Hercules Computer Technology Explained

Hercules Computer Technology
Industry:Computer peripherals
Fate:Acquired by Guillemot Corporation

Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. was a manufacturer of computer peripherals for PCs and Macs founded in 1982.

History

Hercules was formed in 1982 in Hercules, California,[1] by Van Suwannukul and Kevin Jenkins and was one of the major graphics card companies of the 1980s. Its biggest products were the MDA-compatible Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) and Hercules Graphics Card Plus (HGC+) and the associated standard, which was widely copied and survived into the 1990s.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

The Hercules Graphics Card included a "Centronics compatible" parallel printer port, the same as the IBM Monochrome Display and Printer Adapter board that the card was based on.[7] The company also produced CGA compatible cards, and with the unsuccessful Hercules InColor Card, it tried to go head-to-head with the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA).[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

After low sales with InColor, Hercules stopped making its own graphics core and bought graphics chipsets from other manufacturers. The company name gradually declined through the 1990s while graphics chipsets firms such as Tseng Labs, S3 Graphics, 3Dfx, nVidia and ATI Technologies became popular, but Hercules sales of graphic cards were still at US$20 million in 1998. An acquisition of Hercules by German graphics card maker ELSA fell through in 1998 after the companies could not agree on terms.

Brand acquisition by Guillemot

The Hercules brand was acquired by the French-Canadian based Guillemot Corporation for $1.8 million.[16] In 2000 Hercules became the brand name for Guillemot 3D Prophet graphic cards, based on nVIDIA chipsets, switching to ATI Technologies chipsets in 2002.

Also in 2000, Guillemot introduced a new sound card, Game Theater XP, with the Hercules brand name, and Hercules gradually became the computer peripherals brand in Guillemot Corporation.

In 2004, Guillemot announced it would cease to produce graphics cards. Within the Guillemot group, computer peripherals (audio interfaces, speakers, webcams, networking) are designed by the Hercules division and given the Hercules brand, while game peripherals are designed by the Thrustmaster division and receive the Thrustmaster brand.

In 2010, the Hercules brand was used on computer speakers, computer DJ controllers, webcams and wireless networking peripherals.

Hercules turnover was €40.9 million (US$56.5 million) in 2010.

Organization

Products

Former products: Graphic cards

Former products: Sound cards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1997 . Contact Us . Hercules Computer Technology, Inc.. https://web.archive.org/web/19970409014235/http://www.hercules.com/contact.htm . 1997-04-09 .
  2. News: Pointing . Bob . June 26, 1989 . High-Resolution Standard Is Latest Step in DOS Graphics Evolution . 48 . InfoWorld .
  3. News: Bright . David . June 23, 1986 . Hercules graphics card to debut . 52 . Computerworld . March 13, 2023 . March 13, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313231734/https://books.google.com/books?id=mop2UUCt4kIC&q=computerworld+hercules+1982&pg=PA52 . live .
  4. News: Welch . Mark . September 1, 1986 . Hercules improves its monochrome card . 41 . InfoWorld . March 13, 2023 . March 13, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313231735/https://books.google.com/books?id=cS8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41 . live .
  5. Web site: Elliott . John C. . 2012-08-09 . Hercules Graphics Card Plus: Notes . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20161123124757/http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/hercplus.html . 2016-11-23 . 2016-11-23 . John Elliott's homepage.
  6. October 1986 . Inside the IBM PC: Before you consider the Hercules Graphics Card Plus consider the technology behind it . . Advertisement . 11 . 2016-11-24.
  7. News: 27 September 1982 . Hardware News . 77 . InfoWorld . 13 March 2023 . 13 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313231734/https://books.google.com/books?id=BzAEAAAAMBAJ&q=infoworld+1982+hercules&pg=PA77 . live .
  8. News: May 1985 . Say You Saw It on Modern Electronics - The Hercules InColor Card . 67 . Modern Electronics . 2023-03-13 . 2022-08-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220811053555/https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Consumer/Archive-Modern-Electronics-IDX/IDX/Modern-Electronics-1988-05-OCR-Page-0067.pdf . live .
  9. Web site: Brase . Thomas . Hardware / Hercules Computer Technology, HTC . 2023-03-01 . retrocmp - retro computing . 2023-03-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313232144/https://retrocmp.de/hardware/hercules-card/hercules-card.htm#hicc . live .
  10. News: CBR Staff Writer . March 1987 . PERSONAL GRAPHICS: HERCULES TO BURST INTO 16 COLOURS . Tech Monitor . 2023-03-13 . 2023-03-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230301090615/https://techmonitor.ai/technology/personal_graphics_hercules_to_burst_into_16_colours . live .
  11. Web site: HERCULES INCOLOR Trademark - Registration Number 1499309 - Serial Number 73679040 :: Justia Trademarks . 2023-03-01 . trademarks.justia.com . en . 2023-03-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230301090621/https://trademarks.justia.com/736/79/hercules-incolor-73679040.html . live .
  12. Web site: Elliott . John C. . 2012-08-05 . Hercules InColor Card: Notes . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20161123123816/http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/incolor.html . 2016-11-23 . 2016-11-23. (Pictures and programming information)
  13. Book: Wilton . Richard . Programmer's guide to the PC & PS/2 video systems . 1987 . . 1-55615-103-9 . 1st. (NB. The second edition does no longer discuss the InColor and MCGA cards at detail level.)
  14. Web site: Brown . Ralf D. . Ralf D. Brown . 2012-01-21 . Public Files on FTP.CS.CMU.EDU - The x86 Interrupt List aka "Ralf Brown's Interrupt List" (RBIL) . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160616113421/https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ralf/files.html . 2016-06-16 . 2016-06-16 . 2000-07-16.
  15. Web site: Brase . Thomas . Hardware / Hercules Computer Technology, HTC . 2023-03-01 . retrocmp - retro computing . 2023-03-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313232144/https://retrocmp.de/hardware/hercules-card/hercules-card.htm#hicc . live .
  16. Web site: October 28, 1999 . Guillemot and Hercules Press Release . 2023-05-16 . www.megatrade.ru . 2022-11-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221112124440/http://www.megatrade.ru/English/Guillemot_and_Hercules_Press_Release.html . live .
  17. News: Stephens . Moran . March 21, 1988 . Hercules to ship card after 3-month delay . 21 . InfoWorld . March 13, 2023 . March 13, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313231735/https://books.google.com/books?id=9j4EAAAAMBAJ&q=hercules+network+card&pg=PA21 . live .

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