List of home computers by video hardware

|+

! rowspan="2" |System name

! rowspan="2" |Year

! rowspan="2" |Chip name

! rowspan="2" |Video RAM

! colspan="2" |Video mode(s)

! rowspan="2" |color resolution

! rowspan="2" |Font extras

! rowspan="2" |soft fonts

! rowspan="2" |palette support

! rowspan="2" |HW accel

! rowspan="2" |unique features

|1976

|

|720 BytesActually the real figure is more complex, it's 6144 bits of which 5760 bits were actually used. This is so because the video data was stored, not in RAM, but in six Signetics 2504 "Dynamic shift registers" which each held 1024 bits. But only 40×24=960 locations in the shift register were actually used.

|40×24 Mono

|{{N/A}}

|40×24 Mono

|the six bits per character location were only enough to address 64 characters, A Signetics 2513 character generator ROM held only uppercase characters and some other alphanumerical characters in a 5×7 matrix.

|

|

|

|

|1971

|

|840 Bytes

|80×12 Mono

|{{N/A}}

|80×12 Mono

|LC

|

|

|{{CNone|None}}

|Shift registers for RAMThe Datapoint used shift registers for its video RAM and used the power line frequency timing (50 or 60 cycles per second) for a complete refresh cycle. When writing to the Display the CPU had to wait for the next "window", which came 50 (or 60) times a second. Then the CPU could write a single character, or (with special software) multiple characters, up to all 960.

|1983{{Cite web|title=oldcomputers.com entry tells us that the Mupid was developed between 1981 and 1983|url=http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1112|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121052732/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1112|archive-date=2010-11-21|access-date=2012-10-14}}

|

|64K[http://much.iicm.edu/projects/mupid_1/12.htm/ 2K 32 bits woorden per karakter, zie]

|40×25 16+16 colors

|320×240 16+16 colors

|320×240

|LC, BG, SG

|{{Yes}}user generated graphic symbols lie at the heart of the Mupid's graphics capabilities

|16 fixed colors, and 16 chooseable from a palette of 4096 colors

|{{dunno}}

|Designed by academics as a BTX terminal, but with the capabilities of a home computer[http://www.austria-lexikon.at/af/Wissenssammlungen/Essays/Institutionen,_Bildung,_Kultur/Informatik_TU_Graz_2007 TU Graz page about how the Mupid came to be]

|1976

| {{sdash}}The SOL-20 used the Motorola 6574 character generator ROM as a basis

|1K

|64×16 Mono

|Limited 512x128 Mono with MC6574

|(64x16)

|LC, SGthe first 32 characters in the Motorola character generator ROM contained special pseudo graphics characters, mostly line-drawing characters, and such. For the ASCII BELL code there was a simple bell shape in the character set. Alternatively, the character ROM could produce two-letter abbreviations of the ASCII control characters

|{{No}}

|{{CNone|None}}

|{{CNone|None}}

|One of the first systems with built-in video hardwareeven earlier than the SOL-20 were the many early S100 bus based systems one could also insert a video card into, some were very primitive but many had very good graphics capabilities, one such an S100 based system was the ECD Corporation's Micro Mini. A very capable early S100 video card was the "Merlin intelligent video interface" by "MiniTerm" associates. Perhaps the most famous one (at the time) was the Cromemco Dazzler. However all S100 based systems fall outside the scope of this article, as this article describes complete (and standardized) systems, not just video cards

|+

! rowspan="2" |System name

! rowspan="2" |Year

! rowspan="2" {{verth|Chip name}}

! rowspan="2" |Video RAM

! colspan="2" |Video mode(s)

! rowspan="2" |color resolution

! rowspan="2" {{verth|Font extras}}

! rowspan="2" {{verth|soft fonts}}

! rowspan="2" |unique features

|1981

| {{sdash}}

|512 Bytes

| colspan="2" |32×16 Mono text with programmable 7x9according to user's manual characters

|(32x16)

|LC

|{{Yes}}

|

|1983

|

|512 BytesThere is no real video RAM, as the display is mostly built up using software, for purposes other than the character generator driven 32×16 display more RAM could be used.

|32×16 Mono

|"Full": Limited 256×208Common hacked Galaksija 1 firmware allows character definitions to be switched out line by line like the MC6883 does; corresponding Galaksija 2 graphics mode permits full graphics (derived from an 8x13 character matrix) Mono

Semi: 64×48Using 2×3 text semigraphics characters, like the TRS-80 on an 8×13 pixels per character matrix this means that one of the rows was 4 pixels high instead of 3 note that the pixels were separated by a 1-pixel wide barrier, this was necessary because the bottom (last) row of pixels of any character had to be black, as it was this row that was used during times when not displaying the visible area of the screen. Mono

|(64x48; 32, later 256x208)

|BGthe default Character generator EEPROM did not support lowercase

| {{sdash}}

|All systems were essentially "home-built", on a single-sided PCB. Like the ZX81 it was software-driven.due to a special software trick the Galaksija could do smooth scrolling

|1979

|

|1K1.5K with color RAM slot populated

|32×32Presumably the Compukit UK101 could access this mode or 64x16alternating used and unused lines of a 64x32 matrixselectable by a poke to the keyboard registeractually only an area of 24×24 or 48x15 (alternating used and unused lines of a 48x30 matrix) visible, the area outside that wasn't normally visible on a TV, and therefore not used by the software. Mono

|"Full": limited 256x256 or 512x128actually only an area of 192x192 or 384x120 visible, the area outside that wasn't normally visible on a TV, and therefore not used by the software. Mono using full extended character set ROM

Semi: 64x96 or 128x48actually only an area of 48X72 or 96x45 visible, the area outside that wasn't normally visible on a TV, and therefore not used by the software. Mono using 64 characters (pseudo graphics) of the 128 characters of the optional extended character set ROM

|(32×32 or 64x16)

|LC, SG

|

|Early system with 256 character font, standard add-on card for full 256x256 graphics

|1980

|

|2K

|64×32 8 colors

|"Full": limited 512x256 8 colors

Semi: 128x96 8 colors using part of its pseudo graphic characters set

|64x32

|LC, SG

|

|

|1980, 1981

|Ferranti ULA 2C184E / 2C210E integrates the video logic of the ZX80 into one circuit

|792 BytesIn fact unlike any other system (except the ZX81) the ZX80 used a flexible "display buffer", that contained no more than the absolute number of bytes, that is one byte for each character displayed from the start of a line, plus an "end of line" byte.

|32×24 Mono

|Full: 256×192because the display was completely under software control some very ingenious games managed to generate a true "high resolution" display potentially with a 256×192 resolution Mono

Semi: 64×48Using the eight text semigraphics characters, plus the "inverse video" option, it was possible to display a very coarse 64×48 point addressable mode Mono

|(32x24)

|BG, SG

|{{No}}

|"slow mode", software-generated displayslow mode meant that BASIC programs only could generate a display or do computing work, not both at the same time while displaying a picture the only other task the ZX80 did was waiting for a key-press. Some assembler programs managed to overcome the problem. The ZX80 successor, the ZX81 overcame the problem by using the time between two display frames to do some computing

|1984

|

|336 Bytes in BASIC 2.4

|27x12 With 2.5Mhz CPU clock e in BASIC 2.4

40x21 With 3.5Mhz CPU clock e in BASIC 3.1

|Full: 128x64 Mono (additional hardware)

|

|LC, SG

|{{No}}

|Simple homebrew home computer form GDR, with software-generated displayVideo generation method similar to ZX80, 2.5Mhz or 3.5Mhz CPU clock variants, timing generation using Z80 CTC circuit,

! rowspan="2" |System name

! rowspan="2" |Year

! rowspan="2" {{verth|Chip name}}

! rowspan="2" |Video RAM

! colspan="2" |Video mode(s)

! rowspan="2" |color resolution

! rowspan="2" |Font extras

! rowspan="2" |soft fonts

! rowspan="2" |palette support

! rowspan="2" {{verth|HW accel}}

! rowspan="2" |unique features

|

|Semi: 78×72Using 2×3 Videotex block graphics (text semigraphics) Mono

|(39x24)

|

|

|

|Full: 280×192The Apple only displayed 7 pixels of each byte of the frame buffer, the eighth one was used to determine which color combinations the pixels of the other seven bits could have Mono/6 colors Semi: 40×48exchanging the character set for blocks of 1x2 pixels 15 colorseach byte of text-mode RAM was divided in two nibbles. The "lower" nibble determined the color of the top block, the upper nibble determined the color of the lower block. The sixteen available bit combinations produced fifteen unique colors as the two grays were identical in shade; the colors were, according to the official documentation: black, magenta, dark blue, purple, dark green, grey 1, medium blue, light blue, brown, orange, grey 2, pink, light green, yellow, aquamarine, white

| 40x48, 140×192half the pixel resolution

|

|

|

|"Full": Limited 320x200 Mono

Semi: 80×50 using part of its pseudo graphic characters set

| (80x50, 40x200)

|

|

|"Full": Limited 512×240With clever programming the actual resolution of the screen of 512×240 could be put to good use. Per default, the firmware filled the programmable character set with pseudo graphics symbols like the PET, and the Superboard II and UK101, which could be used to build larger simple graphical figures, like a "Stick figure". Mono

Semi: 128x90Limited "graphics" modes were possible by programming the 128 (8×8 pixel) programmable characters, one way is to dedicate 64 of them to program 2×3 pseudo graphics characters (text semigraphics like the TRS-80) which would make a 128×90 "pseudo graphics" mode possible. Mono

|(128x90, 512x240)

|Programmable character set allowed TRS-80 and PET like graphics

| colspan="2" |A descendant of this computer, the Xerox 8/16, supported 640x256 graphics320x96 semigraphics on the Xerox 820-II

|

|Full: 256x256, 320x256, 512x256, 640x256 Mono

Semi: 64x75/90, 80x75/90, 128x75/90, 160x75/90derived from Videotext mode feature Mono

|(64x75/90, 80x75/90, 128x75/90, 160x75/90; 256, 320, 512, 640x256)

|Built in one line VFD, Videotext mode support

|Semi: 112×78 4 colors

|112×78

|In theory, the "graphics" screen text was drawn on could be the text-mode semigraphics screen for a more standard (for the time) 56x26 or 56x39 high-resolution text mode, though in practice this real text mode was apparently never used (if it even could be).

| 4 of 8

|Semi: Presumably 160x72 Mono

| colspan="2" {{N/A}}

Osborne Executive and Osborne Vixen

|1981, 1982, 1984

|

|4Kfor 128x32 display memory

|52x24 Mono on 5" CRT, later 80x24 on 7" CRT

|"Full": Presumably limited 416x192 Mono, later limited 640x192 using its pseudo graphic characters setWindow on display memory

| (52x24, later 80x24)

|LC, SG

|

|Uses virtual screen to make up for limitations of original 5" CRT, a feature presumably not dropped from later models in order to achieve full backward compatibility

|"Full": 256x192Not point addressable, but through the 8×8 pixel programmable character set 8 colors

Semi: 64×4864×48 by using one of the 16 available characters with a 4×4 pixel (quarter character) text semigraphics pattern 8 colors

|32x24

|

|unique semi-graphic pixel color attribute scheme made that each of the 64×48 semi-graphic "pixels" (consisting of a quarter of an 8×8 pixel character space) could have its own independent color, these semi-graphics could be combined with predefined characters, or programmable characters, each of which could also have an independent foreground and background color out of a palette of 8.

|"Full": Limited 256x192 Mono by using the 128 characters

Semi: 64×4864×48 using TRS-80 style text semigraphics Mono

|32x24

|Limited

|

| colspan="2" |A separate independent video display generator board could be added that did support high resolution graphics of 640×192×1, 320×192×2 or 160×96×4 bits per pixel

| LC

|

|

|"Full": Limited 320x200 Mono

Semi: 80×50Code table 1 contained 16 text semigraphics characters with all combinations of a 2×2 matrix of blocks on and off to use to create a pseudo all points addressable 80×50 mode Mono

|(40x25)

|{{No}}

|

| 1987

|

| 960 bytes

87.x1: 960+960Only seven bits of each byte are defined bytes

|85/1, 87: 40x20 Mono for 85/1, 87.x0; 16 foreground colors + 8 background colors for 87.x1

|85/1, 87: Limited 320x192 Mono for 85/1, 87.x0; 16 foreground colors + 8 background colors for 87.x1 using its pseudo graphic characters set

|87.x1: 40x24

|LCThe 85/1 and 87 also offer semigraphics, but this mode uses a higher 40x24 resolution

|

|

|

|

|

|Semi: 64×48 or 128×48 Mono

|

|

|Semi: 64×48, 80x72, 128×48 or 160x72 Mono

|

|

|

|+

!System name

!Year

!{{verth|Chip name}}

!Video RAM

!Video mode(s)

!color resolution

!{{verth|Font extras}}

!{{verth|soft fonts}}

!palette support

!unique features

|1980

|

|64K

|40×24 Text in 280×192 Graphics or 80×24 in 560×192In theory it was possible to draw block graphics on the real high-resolution screen, but it was mostly pointless to do this in practice 2 or 16 colors16 colors or shades of green

|140x192, 280x192; 140x192, 560x192

| rowspan="3" |LC

|

|

|228 programmable characters, bundled with Apple II software emulator

|1983

|

|Presumably 2x32760 bytes

|drawn by software on 720x364r/608x432s mono, (4 gray scales)

|(720x364r/608x432s)

| rowspan="2" {{Yes}}

|

|

|1984

| {{sdash}}The framebuffer was built out of discrete logic, but a PAL generated the video timing signals

|2x21888 bytes

|drawn by software on 512x342 mono, (4 grayscales)

|(512x342)

|

|SE/30 and Classic were the only 32-bit models to use discrete logic to implement video hardware

|1979

| {{sdash}}basically the VDU was built using discrete logic, but a Ferranti ZNA134 was used to generate the video timing pulses

|31680 bytesDepending on the resolution 715/1430 bytes, 2860/5720 bytes, 11440/22880 bytes or 15840/31680 bytes of RAM was used

|88×65, 176×130,blocky versions of the high resolution graphics mode 352×260, 60x24The ZNA134 actually generated the correct video timing pulses for lines of 66 characters but the VDU generally would not display these extra columns in text mode Text in 528×240 Graphics 4 or 16 colors

|88×65, 176×130, 352×260, 528×240

|LC

| {{sdash}}

|4 of 16In 4 color mode the logical palette per line was limited to one foreground and one background color, and in 16 color mode it was limited to four. In either mode only one palette color was allowed to be changed at a time.

|split screen text and graphics mode with 4-line caption

|1985

|

|9600 BytesCalculated as 288×256 pixels/8 = 9216 bytes for pixel data and 384 bytes for grayscale data (2 bits per pixel) for each of the 48 (6-pixel) rows per line

|48×32assuming 6×8 pixels per character, details are unclear Text in 288×256 Graphics 4 gray-scales, 4 colors for 85/3

|288x256

|LCsoft fonts as characters are drawn only in a graphics mode screen, no text mode hardware exists

|

|4 out of ? gray-scales, 4 out of ?Most likely at least 16 to maintain backward compatibility colors for 85/3

|no text modes, only a single 288×256x2 bits per pixel graphics mode

|1984

| {{sdash}}

|32K

|40×25 Text in 256×256 Graphics 16 colors, 80×25 in 512×256 4 colors, 160×25 in 1024×256 2 colors

|256×256, 512×256, 1024×256

|LC

|{{Yes}}

|256

|SC

| 1984

| rowspan=2 |

| rowspan=2 | 16K

| rowspan=2 | 320x256

| rowspan=2 | 40x64 (16fg8bg)

|

| rowspan=2 {{Yes}}

| rowspan=2 {{No}}

| rowspan=2 | CPU VRAM access can cause visual distortions, Half-character attribute cells (8x4){{efn|group=t_discrete_notext|Relationship to KC85/1 in name only. The KC85/2 and KC85/3 were very similar overall, the only difference being more ROM and an internal piezo speaker}}

| 1986

| LC

| 1988

|

| 64K

| 320x256

| 40x256 (16fg8bg), 320x256 (4{{efn|group=t_discrete_notext|white, black, red, cyan}})

| LC

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| Vertical video ram, Single line vertical attribute cells (8x1), 2 buffers

|1973

|

|61206 bytes

|drawn by software on 606x808 Mono

|(606x808)

|LC

| {{Yes}}

|

|First known system with graphics

First known system without separate text buffer

!System name

| 64{{resx}}32 Mono graphics64{{resx}}32 when using {{frac|1|4}}K of RAM, 64{{resx}}64 when using {{frac|1|2}}K of RAM, 64{{resx}}128 with 1K of RAMin practice text was often drawn in the low resolution graphics mode, especially when using the CHIP-8 programming system

! rowspan="2" |System name

! rowspan="2" | color resolution

! rowspan="2" | Font extras

! rowspan="2" | palette support !! rowspan="2" |HW accel

! rowspan="2" |unique features

|1983, 1984

|MMU/IOUMost of the discrete logic of earlier Apple IIs has reimplemented in two ASICs: a memory-management unit (MMU) and an input/output unit (IOU). These chips were also used in the IIc.

|27KThe Apple IIe used 1K of auxiliary-slot RAM for the 80-column text mode and 8K of auxiliary-slot RAM for Double Hi-Res. A 64K expansion (the "Extended 80-Column Card") was most commonly installed, though Apple also briefly offered a 1K card that only enabled 80-column text.

|40×24 or 80×24 Mono

|Full: 280×192 6effectively the color resolution was only 140×192, due to pixel placement restriction or 15 Colors or 560×192 15 colorsusing the "resolution doubler" originally developed for the double low resolution mode uses the second bank of high resolution RAM. Semi: 40×48 or 80×48 15 colorsdouble low resolution mode, using the extra 1K text mode

|40x48, 80x48; 140x192, 280x192; 140x192

|LCThe Apple IIc now used a small part of the character set to display special "mouse graphics" symbols, and the character ROM was doubled in size, so it was possible to switch to a character set that could display extra local language characters and symbols such as accented letters such as "á", "é", "ç" etc.

| {{No}}The Apple IIe used a hardware character generator, but could not mix text and graphics except by displaying four lines of text beneath the graphics screen, also the text was strictly black and white, so often text on the screen was displayed using software so colored text could be displayed in different fonts.

| {{CNone| None}}

|

|

|1986

|VGCVideo Graphics Chip

|32K

|40×24 or 80×24 16 colors

|Full: 280×192 6 or 16 colors or 560×192 16 colors, 320×200 16-3200 colors or 640×200 4-800 pure or 16 dithered colors

Semi: 40×48 or 80×48 16 colors

|40x48, 80x48; 140x192, 280x192; 140x192; 320x200, 640x200

|LC

| {{No}}

|Apple][ modes none, other modes 4096

|

|

|"Full": Presumably at least limited 320x200 16 colors through (assembly language routines and) graphical symbols included in its character set

Semi: 80×75 16 colorsusing TRS-80 like 2×3 Text semigraphics characters, available in the font

| 40×25

|

|

|Full: 64×64 4 colors, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192 2 or 4 colors; 160x192-225,Only intermediate modes available in hardware are 200 lines and glitchy 210 lines where GIME continues processing the last line of real color data "forever" 256×192-225, 320x192-225 2, 4, 16 or 256 colors; 512x192-225 or 640x192-225 2, 4 or 16 colors

Semi: 64x32The characterset includes 8 (one set for each color) ×16 characters with a 2×2 pixel matrix, with this a mixed text and semi graphics mode can be created that can display pixels in 8 colors against a black background, albeit with some color clash 9 colors, 64x48Another semigraphics mode, like the 64×32 mode, but exchanging a more limited number of colors for a somewhat higher resolution 4 colors

|64×64, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192, 160x192-225, 256×192-225, 320x192-225, 512x192-225 or 640x192-225; 64x32, 64x48

| BG, LC

|

|

|+

!System name

!Year

!Chip name

!Video RAM

!Video mode(s)

!color resolution

!{{verth|Font extras}}

!soft fonts

!palette support

!HW accel

!unique features

|1985

|ST Shifter

|32K

|drawn by software 16 colors on 320×200 16 colors, 640×200 4 colors or 640×400 2 colors

|320x200, 640x200

| rowspan="3" |LC

| rowspan="3" {{Yes}}

|{{Yes}} 512palette of 512 colors

|

|Hi-Res non-interlaced 31 kHz-72 Hz

|1985

|ULAThe K1801VP1-037 with 600 logic elements

|16KIt was one of the biggest problems of BK, which wasn't corrected even in updated -0011 model that had 128 KB of memory, as 16 KB was VP1-037's hardwired limit due to the low gate count of its host PLA.

|32×25 Text in 256×256 Graphics 4 colors or 64×25 in 512×256 2 colors

|256×256 or 512×256

|{{Yes}}BK-0011 only. VDC lacked hardware text modes, so they were simulated in software by BIOS routines. The -0011 model had an updated BIOS that could display "narrow" symbols. It also had some limited palette support.16 hardwired 4-color sets selectable from a 64-color palette

|SCBK's VDC was rather primitive and lacked most advanced features except hardware scrolling (implemented through software-controlled framebuffer offset register). However, the fact that the screen output was almost entirely software-generated, together with powerful 16-bit CPU, made possible seamless integration of text and graphics with escape sequence-controlled composite output.

|

|1985

|Nick

|64K

|Full: 80x256 256 colors, 160x256 16 colors, 40×32 Text in 320x256 Graphics 4 colors, 80×32 or 28 in 640x256p/ 64 in 512i 2 colorsIn "LORES" mode using half as much memory, the horizontal resolution is halved, while the number of colors remain the same.

Semi: 80x96, 160x84p/96p/192i 2 or 4 colors via soft fonts

|80x256, 160x256, 320x256, 640x256p/512i: 40×32, 80×32 or 28 or 80×64 interlaced

|{{Yes}}In any mode except 256 color mode, it was possible to choose the colors for the restricted set out of the 256 available colors

|

|Advanced for its timeThe Enterprise's "Nick" chip could be programmed to do more than the built-in software supported, so the mentioned resolutions are meant as what the built-in software supported, not as what the hardware could actually do, it's very hard to get reliable data as to what the "Nick" chip could actually do. These figures are gathered from the "Enterprise programming guide"

|1983

|HSC 10017 ULA

|8K

|Full: 40×28 Text in 240×200 Graphics 8 colors (limited 240x224 through soft font)

Semi: 80x84 8 colors through soft font

|40×224When in text mode it reads 40 bytes in memory to display a 240-pixel line, that is it uses six bits per byte, six bits are used to choose one of the 64 available characters in the current character set, (which could be switched) the other two bits are used to choose whether either to display the character or to process an attribute. If both bits are zero then the character is simply displayed. If not then space is displayed in the current background color. The most significant bit is a video reverse bit. When an attribute byte is encountered it immediately affects the rest of the line and can switch foreground and background color, switch between character sets, change the height of the character, switch to graphics mode, and more.

|LCOric also had a programmable character set

|{{Yes}}through a programmable character set

|{{CNone|None}}

|{{CNone|None}}

|

|1984

|FPGAUnnamed FPGA-based VLSI, further details unknown

|64K

|40×25 Text in 320×250 Graphics 16 colors or 80×25 in 640×350 4/16 colors

|320×250 or 640×350

| rowspan="2" |LC

| {{sdash}}

|4 of 16

|

|Early x86-based non IBM-PC system with good graphics

|1989

|ASICMade by VLSI Technology, no nickname known, contents designed by Bruce Gordon

|24K6 ¾, 12 or 24K

|32×24 Text in 256×192 Graphics 8 or 16 colors or 85×24 in 512×192 4 colors

|32×24, 32×192 or 256×192; 512×192

| {{sdash}}

|16 entries 128 colors2-2-2-1 bit RGBI

|

|Backward compatible with Sinclair Spectrum

|1982

|ULAFerranti 6C001E ULA

|6912 Bytes

|Full: 32x24 Text in 256×192 Graphics 15 colors

Semi: 64x48 15 colorsEight colors, but with two brightness levels, however the "color" black is repeated twice (it was the same with each brightness level), so actually there are just 15 color tints

|32×24

| rowspan="2" |LC, BG

| {{sdash}}

| colspan="2" rowspan="2" {{CNone|None}}

|color limitationsThe Sinclair Spectrum high-resolution screen has serious color limitations. Each 8×8 pixel block can have only one set of foreground and background colors. This is because of the separate 768-byte color table, (one byte for each 8×8 pixel block). In each of these bytes, the lower three bits (0–2) are the background color, the next three higher bits (3–5) are the foreground color and the two remaining high-order bits were used for a "bright" (6th) and a "blinking" (7th) bit. The color limitations of this design can cause some heavy attribute clashes, for which the Spectrum is indeed infamous. For more information see ZX Spectrum graphic modes.

|1983

|Timex SCLD (CPLD)Timex's own CPLD called an "SCLD", made by NCR Corporation for Sinclair, Type "TS 2068 PAL" in a 68-pin QFP

|12288 bytes (max)

|Full: 32x24 Text in 256×192 Graphics 15 colors or 64x24 in 512×192 Mono

Semi: 64x48 15 colors or 128x48 Mono

|32×24, 32×192

| {{sdash}}

|swapping between two 256×192 screens

|2020

|FPGA

|6912 Bytes, 48K (layer 0) + 1280 Bytes sprite RAM

|Full: 32x24 Text in 256×192 Graphics 15 or 256 colors 80x24 in 512x192 2 or 256 colors

Semi: 64x48 15 colors

|32×24, 32x192, 256×192, 512x192

|LC, BG, SC, SP

|{{yes}}

|256 entries 512 colors

|64 sprites, hardware scrolling, copper,The Copper is a simple programmed system which allows certain Next Registers to be altered automatically at certain scanline positions. tile-map

|backward compatible with older Spectrums

|1984

|ZX8301 ULA

|32K

|Full: 42×25 Text in 256×256 Graphics 8 colors or 85×25 in 512×256 4 colors

Semi: 84x75 8 colors or 170x75 4 colors through soft font, 128x128 8 colors or 256x128 4 colors stippledThis is how the QL physically simulated up to 256 colors, but an RF connection did not copy this effect to a TV reliably

|256×256 or 512×256, 128x128 or 256x128

| rowspan="3" |LC

| rowspan="2" {{Yes}}

| colspan="2" rowspan="3" {{CNone|none}}

|hardware pixel-based blinkingIn 256×256 (eight-color mode), the QL uses one nibble (four bits) per pixel, three bits are used for the color itself, leaving one bit per pixel which is used for turning hardware blinking on or off on a per-pixel basis.

|1984

|EFGJ03L gate array

|16K

|Full: 40×25 Text in 320×200 Graphics 16 colors

Semi: 80x75 16 colors through soft font

|40×25, 320x200

|

|1982

|MC 13000 ALS gate array on TO-7/70

|14000 bytes, either 15000 or 16000 bytes for TO7/708000 bytes for pixels; 6000 bytes for color attributes, either 7000 or 8000 bytes for TO7-70

|40×25 Text in 320×200 Graphics 8 colors, 16 for TO7/70

|40×200The TO7 used a complex system with color restrictions, Each line is split into 40 spans of 8 pixels and each span can only have two different colors (among eight or sixteen in the case of the TO7-70). This allows representing 8 pixels with 14-16 bits (two three-bit palette entries [either these and one common intensity bit or two four-bit palette entries in the case of the TO7-70], and 8 one-bit pixel entries) instead of 24 bits or 32 in the case of the TO7-70.

|

|

|1986

|custom TI gate array plus EF-9369P color palette

|16K

|Full: 8 modes from 160×200 16 colors to 640×200 2 colors (40×25 Text in 320×200 Graphics and 80×25 in 640×200)

Semi: 80x75 4 colors or 160x75 2 colors through soft font

|from 160×200 to 640×200

|{{yes}}

|

|16 entries 4096 colors

|

|

! rowspan="2" |System name

|Full: 256×240 or 512x240 16 colors (806)

semi: 78x75 8 or 2 colors [or 158x75 (800M, 802, 806)]

|256×240 or 512x240 (806), 40x24 or 80×24 ( 802, 806)

| LC, BG

|{{CNone|None}}

|Semi: 128×48, 64x48, 160×75160×75 only in the CP/M compatible mode or 80x7580x75 only when booted with a special Videotex terminal emulator programin TRS-80 as well as in CP/M mode the Aster could switch to a display mode where it would only display the odd display memory bytes at double width. The 40×25 mode was initiated when the system was booted with a special Videotex terminal emulator program. In both modes, a hardware "de-snowing" (Video memory arbitration system) system was employed that removed the bothersome "snow" that appeared on a TRS-80 screen whenever the system made a large number of accesses to the video memory. The memory arbitration logic did not need software support, so it also worked with all existing software 3 gray scalesActually, the Aster could display the TRS-80 graphics in black (pixel off), white (pixel on) and one grayscale halfway in-between black and white, which was accomplished by dithering the pixels in the semi-graphics block with a checkerboard pattern

|128×48, 64x48, 160×75 or 80x75

| Dual memory map supportThe Aster system could switch "on the fly" between two completely different system architectures, and also switched its video logic and memory map accordingly, it also lowered the dot clock (crystal) in CP/M mode, so the 64×16 and 80×25 screens were equally wide

|Early clone of the TRS-80 with additional graphic modes

|"Full": Limited 320x200 Mono (4000) or 640x200 Mono (8000)

Semi: 80×50 Mono (4000) or 160×50 Mono (8000) using part of its pseudo graphic characters set

| [40×25 (4000) or 80×25 (8000)]

|

|Full: 480×192 2 colors or 384x192 8 colors

Semi: 160×72 or 128×48 8 colors

|480×192, 64×16

|{{No}}

|

|

|"Full": Limited 640x240 or 512x192 Mono via programmable character set

Semi: 160×72 or 128×48 Mono

|(80x24 or 64x16)

|{{Yes}}Part of the character-set was programmable

|

|

|"Full": 17 limited modes from 512x128 to 512x256 Mono in steps of 8 linesLater models also 26 (limited) full graphics modes from 640x200 to 640x400 in steps of 8 lines and full graphics modes up to 512x512 Semi: 128×48Later models also 160×75using the usual TRS-80 semi-graphics trick by programming the font RAM with the needed 2×3 pattern Mono

| 64x16

|

|

|1982

|38KBVRAM 32 KB + 2 KB Character RAM, 2K attribute RAM and 2K Programmable font (PCG) RAM

|40×25 or 80×25 2 colors

|160×100, 320×200 16 colors, 640×200 4 colors or 640×400 2 colors

|40×25 or 80×25, 160×100, 320×200, 640×200, 640×400

|LC

|{{yes}}

|n of 16

|

|Genlocker (G & P versions)G version had a NTSC genlocker, and P version a PAL genlocker

|+

!System name

!Year

!Video RAM

!Video mode(s)

!color resolution

!{{verth|Font extras}}

!soft fonts

!palette support

!HW accel

!unique features

|1983

|32KOr less when one or more "display pages" were turned off. The Lynx used a display page for each of the three primary colors. For example when the BASIC instruction TEXT was executed the Lynx turned off the display panes for red and blue, so it could reclaim {{frac|2|3}} of the memory for the display for bigger programs (with all planes on the Lynx had just 16K left for programs) and this also increased the speed of the system because the VDU did not prohibit the CPU access to the memory so often

|Full: 40×24The Lynx used a trick, the natural resolution of 256 pixels would have called for a display of only 32×24, but by only using 6 pixels wide characters the Lynx could fit in 40 per line, only a very large software overhead was needed, so the display was slow, so slow in fact that the software did not scroll a text screen but simply started on the top line again Text in 256×252 Graphics 8 colors

Semi: Presumably 80x72 8 colors

|40x24, 256x252

|LC

|{{No}}

|{{CNone|None}}

|{{CNone|None}}

|

|1982

|16KColour Genie used 4080 bytes of video RAM when displaying 160×102 graphics in 4 colors and could use "page flipping" to flip up to 4 different palettes of 4 colors, all of which could be unique

|"Full": Limited 40×24or 40×25 with a ROM upgrade Text in 320×192or 320×200 with a ROM upgradeWhite, Red, Yellow, Orange. brown, cyan, magenta, light blue, grey, light yellow, violet, light grey, red-violet, bright white Graphics using 8×8 pixel programmable characters 16 colors

Semi: 160x96or 160×102 with upgraded ROMs 4 colors or presumably 80×72or 80×75 with a ROM upgrade 16 colors

|40x24, 160x96

|LC, BG, SG

|{{Yes}}

|4 of 16

|

|Programmable characters128 8×8 pixel programmable characters, plus 128 semi graphic characters in two sets.

|1982

|48000 bytesThere is some confusion here, according to some sources, the programmable character generator (PCG) of the X1 used four bits per pixel, which means 64000 bytes of RAM for 640x200 pixels, other data claims only 48000 bytes of VRAMNot accessed through the memory map, but through the Z80's special instructions to access the "I/O map"Turbo series used bank switching to store pixel data for 640x400 resolution and probably 12-bit color

|40×25 Text in 320×200 Graphics, 80×25 in 640×200It is not obvious whether this is an All Points Addressable mode, or that these are in fact text modes that used the Programmable Character Generator of the X1 to create an illusion that High-Resolution APA graphics were possible. That is, it is possible that the X1 had 1000 (40×25) or even 2000 (80×25) or even more unique programmable characters so that there could be one PCG character for each screen location)It is not obvious how many unique programmable characters the X1 had, only that they were programmable on a per-pixel basis with 3 or 4 bits per pixelTurbo series also 80x50 in 640x400 8 colors

|320×200, 640×200

| rowspan="2" |LC

| rowspan="2" {{yes}}

|{{CNone|None}}not sure about this either

|in a way the PGC is a kind of sprite system

|powerful APA color PCGThe X1 had a programmable character generator that allowed per-pixel programming with 3 or 4-bit per pixel data. This meant that delicate color graphic "building blocks" could be created on the fly to create bigger full-color graphic elements, not only for text but more specifically for games. Plus the fact that the X1's VRAM was not memory mapped, but used the Z80 unique extended I/O mapping, where normally the i8080 had just 256 I/O locations, the Z80 supported 16-bit I/O addressing, so the "I/O map" could cover 64K. There is confusion as to whether the X1 used 48000 or 64000 bytes of the I/O map to address VRAM, so all of the 64K memory maps could be RAM (except for a small BIOS/IPL ROM).

|1980

|4K

|32×16 Text in 256×128 Graphics Mono

|(256x128)

|{{CNone|None}}

|{{dunno}}

|

|+

! rowspan="2" |System name

! rowspan="2" |Year

! rowspan="2" |Chip name

! rowspan="2" |Video RAM

! colspan="2" |Video mode(s)

! rowspan="2" |color resolution

! rowspan="2" {{verth|Font extras}}

! rowspan="2" |soft fonts

! rowspan="2" |palette support

! rowspan="2" {{verth|HW accel}}

! rowspan="2" |unique features

|1977

|SMSC CRT5027

|4K2K for characters; 2K for attributes, which is 3 bits for the foreground, and 3 bits for background color, one bit for blinking, and one bit for double-height characters

|64×32 or 64×16 8 colors on 13" built-in color screen

|"Full": Limited 512x256 8 colors

Semi: 128×128Most probably just a tweaked semigraphics mode dividing the text screen's characters into a 2x4 (single height) or 2x8 (double height) semigraphics matrix instead of the presumed 2x3 included in the system font 8 colors or presumably 128×96 8 colors or 128x48 8 colors (through block graphics characters included in the font)

|64x16 or 64x32, 128x128

|BG

|

|

|

|said to be the first color home computer on the market, very nice graphics for the time

|1983

|CDP1869 CDP1870

|3K1K Video ram and 2K character RAM for 128 programmable characters (6×8 Bytes NTSC or 6×9 Bytes PAL, RAM was available for 6×16 which was possible to use via assembler code)

|40×24In Assembler the width and/or height of the characters could be doubled, so 20×24, 40×12, and 20×12 was also possible 8 foreground colors (4 per 6×8 or 6×9 pixels, 1 per 6-pixel line)+ 8 background colors (for the whole screen)

|"Full": Limited 240×192(NTSC)/240x216 (PAL)/240x384 (expanded RAM)Using a programmable font (with 128 characters 6 pixels wide and 9 pixels high) that meant that not each pixel of the theoretical 240×192, 240x216 or 240x384 could be individually addressed. In fact at most 128×6×8 = 6144, 128×6×9 = 6912 or 128x6x16 = 12288 individual pixels could be addressed at any one time 8 foreground colors (4 per 6×8 or 6×9 pixels, 1 per 6 pixel line)+ 8 background colors (for the whole screen)

Semi: 80×72One way to create a real high-res mode was to program the character set by dividing the 6x8 or 6×9 pixels of the character into 3x2 and 3×3 zones (like the TRS-80 graphics mode), in this way an 80×72 point addressable high-res mode was feasible using 64 characters/120×96By using the max character size of 6×16, double-height and double-width a resolution of 120×96 was possible using 120 characters (20x6) to fill the complete screen 8 foreground colors (4 per 6×8 or 6×9 pixels, 1 per 6-pixel line)+ 8 background colors (for the whole screen)

|40x24

|BG, SGExcept by reprogramming the 64 character set, But BASIC used uppercase only

|{{Yes}}

|{{dunno|8 foregrounds
+
8 background
out of?}}

|

|

|1977

|Intel 8275

|2 KB

|80×24 or 64×16 Mono, on 9" built-in CRT

|Semi: Presumably 160x72 or 128x48 Mono

|(80x24 or 64x16)

|LC, BG

|

|

|

|

|1982

|M60719VHiMZ60719GSO Sharp's own custom VLSI

|2000 Bytes1000 bytes for (40×25) characters, and another 1000 Bytes for color data

|40×25 8 colors

|"full": Limited 320x200 8 colors

semi: 80×50 8 colors

|40x25

|LC, BG, SG

|{{No}}

|

|

|

|1979

|ìPD3301D

|3K, 16K, 48K

|40×20, 40×25, 80×20 or 80×25 8 colors

|Full: 320x200 or 640x200 8 colors

Semi: 160×100160×200 with an expansion optionMost probably the PC-8001 used a pseudo graphics mode based on the 80×25 text screen with a 2×4 (2x8 with expansion) pseudo graphics matrix. The 80×25 mode used 2000 bytes, so there were 1072 bytes leftover for attributes. so three bits for the foreground color and three for the background color, the two remaining bits were used for invert and blinking bits 8 colors

|320x200 or 640x200, 80x25

|LC, BG

|{{No}}

|

|

|

|1984

|Intel 8275

|2 KB

|80×24 or 64×16 Mono

|Semi: Presumably 160x72 or 128x48 Mono

|(80x24 or 64x16)

|LC, BG

|for 1715W model

|

|

|had two switchable ROMs for Cyrillic/Latin letters

|1982

|CDP1869 CDP1870

|1K1K Video RAM and 2K character ROM

|Presumably 40x24 8 colors

|Semi: 80x72 8 colors

|40x24

|LC

|{{No}}

|

|

|

|1984

|EF9345

|8K

|32×16, 40×25 or 80×25 9 colors

|Full: 160×125 or 320×250{{Cite web|last=Lapierre|first=Patrice|date=|title=Le wiki d'Alice - Hardware|url=https://alice.system-cfg.com/hardware.php|access-date=4 April 2018|website=Le wiki d'Alice}} 16 colors

Semi: 64x32, 80x50 or 160x50 9 colors

|32x16, 40x25, 80x25

|LC, BG

|3×100 user definable characters, but only in 40×25 text mode

|Full and half-intensity foreground plus background out of 8

|DR

|Video InputThe Matra Alice 90 featured video-in, so EF9345 graphics could be overlaid onto the input video

! rowspan="2" |System name

| {{verth|va=middle|MC6847}}

| rowspan="4" {{verth|va=middle| 32×16 9 colors}}European TVs of the time generally would not resolve the colors produced by the 6847 because they had no way to synchronize with its 60 Hz timing

| rowspan="2" |Full: 64×64 4 colors, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192 2 or 4 colors or 256×192 2 colors

Semi: 64×32 9 colors or 64×48 4 colors

| rowspan="2" |64×64, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192 or 256×192; 64×32 or 64×48

| rowspan="2" | BGTwo intensity levels of block graphic characters

| colspan="2" rowspan="2" {{CNone|None}}

|1981

|{{verth|va=middle|M5C6847P-1}}

|Full: 64×64 4 colors, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192 2 or 4 colors, 256×128 or 256×192 2 colors

Semi: 64×32 9 colors or 64×48 4 or 9 colors

|64×64, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192, 256×128 or 256×192; 64×32 or 64×48

|

|

|

| {{verth|va=middle|MC6847Some later models of the CoCo model 2 used the MC6847T1.+MC6883}}

|Full: 64×64 4 colors, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192 2 or 4 colors or 256×192

Semi: 64×32 (64×64, 64×96 or 64×192This semigraphics mode technically exists, but the BASIC cannot access it) 9 colors, 64×48 4 colors

|64×64, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192 or 256×192; 64×32, 64×48, 64×64, 64×96 or 64×192

| BGLater models that used the MC6847T1 did support lower case

|+

! rowspan="2" |System name

! rowspan="2" {{verth|va=middle|Year}}

! rowspan="2" |Chip name

! rowspan="2" {{verth|va=middle|Video RAM}}

! colspan="2" |Video mode(s)

! rowspan="2" |color resolution

! rowspan="2" {{verth|va=middle|Font extras}}

! rowspan="2" |soft fonts

! rowspan="2" |palette support

! rowspan="2" {{verth|va=middle|HW accel}}

! rowspan="2" |Sprite details

! rowspan="2" |unique features

|{{verth|va=middle|1980}}

|VICor 'Video interface controller', Pertaining to the MOS technology 6560 (NTSC version) and the 6561 (PAL version) chips. These chips did more than supporting the video display, they also provided the sound system, and had two A/D converters for its paddle game control system

|{{verth|va=middle|506 bytes + 506 nibblesThe VIC chip in and of itself could address 16K of address space for screen and character memory. But only the 5K that points to internal RAM can be used by it on the VIC-20 (even with a RAM expansion module plugged in) without a hardware modification, and the unexpanded VIC-20 only had a grand total of 5K of which only 512 bytes was reserved for the screen; character shape data was 2K but normally came from ROM, not RAM. Color memory is nibble memory (4 bits per location) that is separate from normal RAM because both have to be accessed at the same time.}}

|22×238×8 characters, the VIC also supported 8×16 characters; up to 31x29 possible on NTSC machines or up to 32x35 possible on PAL machines 16 colors (upper 8 unusable as foreground)

|Technically full: 160×160 16 colors (upper 8 unusable as foreground) (or more in special cases) or limited 176×184 16 colors (upper 8 unusable as foreground)

Semi: technically 44x46 16 colors (upper 8 unusable as foreground) using part of its PETSCII character setPETSCII contained 2x2 block graphics characters, and the 22x23 standard for the VIC-20 firmware text screen was enough for PETSCII block graphics to significantly beat the Apple II's block graphics mode, although mysteriously nobody really cared much about that at the time.

|22×23

|{{verth|va=middle|LC, BG, SGLike on the PET, 256 different characters could be displayed at a time, normally taken from one of the two character generators in ROM (one for upper-case letters and simple graphics, the other for mixed-case -- non-English characters were not provided)}}

| rowspan="4" {{Yes}}

|not really, but something similar could be done by manipulating the four colors out of sixteen chosen for each tile, or the global background color

| colspan="2" |The VIC chip allowed a character generator in RAM to redefine the pixel-by-pixel depictions of the on-screen characters and it allowed for double-height characters (8 pixels wide, 16 pixels high). It was possible to get a fully addressable 160 by 160 screen by filling the screen with a sequence of 200 different double-height characters, then turning on the pixels selectively inside the RAM-based character definitions. The 200-character limitation was so that enough bytes would be left over for the screen character grid itself to remain addressable by the VIC chip. The Super Expander cartridge provided such a mode in BASIC, although it often had to move the BASIC program around in memory to do it. It was also possible to fill a larger area of the screen with addressable graphics using a more dynamic allocation scheme if the contents were sparse or repetitive enough.

|The VIC-20 had hardware support for a Light pen, but its most obvious features were its text mode with very wide characters and its built-in composite video output and the NTSC VIC's interlaced mode176×184 is the standard for the VIC-20 firmware, although up to 248×232p/464i is possible on an NTSC machine and 256x280 is possible on a PAL machine.

|{{verth|va=middle|1982}}

|VIC-II

|{{verth|va=middle|16K}}

|40×25 16 colors

|Full: 160×200blocky version of 320x200 mode or 320×200 16 colors

(semi: 80×50 16 colors using part of its pseudo graphic characters set)

|40x25

| rowspan="3" |LC, BG, SG

|1 (320 px) or 3 (160 px) foreground + 1 background out of 16

|{{verth|va=middle|SP, SC}}

| rowspan="2" |S#= 8 SS= 24×21, 12×21 SC=1 SP=8

|{{some|Many}}

|{{verth|va=middle|1991}}

|VIC-III

|{{verth|va=middle|up to 500K supportedThe VIC-III would only supply fixed timings, but could access all of palette RAM whichever timing it would be supplying at the time}}

|40×25 or 80×25 16 colors

|full: 160×200, 160×400,blocky versions of 320x200 and 320x400 modes 320×200, 320×400, 640×200, 640×400, 1280×200 or 1280×400 up to 256 colors

(semi: 80×50 or 160x50 16 colors using part of its pseudo graphic characters set)

|40x25; 160×200, 160×400, 320×200, 320×400, 640×200, 640×400, 1280×200 or 1280×400

|4096256-color RAM palette, with 16 intensity levels per primary color (yielding 4096 colors)

|{{verth|va=middle|SP, SC, BL}}

|All the Commodore 64, plus DMA blitter support & genlock.

|{{verth|va=middle|1984}}

|TED

|{{verth|va=middle|8K}}

|40×25 16 colors

|Full: 160×200 or 320×200 121 colors

(semi: 80×50 16 colors using part of its pseudo graphic characters set)

|40x25

|1 (320 px) or 3 (160 px) foreground + 1 background out of 121

| colspan="2" {{CNone|None}}

|{{Some}}Included three interval timers

|{{verth|va=middle|1984}}

|"Video Gate Array" + 6845 (PCjr)Not to be confused with VGA. Also known as "CGA plus", the PCjr video subsystem consisted of the Video Gate Array, the 6845, and some discrete logic. / Tandy proprietary chipCommonly called "TGA", essentially the same in function as the video circuitry in the PCjr.

|{{verth|va=middle|32KFrom 2K to 96K, in fact all of the system memory could be used as Video RAM, though not all of it was also practically usable, at most 32K could be used by any video mode}}

|40×25 or 80×25 16 colors

|Full: 160×200, 320×200 4 or 16 colors or 640×200 2 or 4 colors

("semi": 160×100CGA tweaked text mode 16 colors)

|40×25 or 80x25; 160×200, 320×200 or 640×200

|{{verth|va=middle|LC}}

|{{No}}

|2 or 4 out of 16

|

|

|

|{{verth|va=middle|1990}}

|"VGA"

|{{verth|va=middle|128K}}

|Commonly

80×25, 40×25, 80×43 or 80×50 16 colors on 14" Monitor

|Commonly 640×480, 640×400, 640×350 16 colors or 320×200 16 or 256 colors

|Commonly

640×480, 640×400, 640×350 or 320×200

|{{verth|va=middle|LC}}

|{{Yes}}Up to eight font sets could be stored in video memory

|16 or 256 colors out of a 262144 colors palette (6 bit per RGB channel)

|SC

| {{sdash}}

|"Video tweaking"

!System name

!Year

!Chip name

!Video RAM

!Video mode(s)

!color resolution

!{{verth|Font extras}}

!{{verth|soft fonts}}

!palette support

!{{verth|HW accel}}

!Sprite details

!unique features

|1987

|VIDC1

|480KB (from system RAM)

|Text sized by software in Flexible Graphics, no more than 256 colors (e.g. 800×600 16cols)

|up to 1152x896

| rowspan="2" |LC

| rowspan="2" {{Yes}}

|16 groups of 16 from 4096

| rowspan="2" |SP

| rowspan="2" |S#= 1for mouse pointer SS= 32×n SC=3 SP=1

| rowspan="2" |

|1994

|VIDC20

|2MB, 1MB

|Text sized by software in Flexible Graphics, up to 16M colors (e.g. 1600×1200 256cols)No fixed graphics modes, any mode can be generated by supplying timings. Modes are limited only by analog video bandwidth, video RAM, or DRAM bandwidth and the minimum refresh rate monitor will accept. Definitions for common monitors are supplied up to 1600×1200×256cols.

|up to 1600x1200

|In ≤256 color modes

|1981

|SGPSGP=Super Graphic Processor

|48K

|Full: 80×25 Text in 640×200 Graphics, 640×400 2 colors, 40×25 in 320×200 or 320×400 8 colorssome versions supported 65536 (16-bit per pixel) colors

Semi: 160×100relevant only for very early systems with text mode displays, possible in software for later systems but not generally relevant 8 colors

|160x100; 640×200, 640×400, 320×200 or 320×400

|LC, BG, SG

|{{Yes}}

|8 or 2 out of 512Some versions supported 256 out of 65536 colors

| colspan="2" {{No}}

|early highres support

|1978

|UV-201 & UV-202[http://www.orphanedgames.com/videobrain/magazine_articles/videobrain_computer/VideoBrain%20-%20The%20Consumer%20Computer.pdf Interface Age magazine]

|168 bytesone byte for font and one nibble for color, per character, assumed

|384x336iDetails are very sketchy, this is a "best guess" based on the point addressable mode that there seemed to have been; that is, the 168 bytes of video memory were reinterpreted as the 4-bit RGBI values of a column of 336 pixels, being then reloaded 384 times per frame Graphics 16 colors

16×7 Text in 128x56Details are very sketchy, this is a "best guess" based on 8×8 (blocky) pixel characters, these most likely being of 3x6i high-resolution pixels Semigraphics 16 colors

|16×7, 384x336i

|SGtext apparently drawn in blocky pixels on high-resolution graphics screen

|{{No}}

| colspan="3" {{CNone|None}}

|

! rowspan="2" |System name

| {{verth|va=middle|18K+ of 64KThe extremely flexible ANTIC chip can access the entire 64K of addressable memory space. But, the highest of all possible resolutions could utilize a maximum of 15K for playfield graphics, plus 2K for Player/Missile Graphics, plus 1K for the character set. However, since multiple redefined character sets are possible the maximum amount of memory in use by ANTIC could be even higher than 18K. Scrolling map memory can occupy any amount of available RAM.}}

| 32/40/48×24 (30), 16/20/24x24 (30) or 16/20/24x12 (15)A maximum of 30 Characters can be displayed in a row in PAL. In 48 Characters Width mode, only 42-44 characters are shown on a normal TV. 2 (5) colors

|32/40/48x24 (30),blocky version of 64/80/96x48 (60) mode 64/80/96x48 (60), 64/80/96x96 (120), 128/160/192x96 (120), 128/160/192x192 (240) 2 or 4 colors, 256/320/384x192 (240) 2 colors, 64/80/96×192 (240)192 lines is the arbitrary default set by the Operating System when creating display lists. Custom display lists can use fewer or more lines into the display overscan area limited to the hardware's 240 maximum scan lines of playfield graphics. 9/16/8 or 16 colors

|32/40/48x24 (30), 64/80/96x48 (60), 64/80/96x96 (120), 128/160/192x96 (120), 128/160/192x192 (240), 64/80/96×192 (240)

| {{verth|va=middle|LC, BG, SGThe default system font includes lowercase letters, and graphics characters for drawing lines, boxes and graphics on the screen. ANTIC also supports a specific "Lowercase with descenders" mode as part of custom display lists, which is not available via a BASIC GRAPHICS mode command. In this mode characters are 10 pixels high and occupy either the upper or lower 8 pixels of that height. This is not strictly speaking a 40×24 text mode, because of the unusual height.}}

| {{Yes}}The character set was easily redirected by changing an ANTIC register, allowing the user to create their own character sets with relative ease, or built out of the CTIA/GTIA's P/M Graphics as had to be done with the TIA of the Atari 2600.

|{{verth|va=middle|SP, SC}}

| S#=4+4 or 5 SS=8 + 2 or 5×256(max) SC=1 SP=4+4 or 5

| {{verth|va=middle|1979-1984}}

| {{verth|va=middle|TMS9918Athe TMS9918 is actually a family of devices. The TMS9918A outputs 60 Hz NTSC composite video and TMS9928 and TMS9929 output three separate signals (Y, R-Y and B-Y) with which either a 60 Hz NTSC (TMS9928A) or a 50 Hz PAL or SECAM (TMS9929A) video signal could be created}}

| {{verth|va=middle|16K}}

| 32×24TMS9918/28 based systems: in 32×24 text mode the character set is divided in 32 blocks of eight characters. each block of eight characters can have a different foreground and background color. This can be used in games, because it is possible to generate a relatively fast high-resolution mode by reprogramming the characters as 8×8 tiles and grouping them together in blocks of eight with the same colors. The tiles can then be manipulated quickly through the character pointer table. Sprites could be used too in this mode, and all 16 colors could be displayed at the same time. Another use is to have four identical character sets, each with 64 characters in them but with different colors. with this character set, it is possible to create a 32×24 text mode that can display texts with four different foreground and background colors at the same time, on the same screen. In 256×192 graphics mode, there is a 2-color limitation for each 8-pixel wide line inside a character. 16 colors or 40×24 2 colors

|Full: 256×192 16 colors

Semi: 64×48 16 colors

| 32x24, 32×192

|{{Yes}}

|{{verth|va=middle|SP, TE}}

| S#=32 SS=8×8, 16×16 SC=1 SP=4

| {{verth|va=middle|1986, 1988}}

| {{verth|va=middle|Yamaha V9938, Yamaha V9958}}

| {{verth|va=middle|64K, 128K, or 192KDepending on manufacturer or revision. It can only be expanded to 192KB by modding the

machine.}}

| 32×24, 32×26.5 16 colors, 40×24, 40×26.5 2 colors, 80×24 or 80×26.526.5 rows aren't supported by default by MSX BASIC, but it's easy to enable it. 4 colors

|Full: 256×192p, 256×212p, 256×384i, 256×424i 4, 16 or 256; later also 12499 or 19268 colors, 512×192p, 512×212p, 512×384i, 512×424i 4 or 16 colors

Semi: 64×48p, 64x53p, 64x96i or 64x106i 16 colors

|32×24, 40×24, 80×24, 32×26.5, 40×26.5 or 80×26.5; 32x192; 256×192p, 512×192p, 256×212p, 512×212p, 256×384i, 512×384i, 256×424i, 512×424i

|{{Yes}}

|2, 4 or 16 out of 512 colors

|{{verth|va=middle|SP, TE, SC,vertical only. Horizontal scroll limited to 16 pixels, by using the screen position adjust register. BL, DR}}

| S#=32 SS=8×8, 16×16 SC=161 color per line. Supports combining sprites as bitplanes to allow 3 or 8 colors per line. SP=8

| {{verth|va=middle|1980}}

|Semi: 80×72 8 colors

| {{verth|va=middle|LC, BG}}

|+

!System name

!Year

!Chip name

!Video RAM

!Video mode(s)

!color resolution

! {{verth|Font extras}}

! {{verth|soft fonts}}

!palette support

! {{verth|HW accel}}

!Sprite details

!unique features

|1982

|MC6809

|48K, 96 or 144K in AV mode96K for FM-77AV and AV20, 144K for FM-77AV40

|40×25 or 40×20 Text in 320x200The FM-77AV used twelve (AV and AV20) or eighteen (AV40) "graphics planes", four (AV and AV20) or six (AV40) for each primary color, each plane had one bit for each pixel, so it used 8000 bytes, so 192 bytes per plane went unused Graphics 4096 colors for FM-77AV and AV20 or 262144 colors for FM-77AV40 or 80×25, 80×20 Text in 640x200The FM-7 used three "graphics planes", one for each primary color, each plane had one bit for each pixel, so it used 16000 bytes, so 384 bytes per plane went unused Graphics 8 colors

|320x200 or 640x200

|LC

|{{Yes}}

| colspan="3" {{CNone|None}}

|320x200x4096 colors for FM-77AV and AV20 or 262144 colors for FM-77AV40 and 640×200×8 colors without color limitationsdue to its use of a separate 6809 processor for graphics, the FM-7 could use a massive 48K of RAM for three 16K bit planes each using 16000 bytes, and the FM-77AV could use an even more massive 96K (AV and AV20) or 144K (AV40) but only for 8K bit planes each using 8000 bytes (why Fujitsu made this decision is a mystery), that way it could have pixels with twelve or eighteen bits to call their own respectively. The remaining 16K or more (32 or 112K for FM-77AV and AV20 or 48 or 176K for FM-77AV40) of RAM was used to store fonts and drawing routines. To communicate with the main CPU the FM-7 used a shared memory system, not unlike the "Tube" of the BBC Micro.

|1985

|AgnusFor DMA memory access and Blitter functions, and a Copper (co-processor), a programmable finite state machine that executes a programmed instruction stream, synchronized with the video hardware and Denisethe main video processor. Without using overscan, the display was 320 (low-res) or 640 (hires) pixels wide by 200 (NTSC) or 256 (PAL) tall. It also supported interlacing which doubled the vertical resolution. Anything between 2 and 32 unique colors (1 to 5 bitplanes) from a 12 bit (4096 colors) palette, was supported. A 6th bitplane was available for either the Halfbrite mode that added a copy of the first 32 colors but with half the intensity or Holds And Modify mode which allowed access to all 4096 colors at once. Denise supported eight sprites, smooth scrolling, and "dual playfield". For more information see Original Amiga chipset.

|1M "Chip RAM"Older versions could only access 512K Chip RAM

|Any Text size up to 80×32 (80x64 in interlaced mode)All text output rendered by Blitter or software in any graphics mode in 320×200p, 640×200p, 320×400i or 640×400i320×256p, 640×256p, 320×512i or 640×512i in PAL mode Graphics 2 to 64 colors and 4096 colors

|320×200p, 640×200p, 320×400i or 640×400i

| rowspan="4" |LC

| rowspan="4" {{Yes}}

| rowspan="2" |2 to 32 colors out of 4096 colors

| rowspan="3" |BL, SP, SC, DR

| rowspan="2" |S#=8The Amiga's hardware engine supports only 8 sprites, but with copper support, can present the illusion of many more. Each sprite is drawn in a certain position until the raster beam has passed it; the copper can then instantly change its location and appearance, moving it below the raster beam again SS=16 wide, arbitrary height SC=3 or 15

3 colors (plus a fourth transparent "color"). Two sprites could be attached to make a single 15-color sprite. SP= 8

|Many unique featuresToo many to mention, see Original Amiga chipset

|1990

|Super-Agnus and Hires DeniseCould do all the things the original Agnus chip could and added support for Productivity (640×480 noninterlaced) and Super Highres (1280×200 or 1280×256) display modes, which were however limited to only 4 colors. Also the blitter could copy regions larger than 1024×1024 pixels in one operation. Sprites could be displayed in border regions (outside of any display window where bitplanes are shown).

|1M or 2M "Chip RAM"

|Any Text size up to 160×32 (160x64 in interlaced mode) in

NTSC Graphics: 320×200, 640×200, 320×400, 640×400Now In non interlaced too 2 to 64 colors and 4096 colors, 1280×200p or 1280x400i 4 colors

PAL Graphics: 320x256, 640x256, 320x512, 640x512 2 to 64 colors and 4096 colors, 1280×256p or 1280x512i 4 colors

|NTSC: 320×200, 640×200, 320×400, 640×400, 1280×200p or 1280x400i

PAL: 320x256, 640x256, 320x512, 640x512, 1280×256p or 1280x512i

|even more unique featuresEven more features than the original chipset, see Enhanced Amiga chipset

|1992

|Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA)AGA is able to do 8-bit pixels, which gives 256 colors in normal display mode and 262144 colors in HAM-8 (Hold-And-Modify) mode (18-bit color, 6 bits per RGB channel). Palette for AGA chipset is 256 entries from 16,777,216 colors (24-bit). The original Amiga chipset (OCS) had 4096 colors (12-bit, 4 bits per RGB channel), of which 32 could be displayed unless in half-bright (which provided an additional 32 colors fixed at half the brightness of the first 32) or HAM mode.

|2M "Chip RAM"

|Any Text size up to 160×32 (160x64 in interlaced mode, 100x75 in Super72 mode) in NTSC: 320×200 .. 1280×400 Graphics 2 to 256, 4096 to 262144 colors

PAL: 320×256 .. 1280×512 Graphics 2 to 256, 4096 to 262144 colors

VGA: 640×480 2 to 256, 4096 to 262144 colors

Super72: 400×300 .. 800×600 (interlaced) Graphics 2 to 256, 4096 to 262144 colors

|NTSC: 320×200 .. 1280×400

PAL: 320×256 .. 1280×512

VGA: 640×480

Super72: 400×300 .. 800×600 (interlaced)

|2 to 256 colors out of 16,777,216 colors

|S#=8 SS=64 wide, arbitrary height SC=2 or 15 SP=8

|still more unique featuresOther features added to AGA over ECS were SuperHiRes, smooth scrolling, and 32-bit fast page memory fetches to supply the graphics data bandwidth for 8 bitplane graphics modes and wider sprites see Advanced Graphics Architecture, the CD32 has an Akiko bitmap to planar conversion chip

|1992

|VIDEL, COMBEL (Blitter)

|1 to 14M "Chip RAM"

|Any Text size up to 160×32

in CRT: 320×200 to 1600×608 Graphics 2,4,16,256 colors (indexed), 32768 colors (+overlay), 65536 colors (Hi-Color)

VGA: 640×480 or 800×608 Graphics 2,4,16,256 colors (indexed), 32768 colors (+overlay), 65536 colors (Hi-Color)

|CRT: 320×200 to 1600×608

VGA: 640×480 or 800×608

|2 to 65536 colors out of 262,144 colors

|BL

| {{sdash}}

|scan doubler

! rowspan="2" |System name

| {{verth|va=middle|1980}}

|Semi: 80×75 8 colors

|40x25

|{{verth|va=middle|1982}}

|MC6845/VIC-II

|2000 Bytes with CRTC, 16K with video interface controller

|80×25 Mono on 12" Mono monitor with CRTC or 40x25 16 colors with video interface controller

|Full: limited 640×200 Mono with CRTC or 160x200 or 320x200 16 colors with video interface controller

Semi: 160×50 Mono with CRTC (or 80×50 16 colors with video interface controller) using part of its pseudo graphic characters set

|(80×25 with CRTC) or 40x25 with video interface controller

|LC with video interface controller, BG, SG

|1 (320 px) or 3 (160 px) foreground + 1 background out of 16 with video interface controller

|SP, SC with video interface controller

|S#= 8 SS= 24×21, 12×21 SC=1 SP=8 with video interface controller

|

|Full: 160×200 or 320×200 (40 column mode), 640×200 or 640×400 (80 column mode) 16 colors

(semi: 80×50, 160x50 or 160x100 16 colors using part of its pseudo graphic characters set)

|40x25 (40 column mode), 640x200 or 640x400 (80 column mode)

|160×200 16 colors, 320×200 4 colors or 640×200Fullscreen up to 208x288, 416x288, 832x288 2 colors

|160×200, 320×200 or 640×200

|Full: 640×256, 640×200spaced display with two blank horizontal lines following every 8 pixel lines 2 colors, 320×256, 320×200 2 or 4 colors or 160×256 4 or 8 colors

Semi: 80×75using the 2×3 block graphics of teletext mode 8 colors

|640×256, 320×256, 160×256, 640×200 or 320×200; 40x25

| rowspan="3" | LC, BG

|{{verth|va=middle|1983, 1984}}

|MC6845+M5C6847P-1

|50K

|32×16 or 40x20; later also 40x25, 80x20 or 80x25 9 or 16 colors

|Full: 64×64 4 or 16 colors, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192 2, 4 or 16 colors, 256×128, 256×192 2 or 16 colors, 160x200, 320x200 4 or 16 colors; later also 640x200 4 colors

Semi: 64x32 9 or 16 colors or 64x48 4, 9 or 16 colors or 80x40 16 colors; later also 80x50, 160x40, 160x50 16 colors

|64×64, 128×64, 128×96, 128×192, 256×128, 256×192, 160x200, 320x200; later also 640x200: 32×16 or 40x20; later also 40x25, 80x20 or 80x25

|2 or 4 of 16

| {{sdash}}

|Full: 240x204 or 480x204 8 colors

Semi: 80×72Teletext graphics, using text semigraphics characters, unlike the TRS-80 the pseudo graphics characters came in two kinds, "massive" and "separate", the first is exactly like the TRS-80, the second has each "pixel block" surrounded by a narrow line of background color 8 colors

|240x204 or 480x204, 40×24

|{{verth|va=middle|1987}}

|VINAS 1 + 2, VSOP, CYNTHIA / Jr, RESERVEThe two main CRT Controller chips were called "VINAS 1 + 2", later models used a chip called VICON. The "Video Controller" was called "VSOP", or in later models "VIPS". The separate "Sprite Controller" was called "CYNTHIA / Jr" in its first incarnation, and later just "CYNTHIA", then last but not least there was the "Video Data Selector" first called (strangely enough) "RESERVE", but later more fanciful "CATHY"

|1056K512KB Text VRAM, 512KB Graphic VRAM, 32KB Sprite VRAM

|from 16×16 to 128×128The X68000 had a separate 768KB Character Generator ROM, with fonts for 16×16, 8×16, 8×8 and JIS 1 + 2 characters. 256 colors

|from 256×256 to 1024×1024 256 colors

|from 256×256 to 1024×1024

|LC

|{{Yes}}software rendered

|65,536 Palette

|SP

|S#=128 SS=16×16 SC=16 SP=32

|special hardware optionsHardware scrolling, priority control, super-impose

! rowspan="2" | System name

|64x64 16 colors, 128x128 8 colors or 256×256 2 colors

|64x64, 128x128 or 256×256

|n out of 16

|Full: 256×256 up to 8 Gray levels

Semi: 64x96 up to 8 Gray levels

| 32x32, 256x256

|256×256 2 or 16 colors or 512x256 2 or 4 colors

|256×256 or 512x256

|256