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Hercules card??

T

twistedpneumatic

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My IBM PC came with the original(not a clone) Hercules card with original driver disk. What should I know about this card and what is its rarity/value is any. I havent heard much about this card.
 
Be aware that there were several flavors of genuine Hercules cards, so what you can do with it depends on what you've got; e.g., Herc graphics, graphics plus, InColor, etc.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Be aware that there were several flavors of genuine Hercules cards, so what you can do with it depends on what you've got; e.g., Herc graphics, graphics plus, InColor, etc.
Click to expand...

That's mostly theoretical though, is it not?
I mean, the only card that had widespread support in software was the original Hercules (and even that one was often relegated to CGA emulation).
 
CGA Emulation? Whats that? :)

Yes, that's true. The InColor is a very rare bird, however, and worth keeping around, just for its oddity. The Herc Plus has some drivers for a couple of the word processors popular at the time. It's kind of cool getting multiple font capability on a monochrome graphics card--and again, it's not very common.
 
I like the Hercules Plus (GB112) because it is smaller. The original GB102 is a huge monster board like the original IBM MDA. I have both, including the GB200 which is a small CGA clone.

GB200 is a good clone because it is tiny, it has the CGA-snow effect and 100% compatible with 8088MPH demo. The only thing is the composite output (from a header pin) it has wrong hue/color.
 
I suppose it's pins 3 and 4 of the 4-pin header?
That would allow you to use the card in an IBM 5155 with the internal monitor. My guess is that this was exactly the idea.
 
Too bad Trixter didn't know this about six years ago...

Trixter said:
Yes, I found this out the hard way. I've been trying to get my hands on a Hercules card (HGC, HGC+ HGC InColor) and I finally paid money for something labeled Hercules only to get a GB200 in the mail today.

Pros: half-length board, parallel port
Cons: No composite output...
Click to expand...

Trixter said:
As the subject says, I have one of these that I have no use for at all:

View attachment 7370

Despite the name Hercules, it is a CGA card for driving an RGB TTL monitor. It lacks a composite color output port, but it has a 25-pin female parallel port. Tested working.
Click to expand...
 
Retro Canada said:
The only thing is the composite output (from a header pin)...
Click to expand...

Scali said:
I suppose it's pins 3 and 4 of the 4-pin header?
That would allow you to use the card in an IBM 5155 with the internal monitor. My guess is that this was exactly the idea.
Click to expand...

Trixter said:
Guys, check the attachment in the original thread: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7370 Definitely no RCA/composite out on the board I got.
Click to expand...
Nobody indicated there was an RCA jack. It's located on the header.
 
You know the mce2vga can be reprogrammed to generate composite monochrome video (no color, color burst is another thing). We could use an EGA card switched to CGA as well.

or we could try to generate 525 lines interlaced or hercules or ega hi-res :D

dang don't make me want to buy a 5055 ! I just got an tandy 1000 ex...
 
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