What is EGA?

 What is EGA? 1984 IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter Display Card

Video Graphics Specifications
Creator : IBM
Year Introduced : 1984
Video Standard : EGA - Enhanced Graphics Adapter
Horizontal Frequency : 21.8 kHz
Vertical Frequency : 60 Hz
Video RAM : 128-256K
Maximum Colors : 16
Maximum Resolution : 640x350
Starting Address : A0000
Connector Type : DB9
Video Signals : 6 TTL
Status : Obsolete

Enhanced Graphics Adapter
     The Enhanced Graphics Adapter was next in line. It stands between the CGA and the good old VGA cards. It was introduced in 1984 and was continued until 1987, when the first IBM PS/2 systems were set to market. It was a nice graphics card at the time, but it couldn't deliver the vast array of colors we all like today, so it is thus forgotten. It could produce 64 colors, but displayed only 16 of them at one time when used with an EGA monitor. It had a high-resolution mode and a monochrome mode, and was compatible with all previous monitors, including CGA and monochrome.
     One new feature on the EGA adapter was the memory expansion board. The EGA card came standard with only 64 KB of memory. With a memory expansion card, you got an extra 64 KB, for a total of 128 KB. Then, with the addition of a special IBM memory module kit, you could add another 128 KB, for a total of 256 KB of graphics memory. One good thing, though, was that most aftermarket EGA cards came equipped with the full 256 KB of memory.


DB-9 pins for EGA
Pin Description
1 Signal ground
2 Secondary red
3 Red video
4 Green video
5 Blue video
6 Secondary green / signal intensity
7 Secondary blue / Monochrome
8 Secondary blue / horizontal sync
9 Vertical sync

C A U T I O N
Never run your monitor out of spec. If your display is screwed up, there's a good chance that the frequencies are out, so turn off the monitor!


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 What is EGA? 1984 IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter Display Card