Date   : Fri, 07 Apr 2006 16:05:08 +0100
From   : "David Harper" <dl.harper@...>
Subject: Re: Using an AKF30 with a Beeb

Chris Johns wrote:

> Was "brightness" (intensity) part of the slighty later EGA? I thought CGA
> was only 4 of 8 colours (did EGA had a 15 colours? the basic 8 plus
> "bright" version of 7 of them (given bright black is still black).

FWIW CGA can manage 16 colours in text modes. It can only do 4 colours at 
once in (320x200) graphics mode, but the background (Colour 0) can be any 
one of the 16. The other colours are rather more restricted.

A summary of CGA's capabilities (or rather the Master 512's capabilities in 
comparison with CGA) can be found at: 
http://www.cowsarenotpurple.co.uk/bbccomputer/master512/screen.html

EGA can display the same range of colours as CGA, but more of them at once 
in graphics modes (and with more pixels or lines of text).

BTW "Bright black" is normally given the rather prosaic name of "grey", or 
sometimes "dark grey" - it is darker than non-bright white (which can be 
called "light grey") but lighter than true black.

David Harper