VGA text mode was introduced in 1987 by IBM as part of the VGA standard for its IBM PS/2 computers.[1] Its use on IBM PC compatibles was widespread through the 1990s and persists today for some applications on modern computers.[2] The main features of VGA text mode are colored (programmable 16 color palette) characters and their background, blinking, various shapes of the cursor (block/underline/hidden static/blinking),[3] and loadable fonts (with various glyph sizes).[4] The Linux console traditionally uses hardware VGA text modes,[5] and the Win32 console environment has an ability to switch the screen to text mode for some text window sizes.
Distinctive features of VGA text as it commonly used:
Light gray background (normally not white).
Box-drawing.
Various back-/foreground combinations.
Custom/non-ASCII characters
CGA–EGA-style 16 color palette for foreground. Blinking text.
Cursor.
^Petzold, Charles (July 1987). "Triple standard: three new video modes from IBM". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
^"Appendix D: Console Frame Buffer Drivers". Oracle. 2010. On x86 platforms, the Solaris kernel terminal emulator module (tem) uses VGA text mode exclusively to interact with the vgatext module. The vgatext module uses industry standard VGA text mode to interact with x86 compatible frame buffer devices.
^J. D. Neal (1997). "Hardware Level VGA and SVGA Video Programming Information Page". Retrieved 13 April 2020. The corresponding byte in plane 1 is used to specify the attributes of the character possibly including color, font select, blink, underline and reverse.
^Prosise, Jeff (30 January 1990). "Tutor: modifying character sets". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 13 April 2020. Unlike IBM's original video adapters, the CGA and the MDA, which store character bitmaps in ROM where they can't be altered, the EGA and the VGA store them in RAM.
^"The Framebuffer Console". kernel.org. If fbcon is detached from the console layer, your boot console driver (which is usually VGA text mode) will take over.
VGAtextmode was introduced in 1987 by IBM as part of the VGA standard for its IBM PS/2 computers. Its use on IBM PC compatibles was widespread through...
border between textmode and graphical programs can sometimes be fuzzy, especially on the PC's VGA hardware, because many later textmode programs tried...
capabilities, continue to implement common VGA graphics modes and interfaces to the present day. The VGA analog interface standard has been extended...
Mode 13h is the standard 256-color mode on VGA graphics hardware introduced in 1987 with the IBM PS/2. It has a resolution of 320×200 pixels. It was used...
any VGA-style textmode, but the kernel itself has very limited means to set these modes up. SVGATextMode helps to enable more complex textmodes than...
adapter. This is analogous to a text system console. This early full-screen mode only supports VGA-compatible textmodes, giving it a maximum character...
framebuffer from protected mode without "thunking" down to real mode. This is implemented using a new Function 0Ah. Super VGA page flipping Allows higher...
hardware-implemented screen text attributes; particularly, VGA compatible textmode describes such text attributes on PC compatibles. Also, a text attribute may refer...
1980s. QVGA is not a standard mode offered by the VGA BIOS, even though VGA and compatible chipsets support a QVGA-sized Mode X. The term refers only to...
compatible third-party cards were manufactured, and EGA graphics modes continued to be supported by VGA and later standards. EGA was introduced in October 1984...
typically used for the mouse pointer. Register-compatible with VGA Adds a 132 column textmode and high color in 640 × 480 Requires a minimum of 80386 host...
EGA text and graphics modes (requires multisync monitor) Added support for 16-colour VGAmodes Sources Rebadged VGA Edge lacking the analogue VGA port...
Drivers". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 24 January 2024. "AMD Guided Autonomous Mode Submitted For Linux 6.4". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 24 January 2024. Kroah-Hartman...
E.g. QVGA, a term for a 320×240 resolution, half the width and height of VGA, hence the quarter total resolution. The "Q" prefix usually indicates "Quad"...
combining characters, complex scripts, etc., are not involved. The textmode of standard (VGA-compatible) PC graphics hardware is built around using an 8-bit...
external passive adapter, enabling compatibility mode and converting the signal from 3.3 to 5 volts. For analog VGA/YPbPr and dual-link DVI, a powered active...
PCs and leaving them in textmode, which used a 16-entry color table. The colors are different in the EGA/VGA graphic modes. Seen in Windows XP through...
required to support one baseline display mode, "low pixel format" (640 × 480 at 60 Hz). Like modern analog VGA connectors, the DVI connector includes pins...
IBM PC/AT and its clones to display Japanese text without any additional hardware using a standard VGA card. Soon after, AX disappeared and the decline...
to Use 386, InfoWorld, April 6, 1987 Desqview Update Supports EGA, VGA Graphics Modes, InfoWorld, May 18, 1987 Desqview 2.0 Beefs Up MS-DOS Multitasking...
memory built in, and featured several graphics and textmodes. The highest display resolution of any mode was 640 × 200, and the highest color depth supported...
was in a graphics mode—for example when X was running—since the only modes the kernel knew about were the VESA BIOS standard textmodes. A more pressing...
Text-based semigraphics, pseudographics, or character graphics is a primitive method used in early textmode video hardware to emulate raster graphics...
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