9.1 Video Modes

Graphics adapters are boards or cards inside the computer that are responsible for displaying text and graphics on the screen. Commonly used adapters include:

CGA (Color Graphics Adapter)

EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter)

HGC (Hercules Graphics Card)

MCGA (Multicolor Graphics Array)

MDPA (Monochrome Display Printer Adapter)

VGA (Video Graphics Array)

Super VGA (VGA plus extra high-resolution modes)

In addition, there are Olivetti versions of the CGA, EGA, and VGA (called OCGA, OEGA, and OVGA in this chapter).

Summary: Video modes available depend on your graphics adapter/ monitor.

Adapters can enter one or more “video modes.” The video mode controls the resolution and number of colors on the video display. Microsoft C/C++ supports 25 video modes, which fall into two broad categories:

Text modes, where characters are displayed

Graphics modes, where individual pixels can be turned on and off

The graphics adapter and the type of monitor in use determine which of the 25 video modes are available at run time. See “Setting a Video Mode” for a list of video modes.