I'm fairly certain the 5151 only supports monochrome text and Hercules graphics. You can play CGA games on one, though you will have to use an emulator of some kind (SimCGA comes to mind). I don't think an EGA emulator for Hercules exists. More info in this thread: EGA/VGA emulation on Hercules

I guess there's some ATI Wonder cards that will support CGA on the 5151. I'm not 100% sure which models though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BA3ynb6Rso

Perhaps what I'm seeing is a CGA game running in Hercules mode or something? In which case all I'd need is a CGA capable Hercules card.

The EGA Wonder and VGA Wonder cards will emulate EGA graphics modes on a 5151. That includes 320x200, 640x200 and 640x350 in 16 colours.

It's more of a novelty that something you'd actually want to use though. Hercules graphics mode is far easier on the eyes.

I think even IBM's original EGA card will display some graphics modes on the 5151 if the switches are set correctly. Many EGA cards with switches on the back should work in a similar way.

So do those EGA and VGA wonder cards also do Hercules/CGA or do I need a separate card for that?

The 16-color version of The Secret of Monkey Island supports Hercules graphics and will automatically detect the presence of a Hercules card.

Essentially there are three modes you can natively display on a 5151:

1. MDA Text, BIOS Mode 07h, 80 column by 25 row text mode, 9x14 text cell size (720x350) (supported by some games)
2. Hercules Graphics Mode, 720x348 (supported by many games)
3. EGA Monochrome Graphics, BIOS Mode 0Fh, 640x350 (supported by few games)

Hercules cards display MDA text, EGA cards display MDA text when connected to a 5151. Neither true Hercules nor EGA can display the other's graphics mode, unless you obtain a third party card that specifically supports the other standard.

Additionally, through a program like SIMCGA, you can usually get games that support CGA graphics to work on a Hercules card.

For more information :

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/02/m … ics-aspect.html
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/03/t … ga-ega-and.html

Yes, EGA and VGA wonder can emulate CGA and Hercules as well. I'm the wrong person to ask whether the emulation is accurate though. I think for most games it's not too big of an issue. Additionally, I believe the ATi cards can emulate Plantronics CGA (which isn't very common).

It sounds like I'm best off to get a Hercules card as the EGA Monochrome mode doesn't sound too useful. Although if I could pick up a cheap card that did all three it might be nice to have 'just in case'. Which Hercules card should I look for? Is there one that's better than others?

I assume most games that supported Hercules were XT games? I'd image that by the time the AT came on the scene the games that needed a 286 were more focused on EGA graphics. So the 5151 would probably best be paired with an XT or 5150 over an AT.

As far as I know, the ATI EGA wonder can emulate a HGC card AND EGA AND CGA using and EGA, CGA OR MDA monitor.
Quite impressive IMO

There is also a VGA wonder. I don't know if it can run VGA modes on a mono monitor but I am kinda curious.

Great Hierophant wrote:

Essentially there are three modes you can natively display on a 5151: […]
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Essentially there are three modes you can natively display on a 5151:

1. MDA Text, BIOS Mode 07h, 80 column by 25 row text mode, 9x14 text cell size (720x350) (supported by some games)
2. Hercules Graphics Mode, 720x348 (supported by many games)
3. EGA Monochrome Graphics, BIOS Mode 0Fh, 640x350 (supported by few games)

Hercules cards display MDA text, EGA cards display MDA text when connected to a 5151. Neither true Hercules nor EGA can display the other's graphics mode, unless you obtain a third party card that specifically supports the other standard.

Confirming this.

An EGA card is next to useless for gaming on a monochrome monitor, unless it's a fancy one that can do Hercules emulation.

I spent hours dicking around with DIP switches, trying to get my Paradise EGA card to run a game supporting Hercules graphics, based on the assumption that "EGA Monochrome" just meant monochrome graphics (i.e. Hercules) from the EGA card. Doy.

So what games actually support monochrome EGA? I know some sublogic flight sims do.

ATi EGAWonder and VGAwonder support full 16-shade EGA graphics on MDA displays, not just the uncommon monochrome EGA mode. I wouldn't call it useless, but you might get some artifacting which makes certain things hard to see at times. It might depend on the type of monochrome display you have.

EGA and VGA Wonder are still my top picks for interfacing to monochrome displays, because they provide the most flexibility. I think what it comes down to is the price. If you can get a Hercules card for much less money than the Wonder cards go with that.

BTW, analog VGA modes DO NOT work on TTL displays. However, 16 colour VGA modes are supported if you have a "Super EGA" multisync monitor.

The EGA wonder supports Hercules and EGA and CGA on almost any type of monitor.
Most EGA cards don;t support Hercules emulation but that one does.

The EGA Wonder is certainly the exception.

Tempest wrote:

I guess there's some ATI Wonder cards that will support CGA on the 5151. I'm not 100% sure which models though.

Yes, I have an ATi Small Wonder, which is a CGA/Plantronics/Hercules-clone. It can display CGA on an MDA/Hercules monitor without the use of SIMCGA or such (it can also do the opposite by the way, giving you Hercules in a green tint with an interlaced image on a CGA monitor).

Thing is, MDA/Hercules are 348-line modes at 50 Hz, where CGA is 200-line mode at 60 Hz. So the signals are very different, and very incompatible. So you need a card that specifically outputs an MDA/Hercules-compatible signal.

So it sounds like a EGA or VGA ATI Wonder card actually IS the way to go for the added flexibility. Although I can't imagine any game that supports VGA running very well on a 5150 or XT so maybe I should find an AT for that. I have a IBM 5151 monitor BTW.

So can all these cards go the opposite direction (monochrome Hercules on a CGA monitor) or just the ATI Small Wonder? That could give me the best of both worlds.

So what's a decent price for the EGA or VGA wonder card?

On Ebay, seems to be about $40 these days.

The best non-ATi solutions on eBay at the moment appear to be these two:

Mystery MDA card: (almost certainly hercules compatible)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/XT-8-bit-isa-monochro … =item1e9c735f5d

Paradise EGA (can do hercules and EGA monochrome modes on MDA display)

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=hercules … it+isa&_sacat=0