Information about XGA

SVGA (4:3) compared with the other display standards.

XGA, the eXtended Graphics Array, is an IBM display standard introduced in 1990. Today, it is the most common appellation of the 1024 × 768 pixels display resolution, but the official definition is broader than that. It was not a new and improved replacement for Super VGA, but rather became one particular subset of the broad range of capabilities covered under the "Super VGA" umbrella.

The initial version of XGA expanded upon IBM's VGA, adding support for two resolutions:

800 × 600 pixels with high color (16 bits per pixel, i.e. 65,536 colors).
1024 × 768 pixels with a palette of 256 colors (8 bits per pixel)

Like its predecessor (the IBM 8514), XGA offered fixed function hardware acceleration to offload processing of 2D drawing tasks. XGA and 8514 could offload line-draw, bitmap-copy (bitblt), and color-fill operations from the host CPU. XGA's acceleration was faster than 8514's, and more comprehensive in that it supported more drawing primitives and XGA's 16 bits per pixel (65,536 color) display-mode.

XGA-2 added true color mode for 640×480, 1024×768 support for high color and higher refresh rates, and improved accelerator performance. All XGA modes have a aspect ratio rounded to 8 pixels.

XGA should not be confused with VESA's EVGA (Extended Video Graphics Array) which was released at a similar time.

Clone hardware

XGA hardware was not cloned as extensively as VGA hardware. Nevertheless, at least one graphics company made several XGA-compatible chips, the IIT AGX.

References

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.

• • [ e] Computer display standards
Video hardware	MDA Hercules CGA EGA VGA MCGA 8514 XGA	Size comparison
Display resolutions	QQVGA QVGA HVGA VGA SVGA XGA XGA+ SXGA SXGA+ UXGA QXGA QSXGA QUXGA HXGA HSXGA HUXGA
Widescreen variants	WXGA WSXGA/WXGA+ WSXGA+ WUXGA WQXGA WQSXGA WQUXGA WHXGA WHSXGA WHUXGA

International Business Machines Corporation

Public (NYSE: IBM )
Founded 1889, incorporated 1911
Headquarters Armonk, New York, USA

Key people Samuel J.
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20th century - 21st century
1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s
1987 1988 1989 - 1990 - 1991 1992 1993

Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar).
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pixel (short for picture element, using the common abbreviation "pix" for "pictures") is a single point in a graphic image. Each such information element is not really a dot, nor a square, but an abstract sample.
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The display resolution of a digital television or computer display typically refers to the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by different factors in cathode ray
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Super Video Graphics Array, almost always abbreviated to Super VGA or just SVGA is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards.

Originally, it was an extension to the VGA standard first released by IBM in 1987.
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Video Graphics Array (VGA) refers either to an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, first marketed in 1987 by IBM, or the 640×480 resolution itself.
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Highcolour graphics (variously spelled Hicolour, Highcolor, and Hicolor, and known as Thousands of colors on a Macintosh) is a method of storing image information in a computer's memory such that each pixel is represented by two bytes.
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palette, in computer graphics, is a designated subset of the total range of colors supported by a computer graphics system. Each color in the palette is assigned a number, and for each pixel, one of these numbers is stored. This number determines the color of the pixel.
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IBM 8514 is an IBM graphics computer display standard supporting a display resolution of 1024×768 pixels with 256 colors at 43.5 Hz (interlaced), or 640×480 at 60 Hz (non-interlaced). 8514 usually refers to the display controller hardware (such as the 8514/A display adapter.
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Bit blit (bitblt, blitting etc.) is a computer graphics operation in which several bitmap patterns are combined into one using a "raster operator".

Origins

The name derives from the BitBLT
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central processing unit (CPU), or sometimes simply processor, is the component in a digital computer capable of executing a program.(Knott 1974) It interprets computer program instructions and processes data.
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Truecolor is a method of representing and storing graphical image information (especially in computer processing) such that a very large number of colors, shades, and hues can be displayed at once, such as high quality photographic images or complex graphics.
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The refresh rate (or "vertical refresh rate", "vertical scan rate" for CRTs) is the number of times in a second that a display is illuminated. This is distinct from the measure of frame rate in that the refresh rate includes the repeated illumination of identical frames, while
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The aspect ratio of an image is its displayed width divided by its height (usually expressed as "x:y" or "x×y," with the joining colon or multiplication symbol articulated as the preposition "by" or sometimes "to").
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The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) is an international body, founded in the late 1980s by NEC Home Electronics and eight other video display adapter manufacturers. The initial goal was to produce a standard for 800x600 SVGA resolution video displays.
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Extended Video Graphics Array (or EVGA) is a standard created by the Video Electronics Standards Association in 1991 denoting a non-interlaced resolution of 1024x768 at a maximum of 70Hz refresh rate. EVGA is similar to (but is not the same as) the IBM XGA standard.
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Wide XGA (WXGA) is a set of non standard resolutions derived from the XGA display standard by widening it to a wide screen aspect ratio. WXGA is generally understood to refer to a resolution of 1366×768, with an aspect ratio of 16:9.
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GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU project.
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computer display standards or display modes have been used in the history of the personal computer. They are often a combination of display resolution (specified as the width and height in pixels), color depth (measured in bits), and refresh rate (expressed in hertz).
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graphics processing unit or GPU (also occasionally called visual processing unit or VPU) is a dedicated graphics rendering device for a personal computer, workstation, or game console.
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The Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA, also MDA card, Monochrome Display and Printer Adapter, MDPA) introduced in 1981 was IBM's standard video display card and computer display standard for the PC.
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Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) was a computer graphics controller which, through its popularity, became a widely supported display standard. It was common on IBM PC compatibles connected to a monochrome monitor (green, amber, or page white).
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Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card (originally sold under the name "Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter"), and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC.
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Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is the IBM PC computer display standard specification located between CGA and VGA in terms of graphics performance (that is, color and space resolution).
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Multicolor Graphics Adapter (MCGA) was the IBM name for what would later become part of the generic Video Graphics Array (VGA) standard. The IBM PS/2 Model 25, introduced in 1987, shipped with MCGA built into the mainboard.
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Quarter-QVGA (QQVGA) denotes a resolution of 160 x 120 or 120 x 160 pixels, usually used in displays of handheld devices. The term Quarter-QVGA signifies a resolution of one fourth the number of pixels in a QVGA display (half the number of vertical and half the number of horizontal
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Quarter Video Graphics Array (also known as Quarter VGA or QVGA) is a popular term for a computer display with 320 × 240 resolution. QVGA displays are most often seen in mobile phones, PDAs and some handheld game consoles.
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Xga

Clone hardware

See also

References

Origins