• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Would like to find documentation for Hercules MG-200 rev-d graphics card

mrclassicman

Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2023
Messages
35
I am looking for information on a Hercules MG-200 Rev-d video card. It works on a monochrome monitor but not any of my color monitors. I have to admit I have no idea about the monitors that I have as to whether they are VGA, or CGA. For additional information this board has as J1 & J2 IC sockets that are not populated, J3 is the 9-pin video out, J4 is the parallel port, J5-J8 are two pin with a strap to select. There are no dip switches. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
I believe that is a DFI card. It's a clone of the original Hercules card, so it's only going to work with a monochrome monitor.
 
While the 9-pin pinout is similar between MDA and CGA, the monitors are usually fixed frequency so are only going to work with one or the other. A CGA or EGA monitor cannot display an MDA (Hercules) signal.

VGA (analog RGB) monitors generally have 15-pin connections although there were some with 9-pin like (as I remember) NEC Multisync. If you have a color monitor with a 9-pin connection it is digital and CGA or EGA compatible in all likelihood, or an unusual and probably quite valuable monitor if it is analog. It's not hard to figure out what a monitor is from its model number and appearance, so I'd suggest starting there.

For a Hercules card you want an MDA monochrome monitor (not a VGA grayscale monitor, or a color monitor).
 
Thanks for the information. Well, this card is one step better than the card that it replaced, which was text only.
 
Back
Top