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Why did IBM create CGA - What user was there target?

Was there any business graphics software for microcomputers in 1980? I tried looking but everything I can find arrived after IBM set on the PC.
In 1980 the most desktop computers were text mode only, most CP/M computers didn't even have a video out connector at all, using serial connected text mode termina. Few exceptions are there, like Atari 400/800, Tandy TRS 80, Commodore VC-20, maybe also some CBM 40xx / 80xx machines.

IBM PC came out in 1983, first with MDA card only, CGA was a bit later. A bit earlier and already supporting pixel graphics was the Zilog Z8001 based Olivetti L1 M20.
 
It no doubt started with games; the PC version of Rogue, released in 1983, used text with colour.

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That game would really benefit from full hw. scrolling registers, better palette and blitter support. Not to mention blast processing.

IBM did sort of botch CGA by not having pallets freely chosen.
It’s worth noting CGA has enough extra memory to have 196 full color pallet changes (almost one for every row)

They didn't care as customers didn't care.
By the time 5153 arrived they could've turned CGA into 200 line EGA-light immediately, by using full 32kB of video memory and PWM output circuit instead of regular TTL one.

I believe business visualization cases used 640x200 thus palette is irellevant.

You can't even present a case to IBM board for enhanced CGA if the games look like the one quoted above. Why would you rush to upgrade the CGA if no games are actually at limit of using CGA?

Again, what I remember is the first PC our family had as a kid was equipped with a somewhat unusual video system combining a Princeton Graphics MAX-12 TTL monochrome monitor with a CGA card. The MAX-12 was one of the first digital monochrome monitors that supported *both* MDA and CGA scan rates, with 16 gray (amber) tones in CGA mode, and I have *never* seen CGA look as sharp on a composite mono monitor as the MAX-12 or other digital monochrome CGA monitors (this “supports CGA” feature was not that uncommon for a period in the later 80’s). Maybe it’s just selection bias of some sort, but I’ve also owned some really nice composite monitors (like that NEC green screen you commonly see with Japanese computers) and while I love looking at composite green they always feel “softer” in my memory at least than digital.

I have had, and still do, a similar machine - video card does the tricks not the monitor, which is standard MDA.

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Screencaps from a web-res video. Smearing due to long persistence sucks for fast games. Aside of that, I find it much much more pleasing to look at than most RGBI screens I've seen.

Interesting detail about contrast control on monitor - it differently depending on the mode.
In text mode it controls the brightness of the 8 lower intensity levels. In graphics modes it does nothing.
 
IBM PC came out in 1983, first with MDA card only, CGA was a bit later. A bit earlier and already supporting pixel graphics was the Zilog Z8001 based Olivetti L1 M20.
The IBM PC was available with the CGA card since day one in August 1981. All of the early ads said you could connect it to your TV with an RF modulator, and use it to program in BASIC and play games, just like any other home computer of the time.

IBM supplying their own RGB monitor for it is what didn't happen until 1983 (coinciding with the introduction of the XT? I'm not sure of the exact timing).

1981_IBMPC_5150_TV.jpg
 
In 1980 the most desktop computers were text mode only, most CP/M computers didn't even have a video out connector at all, using serial connected text mode termina. Few exceptions are there, like Atari 400/800, Tandy TRS 80, Commodore VC-20, maybe also some CBM 40xx / 80xx machines.
I very highly doubt that the Atari 400/800 and Commodore VIC-20 were ever used for business purposes. Not to mention that the VIC-20 came out in the same year as the IBM PC.

The Apple II and TRS-80, both released four years before the PC, were used for business, however. As was perhaps the Commodore PET (also released four years before the PC) and its successors. That said, only the Apple II had more than very blocky low-resolution graphics.

IBM PC came out in 1983, first with MDA card only, CGA was a bit later.
As others have said, "no." CGA was there at the start.

A bit earlier and already supporting pixel graphics was the Zilog Z8001 based Olivetti L1 M20.
Well, if you're going to get into truly obscure computers that sold hardly any units, there were lots of systems that did graphics by the time the PC came out.

That game would really benefit from full hw. scrolling registers, better palette and blitter support. Not to mention blast processing.
I am mystified as to why you think this. For a start, the game doesn't scroll! Nor is a blitter going to make any visible difference when the entire frame buffer is 4096 bytes.
 
There was business software for the Atari 800 and that was software was used. Not by a great percentage of Ataris but even a low percentage would overwhelm the S-100 user base.

The Compucolor II was out in 1979. The BASIC was enhanced to take advantage of the color graphics but no other application software for it seems to. The earliest Chart software I can find for the Apple II came out in 1981. There were a few cassette based Apple II programs that fell somewhere between demo and business software. The minicomputer graphics or equivalents were mainly monochrome and the 640x200 mode could have handled those programs until the next generation of PC.

Interesting in retrospect how fast business graphics software went from not existing to being close to what is still in use today.
 
The Apple II and TRS-80, both released four years before the PC, were used for business, however. As was perhaps the Commodore PET (also released four years before the PC) and its successors. That said, only the Apple II had more than very blocky low-resolution graphics.
The Hitachi Peach came out a year or more earlier than the PC and had really good RGB colour graphics (640 x 200), 80x25 text, light pen, along with one of the most capable 8-bit CPUs of the time, the 6809. It didn't sell well as it was very expensive here in Australia. I can't imagine there would have been a lot of software available for it either.
 
I am mystified as to why you think this. For a start, the game doesn't scroll! Nor is a blitter going to make any visible difference when the entire frame buffer is 4096 bytes.

A sarcastic take on the opinion that CGA hardware was not up to the task... (including reference to Sega's bs. advertising terms :))
 
The most impressive feature for me back then when I was a teenager was that IBM PC in comparison with Apple2 had its video generation separate, pluggable, on any expansion slot. CGA was there but obviously the plan for its upgrade to a more capable adapter was planned from the very beginning. Still I remember my father using OrCAD on CGA (with RGB monitor) for many hours a day, that would be considered torture just a few years later.
 
The most impressive feature for me back then when I was a teenager was that IBM PC in comparison with Apple2 had its video generation separate, pluggable, on any expansion slot. CGA was there but obviously the plan for its upgrade to a more capable adapter was planned from the very beginning. Still I remember my father using OrCAD on CGA (with RGB monitor) for many hours a day, that would be considered torture just a few years later.
I used Tango and OrCAD in the early XT days with Hercules monochrome graphics. Given the coarse dot-pitch of most color monitors, I decided against color. I didn't want the eyestrain or headaches.
I didn't get into color graphics until EGA, initially with a Sony Trinitron (CDP-1302?) monitor. I wanted a bigger screen, so I latched onto a couple of surplus fixed-frequency Daisy workstation monitors (made by Mitsubishi). Nice display, but I believe the 19" monitors each weighed about 70 lbs.
 
I very highly doubt that the Atari 400/800 and Commodore VIC-20 were ever used for business purposes. Not to mention that the VIC-20 came out in the same year as the IBM PC.

You're kidding right? I personally knew people using them for that - it didn't take much for a business to use a Vic 20 and a printer to write up invoices and add up totals. You don't even need a disk drive for that.

Didn't someone recently post a picture of a Vic20 being used as a cash register still today in a far away country?

I am mystified as to why you think this. For a start, the game doesn't scroll! Nor is a blitter going to make any visible difference when the entire frame buffer is 4096 bytes.

I think that proves his point. Had other capabilities existed, it's likely the game would have sought to use them, and scroll and blit. :)
 
The earliest Chart software I can find for the Apple II came out in 1981. There were a few cassette based Apple II programs that fell somewhere between demo and business software.
Back in the 80 while working in Quality Engineering at General Dynamics Land Systems, we had an Apple II that we did pie and bar charts on. It also had a word processor package which no one ever used.
 
The IBM PC was available with the CGA card since day one in August 1981. All of the early ads said you could connect it to your TV with an RF modulator, and use it to program in BASIC and play games, just like any other home computer of the time.

IBM supplying their own RGB monitor for it is what didn't happen until 1983 (coinciding with the introduction of the XT? I'm not sure of the exact timing).

1981_IBMPC_5150_TV.jpg
I have to say, I've never seen this before. This is the most absurd advertisement I have ever seen! I had no idea they tried to market it this way. I only remember the Charlie Chaplin ads that always seemed business-oriented.

This happened in someone's living room, exactly never.
 
This happened in someone's living room, exactly never.

I have always loved that picture of the 5150 in the TV cart. It is of course completely absurd but that just amps up the greatness. The best part is how there’s an Amdek color monitor instead of a TV in the top of the cart. Color monitors, even composite ones, were so stupid expensive at the time, but there it is down on the floor with the kids and the $3,000 dual drive system unit… ;)

Clearly this is a young Richie Rich trying to impress the neighbors.
 
The Hitachi Peach came out a year or more earlier than the PC and had really good RGB colour graphics (640 x 200), 80x25 text, light pen, along with one of the most capable 8-bit CPUs of the time, the 6809. It didn't sell well as it was very expensive here in Australia. I can't imagine there would have been a lot of software available for it either.
According to this forum post that was the Hitachi MB-6890 Basic Master Level 3.

It did sell reasonably well (though not as well as the NEC, Sharp and, a couple of years later, Fujitsu machines, eventually leading to Fujitsu replacing Hitachi in the 8-bit gosanke). It obviously didn't sell very well outside of Japan, but that wasn't unusual for Japanese 8-bit computers; the PC-8001 suffered the same fate.

The graphics were actually "normal" for the time; in Japan by 1981 640 × 200 graphics (often in 8 colours with RGB output) were becoming standard amongst the higher-end home computers. It could do 8 colours only in 320 × 200, unlike the later and cheaper Fujitsu FM-8 and FM-7, which had a full 48K frame buffer (separate from the 64K system RAM) and did 640 × 200 in 8 colours. (The FM-7 is what ended up killing the Basic Master.) But the MB-6890 did have one interesting feature: it could do 640 × 400 in interlaced mode, and they sold a special long-persistence monitor to take advantage of this. This would be great for Japanese word processing, though I'm not sure how widespread this was. (I've done a fair amount of research into Japanese home computer hardware from the late '70s and early '80s, but not much into software.)

I actually have an MB-6890 and rather lucked out with mine; as well as a disk controller card, it also includes a co-processor card with a Z80 on it. One day I have to figure out how to get that working.

A sarcastic take on the opinion that CGA hardware was not up to the task... (including reference to Sega's bs. advertising terms :))
Ah, I get it now. And I was going to ask what "blast processing" was, but now I'm glad I didn't. :-)

You're kidding right? I personally knew people using them for that - it didn't take much for a business to use a Vic 20 and a printer to write up invoices and add up totals. You don't even need a disk drive for that.

Didn't someone recently post a picture of a Vic20 being used as a cash register still today in a far away country?
I'd be curious to know what kind of software they were running. I can see the 5K VIC-20 (or pretty much anything) being used as a very basic preprogramed embedded system, much like half a point of sale system (totals and prints receipts and invoices, but without the long-term record keeping). But when I was speaking of "business software," I had in mind word processing, spreadsheets, database systems, accounting systems (general ledger, accounts receivable, etc.), and so on. A VIC-20 simply isn't going to do that; it doesn't have the memory and the screen would be overly painful for it anyway. (You can get maybe three cells across the screen on a spreadsheet if you limit them to 5 digits.)
 
Seeing these pics of old CRTs, what cameras are people using? My iPhone 13 Pro Max is terrible at CRTs, catches them mid refresh every time. The only other camera I have is a Go Pro which I have not tried yet.
 
Seeing these pics of old CRTs, what cameras are people using? My iPhone 13 Pro Max is terrible at CRTs, catches them mid refresh every time. The only other camera I have is a Go Pro which I have not tried yet.
You need to lock the camera's shutter speed to match the CRT's refresh rate: 1/60 for 60 Hz NTSC (CGA, EGA), or 1/50 for 50 Hz PAL (MDA/Hercules). Some digital cameras also have a 50/60 Hz "flicker reduction" setting in the menu.
 
I'd be curious to know what kind of software they were running. I can see the 5K VIC-20 (or pretty much anything) being used as a very basic preprogramed embedded system, much like half a point of sale system (totals and prints receipts and invoices, but without the long-term record keeping). But when I was speaking of "business software," I had in mind word processing, spreadsheets, database systems, accounting systems (general ledger, accounts receivable, etc.), and so on. A VIC-20 simply isn't going to do that; it doesn't have the memory and the screen would be overly painful for it anyway. (You can get maybe three cells across the screen on a spreadsheet if you limit them to 5 digits.)

On the Vic20? No idea. This was Australia so a lot of stuff was home written bespoke stuff. There wasn't lot of choice in my part of the world. :( But he had a printer, so if you can print stuff, even a few KB is worthwhile. It wasn't a spreadsheet though. That much i remember... I wouldn't be surprised if it was written in basic with things like input "customer name:";a$ : lprint a$ - But at the time people did use anything they could find. Even zx81s. His name was Mark and he was a kid too, but he was pretty smart and got hold of a computer ahead of the rest of us, and was starting out in business, or maybe it was his dad's... Mind you, I also remember he also told me he wrote Attack of the Mutant Camels, so he wasn't a reliable source and I never asked him, but he was still printing out invoices and stuff on his printer.

It probably didn't have any record keeping but it's an old memory so for all I know it might have been expanded, and I was still not all that familiar with computers at the time - just learning. Though I wrote some simple business software myself just a few years later on a PC and another on the 48K spectrum with microdrives for another person, and an invoice program on another PC in machine code... Within a 5 year period. The last of those paid for my wife's engagement ring before I proposed :) It was poor money to write a simple accounting system, but I needed it for the ring, so I just did it in my spare time.
 
The IBM PC was available with the CGA card since day one in August 1981. All of the early ads said you could connect it to your TV with an RF modulator, and use it to program in BASIC and play games, just like any other home computer of the time.

IBM supplying their own RGB monitor for it is what didn't happen until 1983 (coinciding with the introduction of the XT? I'm not sure of the exact timing).

1981_IBMPC_5150_TV.jpg

I think I've seen that monitor elsewhere...


It was probably a standard RGB monitor of the era ( or so they mention in the article ).
 
I think I've seen that monitor elsewhere...


It was probably a standard RGB monitor of the era ( or so they mention in the article ).
Amdek color monitors were a popular choice for any computer that didn't have its own official monitor (yet)... Apple II Plus, Commodore VIC-20, Atari 400/800, etc. They had a composite version (basically a tunerless TV set) and a much more expensive RGB version with a higher-res picture tube.


Notice that those colors don't really match the IBM CGA palette, unless they had the tint control misadjusted, or it's an inaccurate scan of the magazine.
 
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