psh@world.std.com (Peter Stephen Heitman) (01/03/91)
I am looking for information about MCGA, the monochrome version of VGA. What is it? How is it different from VGA? Does it support CGA? Do I need a special monochrome monitor to run this or can I use the monitor I have for monochrome EGA? How much would a typical MCGA board run? How much would a typical monochrome monitor run? Thanks, Peter Heitman
dgil@pa.reuter.COM (Dave Gillett) (01/05/91)
In <PSH.91Jan2150419@world.std.com> psh@world.std.com (Peter Stephen Heitman) writes: >I am looking for information about MCGA, the monochrome version of VGA. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Wrong. VGA is available in mono and colour (same video, different monitor); the "C" in "MCGA" is for "Color" (or "Colour" in English). It was introduced on low-end PS/2s at the same time as VGA was introduced on the high end. >What is it? How is it different from VGA? Does it support CGA? Do I need a ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes. Practically all inexpensive PC graphics standards include CGA. >special monochrome monitor to run this or can I use the monitor I have for ^^^^^^^^^^ No. See first answer. >monochrome EGA? How much would a typical MCGA board run? How much would a ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ IBM builds it in on the motherboard of their AT-bus PS/2 models. I've never seen a board from anybody else that supported it. >typical monochrome monitor run? If you've already got EGA, that's better than MCGA. You might consider going from monochrome to colour, but MCGA (assuming you could find a board) would be a backward step. Wilton's "Programmer's Guide to IBM PC and PS/2 Video Systems" includes MCGA and clearly explains what each standard is capable of. It might be a bit more technical than you want, though. Dave