows, on today’s
PCs. Figure 12-1 demonstrates that VGA settings are still available. Figure 12-2 gives an
example of the display after these settings are applied.
Figure 12-1. VGA-level settings on the Windows Display Properties window