View source for Amstrad PC

[[Image:Amstrad pc1512-2.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad PC1512''' - The first PC by Amstrad]]

[[Image:Amstrad PC20.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad PC20''' - An attempt to market the PC as a home computer]]

[[Image:Amstrad ppc.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad PPC''' - An early 'laptop' PC]]

[[Image:Amstrad-pc2386-65.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad PC2386''' - The first 32-bit Amstrad computer]]

[[Image:AMSTRAD-Mega-PC.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad Mega PC''' - with built-in Sega games console]]

[[File:Amstrad-UK-advertisement-1994.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Amstrad PCs advertised in 1994]]

Those cheap IBM compatible PCs allowed the professionnal [[PC]] standard to enter many houses as a Home computer. The first and best known is the Amstrad PC1512 (and its upgraded version the PC1640).

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== List of Amstrad PCs ==

* '''PC1512''' (1985) : the first model, what equipped with a custom CGA clone video card, enabling an interesting non standard 640x200x16 video mode. 

* '''PC1640''' (1987) : second model, was an "upgraded" PC1512, sharing a lot of pieces. It had +128K Ram (640K) and was supplied with an EGA video card and monitor. Hence it was more expensive and EGA standard failed to impose itself.

* '''PPC512/640''' (1987): the first portable IBM PC compatible computers made by Amstrad. They were a development of the desktop PC-1512 and PC-1640 models.

* '''PC20''' (1988) : a CGA PC (bad choice) in an Atari ST/Amiga 500 look alike casing. It could have sold well if equipped with a soundchip and EGA capability.

* '''Sinclair PC 200''' (1988) : same as Amstrad PC20, but with additional TV output and with differently coloured case

* '''PC2000 series''' (1989) : PC2086/2286/2386. PCs with VGA display and 3.5inch floppy drives. The goal was to challenge the IBM PS/2 series.

* '''MegaPC''' (1993) : A PC featuring a Sega MegaDrive too.

* And many others.

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= The video displays =

The 3 major kind of display from this era had to get specific monitors, and those were quite expensive.

=== CGA ===
Enabled mostly 320x200 display with a palette of 4 colours choosen between 4 combinations (only one colour to be chosen) from 16 total colours. Could also get a text mode with character attribute based 16 colours display. 

The Amstrad CPC can quite be considered a custom and more versatile CGA.

=== Amstrad's PC1512 custom CGA ===
Was mostly CGA compatible yet not exactly. It could also get a special custom mode with a 640x200x16 display, the 16 colours being the CGA total palette, hence it could be as good as most badly exploited EGA cards.

=== EGA ===
Could display the CGA modes, and an extended CGA mode at 320x200x16 colours, the 16 colours being only the CGA full palette, this is probably the detail which killed the EGA. Otherwise it had its native colour mode of 640x350x16 the palette being set from the 64colours EGA palette (2x2x2 bits), such mode was actually even better than what an Atari ST could do... despite a lesser total palette to choose from, the same amount of colours (16 with no trick) were displayed at a far better resolution too. This 'Real EGA" mode was rarely well exploited for obscure reasons by game developers who wanted to keep a retro-compatibility with CGA versions and graphic portability with other 320x200 resolution computers.

=== VGA ===
The widely used VGA mode was the MCGA : 320x200x256. When those kind of display were widely available the CGA and EGA were obsolete and the PC could start to kick Amiga and Atari ST standards out of the place. VGA could also display a 640x480x16 video mode. All those from a 262,144colour total palette (6x6x6 bits). The VGA could also display all previous modes from CGA and EGA cards.

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= Palettes =

(pictures courtesy from Wikipedia)

*CGA palette :

:{| style="border-style: none" border="0" cellpadding="0"
|-
|| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/RGBI_4bits_palette_color_test_chart.png
|| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/RGBI_4bits_palette.png
|}

This looks quite like a ZX Spectrum palette.

*EGA palette :

:{| style="border-style: none" border="0" cellpadding="0"
|-
|| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/RGB_6bits_palette_color_test_chart.png
|| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/RGB_6bits_palette.png
|}

This palette could have been great on an Amstrad CPC...

With high resolution like 640x200x16 or whole EGA 640x200x16 or 640x350x16, those Amstrad PC1512 or PC1640 could display better graphics on a color Screen than the only 16colours limited palette would indicate, but it wasn't very exploited and the CGAmstrad from Pc1512 could be on the slow side due to the huge amount of VRAM used for the special mode and being a PC-XT spec machine.

[[File:EGA cubic palette1.png]]

[[File:Palette PC1512 montage.png]]

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= Links =

*[https://dosdays.co.uk/computers/Amstrad%20PC1000/amstrad_pc1000.php Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640] DOS Days article
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC1512 Amstrad PC1512] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PPC Amstrad PPC] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PC2286 Amstrad PC2286] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_Mega_PC Amstrad Mega PC] Wikipedia articles
*[https://www.seasip.info/AmstradXT/1512tech/index.html PC1512] [https://www.seasip.info/AmstradXT/1640tech/index.html PC1640] [https://www.seasip.info/AmstradXT/ppctech/index.html PPC] [https://archive.org/details/amstrad-pc-2386-service-manual/ PC2386] Amstrad technical reference manuals
*[https://www.seasip.info/AmstradXT/index.html Amstrad XT Pages]
*[https://youtu.be/3WJUpNgOx_c Re-Creating the 1986 Amstrad PC User Experience] by [[Retro Dream]]
*[https://youtu.be/J_NZnVySmog Chasing tigers with the Amstrad PC1512 | recreating my teen PC!] by [[Retro Recipes]]
*[https://youtu.be/re40EEKHAqU Amstrad PC1512 Retrospective] [https://youtu.be/a7KRAg61zEk Amstrad Integra Compaq Clone] by [[Nostalgia Nerd]]
*[https://youtu.be/rv-RS4U33ak Amstrad PPC640 System Review] by [[ChinnyVision]]
*[https://youtu.be/KAmzNRMCclk Amstrad : Les premiers PC (1986)] by [[Rodrik Studio]]
*[https://youtu.be/p9ToyCeyPEI Amstrad PC1512, l'utiliser sans son moniteur Amstrad] by [[Rodrik Studio]]
*[https://youtu.be/4AZLqmoZ4jw Un Amstrad PC1512 est-il réparable ? Pas vraiment] by [[Rodrik Studio]]
*[https://youtu.be/uIUkPA53PuE Restauration d'un Amstrad PC-1640 EGA] by [[Rodrik Studio]]
*[https://youtu.be/R9auej_AWnU 28 Channels module, Amstrad PC1640, Sound Blaster 16] by [[FreddyV]]
*[https://youtu.be/9Vt4uWOIqfU 3 hours of playing CGA games on Amstrad PC1512] by [[Retro VynZ]]
*[https://youtu.be/ZntnK09m1yU Amstrad PC demonstration GEM 16 Colors CGA graphics]
*[https://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,53/ Games that support the PC1512 custom video-mode]

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[[Category: Non CPC Computers| ]][[Category:Amstrad Products|*]]