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CGA & EGA card in one build?

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First post, by that1crzywhtguy

Posted on 
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Hey all. I'm planning out another build, this time aiming for a 8088 or 286.

My goal is maximum compatibility (so something with a turbo would clearly be ideal!), but I've gotten a little stuck on the graphics card options. I know EGA will support many CGA games, but not all.

So...Is it possible to have both a CGA and an EGA card in one build, then wire up a switch for a mobo jumper to select which card I'm planning to use that boot?

Any other advice is GREATLY appreciated. Never dabbled in PCs quite so old, I grew up with a 386 before a 486 before a pentium etc...

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 2, by root42

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I don't think this is easily possible, since the I/O ports of either card are overlapping...

And even the Ati Wonder series won't help you there I guess, since the EGA Wonder did away with the composite output, which might be one CGA feature you are looking for. The question is: Which games/software titles do you have that will run only on an original CGA card? Except for some titles utilizing composite out I don't see much of an issue here. But maybe I never stumbled across such software. 😀

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Reply 2 of 2, by that1crzywhtguy

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I'm not overly concerned about composite out. I plan on purchasing a MCE2VGA, and unless I completely misunderstood, that can handle the composite mode from CGA.

Do the wonder cards handle cga on a hardware level, thus giving 100% compatibility? I'm not familiar with that series.

As for compatibility, this has been discussed here: EGA graphics card: is it 100% compatible to a CGA one?. The relevant quote: "EGA is not fully compatible with CGA. For starters, it does not support the CGA palettes. Also, some CRT-registers are different, so certain tweaks (eg 80x50/80x100 textmode) do not work the same on EGA."

And as for games, anything that use tweaked text mode. Examples are ZZT, Lawn mower, and Flash Attack.

Also games that do things with the palettes are incompatible.

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