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Of course that asks the question of why use the graphics mode for text, which I would suspect was simply to show the seemingly obligatory Energy Star logo, but

Of course that asks the question of why use the graphics mode for text, which I would suspect was simply to show the seemingly obligatory Energy Star logo, but these Intel boards don’t have it.

bananaboy 1y ago
This apparently was a text mode not a graphics mode. It would have been a tweaked text mode since the standard mode 3 text mode that you can set via int 10h is 720x400. The energy star logo was also displayed in text modes - by using custom font glyphs!
michalpleban 1y ago
It's not a graphics mode. It is just a resolution from the graphics mode, repurposed for the text mode. The reason possibly being the 640x480 resolution is universally supported while 720x400 is not - for example my HDMI TV can still display 640x480.
- bananaboy 1y ago
  CRTs were still commonplace though based on the bios dates in the blog. So 720x400 would still have been well supported. It’s strange that they did this!
  - the-rc 1y ago
    Unlike CRT screens, LCD ones from that time had usually a fixed resolution and wouldn't resize the image on the fly.
martijnvds 1y ago
The Energy Star logo tended to be made up of custom characters in text mode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHGKanqO6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHGKanqO6s
- pwdisswordfishz 1y ago
  Later versions used true bitmaps, though. http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Award_BIOS_logo http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Award_BIOS_logo