Re:16colo.rs – ANSI/ASCII art archive
by icecheese on Monday November 02, 2026 @07:09PM
(#50346163)
> CGA had 4 colors and not 16
CGA in text mode and low resolution graphics mode had 16 colors. So did CGA composite color graphics. Normal CGA graphics mode is 4 color. Hence why ANSI.SYS supported 16 colors in 1983, a year before EGA was introduced.
Since text mode essentially works like ROM tiles (character glyphs) on an 80x25 grid, the 16kb of CGA is enough to store color information (RGB and Intensity bits) for reach cell.
CGA in text mode and low resolution graphics mode had 16 colors. So did CGA composite color graphics. Normal CGA graphics mode is 4 color. Hence why ANSI.SYS supported 16 colors in 1983, a year before EGA was introduced.
Since text mode essentially works like ROM tiles (character glyphs) on an 80x25 grid, the 16kb of CGA is enough to store color information (RGB and Intensity bits) for reach cell.