| Tandy 1000 Graphics Page | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Tandy 1000 Series took it's "Enhanced CGA" or "TGA" (Tandy Graphics Adapter) as it was later referred to from the IBM PErsonal Computer Junior 4860 released in 1984. As such, as it was considered a "superset" of CGA, it adds onto the pre-existing CGA graphics modes.
Table of Modes for PC Jr/Tandy 1000
Why This Matters? - One of the benefits of using a Tandy 1000 or PC Jr. over a regular 8088/V20 based PC is the additional graphics modes. The original IBM PC, PC XT, AT, and their clones, could only used modes 0-6 on a regular CGA card up until when the EGA card came out about 1984-1985 or so. So the PC Jr/Tandy had 320x200@16 color graphics first. Plus it was one of the few systems to make use of the 160x200p 16-color graphics mode as well (most Sierra AGI games and Lucasfilm's Maniac Mansion to name a few). A word of advice on the 8088/8086 Tandy though, is that programs that use the medium res 320x200x16 mode tend to be rather slow, especially on the original 4.77MHz (1000, 1000A, 1000HD) machines. That's not to say it's always the case, Hoyle's Book of Games Volume 1 (Sierra, SCI), and Sim City (Maxis) actually run decently on these machines (especially with a V20 upgrade and/or a 8087). But it's a general rule of thumb as most 320x200 games that are huge, like later SCI Sierra games and later EGA Lucasfilm titles are really slow on an 8088 Machine, especially a 4.77MHz standard PC speed machine. |
