Praise for Previous Editions: "...I've found this book useful when I've reached for it, and I've found myself reaching for it increasingly often, and that's the real test of any reference." - Michael Abrash, Dr. Dobb's Journal "A gold mine of information..."- PC Resource "You will find this a valuable reference source...It takes the place of detailed technical manuals that explain the theory of programming these devices, but which are not designed to teach the practice." - Online Today "This book provides essential tools urgently needed by graphics programmers. Now, the full potential of the Super VGAs can be realized." - Bo Ericsson, Cirrus Logic Board Member, VESA Standards Committee Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA and Super VGA Cards, Third Edition, is the definitive guide to industry graphics standards for personal computers. This classic reference gives readers the knowledge and skills they need for successful graphics programming. It explains the PC graphics environments and graphics programming principles and details the features and operation of the Super VGA, VGA, XGA, 8514/A and EGA graphics standards.The core of the book teaches readers how to write programs that support and take advantage of both these standards and the most popular chip sets and graphics boards supporting these standards. The book features a set of extensive, protected-mode compatible and optimized code examples in C and assembly language that illustrate techniques for programming text, font, graphics, and color features of the major industry chip sets. This thoroughly revised third edition of the Programmer's Guide focuses on the Super VGA standard that now dominates the industry. The book details programming parameters and techniques for the latest graphics cards in both completely revised and wholly new chapters. The Programmer's Guide also features entirely new coverage of: *graphics accelerators *the most current Super VGA chips *the Adapter Interface (AI) standard *IBM's XGA and 8514/A standards *ISA, VESA (VL) and PCI bus standards *types of graphics systems and their basic operation.This is the only book to provide such comprehensive, useful and up-to-date information on video graphics standards.It is the definitive source for programmers and developers who want to harness the power of Super VGA, EGA, VGA and other industry standard cards. 0201624907B04062001
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Richard F. Ferraro is an internationally known inventor, author, and consultant in computer graphics. He and partner Marco Brandestini invented the award winning Nikon CoolscanaA A Scanner. He is the author of the best-selling Programmeris Guide to the EGA, VGA and SuperVGA Cards and Learn 3D Graphics Programming on the PC. Mr. Ferraro provides design, training, and patent and copyright consulting services in computer graphics, image processing, and image data compression. He can be reached through Addison-Wesley at ferraro@awl.com. 0201624907AB04062001
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great reference for graphics programmers,
By A Customer
This review is from: Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA, and Super VGA Cards (3rd Edition) (Paperback)
Loaded with general graphics subsystem information, plenty of graphic theory and a ton of examples, this reference is a must-have for any serious graphics programmer. In the style of Richard Wilton's, "Video Systems for the IBM PC and PS/2 Systems", this huge manual provides a reference to almost every aspect of the graphics processing of the IBM PC. The book contains C and assembler source as well as a lot of sound theory. It is essential to you reference library.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An old computer book that still has some value,
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This review is from: Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA, and Super VGA Cards (3rd Edition) (Paperback)
When this book was written back in 1994, it was more difficult to program fast graphics applications on the PC without resorting to assembly code that manipulated the hardware directly. That aspect of graphics programming has changed drastically, but the fundamentals mentioned in this book really haven't. You CAN still do things the way that they are described in this book, the question is SHOULD you do things this way. That being said, the book is a very good education on how graphics tasks are performed by the hardware in a PC. If you are interested in such things, the low price of a used book might make it worth it for you.Chapters 2 through 5 equip the programmer with a thorough understanding of the EGA/VGA and the relationships these adapters have to other display adapters, the PC, graphics devices, and graphics software. A tutorial supplies a background in C and assembly language for the novice programmer. The graphics algorithms used in the program examples are introduced in the computer graphics tutorial. Chapters 6 through 11 specify the function of the EGA/VGA cards. These chapters offer clear and comprehensive information on the display modes, display memory, graphics processor, downloadable fonts, color processing, control registers, and BIOS calls. This information is translated into programming examples in chapter 12. Seventy program examples are included to illustrate the power and versatility of the EGA/VGA cards. Chapter 15 provides a detailed look at the function specifications for the IBM Applications Interface. This interface is used on the Graphics Accelerator Toolkit that was available from the author at the time this book was published and was supported by the XGA, 8514, and many Super VGAs. I don't even know if it is possible to find this toolkit any longer. Chapter 16 provides an in-depth look at the XGA cards. Included are the relevant register definitions and descriptions of the graphics accelerator. The XGA is treated as if it were another Super VGA, which it actually is. Chapters 13 through 30 provide detailed descriptions of the Super VGA chips as they existed in 1994. The scope and depth of information here allows the programmer to identify which chip is present; control, configure, and fine-tune the chip; invoke the advanced display modes; access up to one megabyte of display memory; and control the start address and cursor. The actual table of contents for the book is as follows: 1. Introduction to the Programmer's Guide 2. The EGA, VGA, and Super VGA Features 3. Graphics Hardware and Software 4. Types of Graphics Systems 5. Principles of Computer Graphics 6. Alphanumeric Processing 7. Graphics Processing 8. Color Palette and Color Registers 9. Reading the State of the EGA and VGA 10. The EGA/VGA Registers 11. The EGA/VGA BIOS 12. Programming Examples 13. The Super VGA 14. Graphics Coprocessors 15. Super VGA Code Basics 16. The Adapter Interface 17. The 8514/A 18. The XGA 19. ATI Technologies 20. Chips and Technologies 21. Cirrus Logic 22. The Video7 Super VGA Chip Set 23. IIT 24. NCR 25. Oak 26. S3 Incorporated 27. The Trident Super VGA Chip Sets 28. The Tseng Labs Super VGA Chips 29. The Paradise Super VGA Chips 30. Weitek
5.0 out of 5 stars
good for old-school,
This review is from: Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA, and Super VGA Cards (3rd Edition) (Paperback)
Back in the day, this book was like the gospel of video cards, I got it cause I am old-school, I still enjoy messing around with VGA stuff. The information in it is all legacy and can be found around the net but its nice to have a printed book. I actually expected to pay $1.00 for it simply because all its information is legacy. I was surprised but happy to pay the $20.
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