Hercules Graphics Card

The Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) was a computer graphics controller made by Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. that combined IBM's text-only MDA display standard with a bitmapped graphics mode. This allowed the HGC to offer both high quality text and graphics from a single card. The HGC was very popular, and became a widely supported de facto display standard on IBM PC compatibles connected to a monochrome monitor. The HGC standard was used long after more technically capable systems had entered the market, especially on dual-monitor setups.