Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. was a manufacturer of computer peripherals for
PCs and
Macs founded in 1982.
History
![Hercules Thriller 3D TH2318SGA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Hercules_Thriller_3D_TH2318SGA.jpg)
Hercules was formed in 1982 in
Hercules, California, by Van Suwannukul and Kevin Jenkins and was one of the major
graphics card
A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
companies of the 1980s. Its biggest products were the
MDA
MDA, mda, or ''variation'', may refer to:
Places
* Moldova, a country in Europe with the ISO 3166-1 country code MDA Politics
* Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018), ruling coalition government in the Indian State of Meghalaya led by National Pe ...
-compatible
Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) and
Hercules Graphics Card Plus The Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) is a computer graphics controller made by Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. that combines IBM's text-only MDA display standard with a bitmapped graphics mode. This allows the HGC to offer both high-quality text an ...
(HGC+) and the associated standard, which was widely copied and survived into the 1990s. 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. The company also produced
CGA compatible cards, and with the unsuccessful
Hercules InColor Card The Hercules InColor Card (GB222) is an IBM PC compatible 8-bit ISA graphics controller card released in April 1987 by Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. It supported a 16-colour (from a palette of 64) 720×350 display on an EGA monitor and softwa ...
, it tried to go head-to-head with the
Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA).
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
Tseng Laboratories, Inc. (also known as Tseng Labs or TLI) was a maker of graphics chips and controllers for IBM PC compatibles, based in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and founded by Jack Hsiao Nan Tseng.
Founded in 1983, Tseng Labs' first product ...
,
S3 Graphics,
3Dfx
3dfx Interactive was an American technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the field from the l ...
,
nVidia
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
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 $1.5 million.
Guillemot & Hercules
Press Release 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
* Headquarters: in France (President: Claude Guillemot),
* Research and development: offices in Canada, France, Hong-Kong and Romania,
* Sales: via Guillemot sales branches in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK, USA,
* Distribution to retailers: through distributors,
* Technical support: customer phone and email support by Guillemot technical support team.
Products
* Computer DJing: DJ Console – controllers with audio interface (DJ Console Mk2, Mk4, Rmx, 4-Mx) / DJ Control = DJ controllers without audio (DJ Control MP3, MP3 e2, Steel)
* Netbooks: eCafe ec-800, 900, 1000W, 1010W
* Speakers: XPS: Stereo, 2.1, for iPod and 5.1
* Webcams: DualPix: Classic, Infinite, Exchange, Emotion
* Networking: Wireless (WiFi) and ePlug (PowerLine)
Former products: Graphic cards
* Hercules based: Hercules Graphics Card (HGC), Hercules Graphics Card Plus The Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) is a computer graphics controller made by Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. that combines IBM's text-only MDA display standard with a bitmapped graphics mode. This allows the HGC to offer both high-quality text an ...
(HGC+ with RAMFONT), Hercules InColor Card The Hercules InColor Card (GB222) is an IBM PC compatible 8-bit ISA graphics controller card released in April 1987 by Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. It supported a 16-colour (from a palette of 64) 720×350 display on an EGA monitor and softwa ...
, Hercules Network Card Plus, Hercules Color Card
* Tseng Labs
Tseng Laboratories, Inc. (also known as Tseng Labs or TLI) was a maker of graphics chips and controllers for IBM PC compatibles, based in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and founded by Jack Hsiao Nan Tseng.
Founded in 1983, Tseng Labs' first product ...
based: Dynamite Pro
* Rendition based: Thriller 3D
* 3Dfx
3dfx Interactive was an American technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the field from the l ...
based: Stingray 128/3D
* S3 based: Terminator Professional, 64, Beast, Beast SuperCharged
* nVidia
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
based: Dynamite (before 1999) TNT, TNT2, TNT2 Ultra
* nVidia based: Maxi Gamer Phoenix & Xentor (TNT, TNT2, Vanta)
* nVidia based: 3D Prophet (after 2000) DDR-DVI, 3D Prophet 2, 2-Mx, 2 Ultra, 3
* ATI
Ati or ATI may refer to:
* Ati people, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines
**Ati language (Philippines), the language spoken by this people group
** Ati-Atihan festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines
*Ati language (China), a ...
based: 3D Prophet 7000, 7500, 8500, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700
* ST Kyro based: 3D Prophet 4000, 4000XT, 4500
Former products: Sound cards
* DIGIFIRE 7.1
* Guillemot Maxi Sound Muse
* Hercules Gamesurround Muse Pocket USB
* Hercules Game Theater XP 6.1, 7.1
* Hercules Gamesurround Muse XL
* Hercules Gamesurround Muse LT
* Hercules Gamesurround Muse 5.1 DVD
* Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II Digital Edition
* Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo III 7.1
References
External links
Hercules technical support
Hercules hot line
Hercules Company Website
Hercules DJ Mix Room
Hercules eCafe
Hercules Sound cards
{{Graphics Processing Unit
American companies established in 1982
American companies disestablished in 1998
Companies based in Fremont, California
Computer companies established in 1982
Computer companies disestablished in 1998
Defunct companies based in California
Defunct computer companies of the United States
Defunct computer hardware companies
Graphics hardware companies
Sound cards
Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area