Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. was a manufacturer of computer peripherals for PCs and

Mac Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

s founded in 1982.

History

Hercules PCI Bus Stingray-Grafikeinheit 202201 HOF08566

Hercules was formed in 1982 in

Hercules, California Hercules is a city in western Contra Costa County, California. Situated along the coast of San Pablo Bay, it is located in the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about north of Berkeley. As of the 2020 census, its population was ...

, 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 accelerator, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or colloquially GPU) is a computer expansion card that generates a feed of graphics output to a displa ...

companies of the 1980s. Its biggest products were the MDA-compatible

Hercules Graphics Card The Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) is a computer graphics controller formerly made by Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. that combines IBM's text-only MDA display standard with a bitmapped graphics mode, also offering a parallel printer port. ...

(HGC) and Hercules Graphics Card Plus (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, it tried to go head-to-head with the

Enhanced Graphics Adapter The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is an IBM PC compatible, IBM PC Video card, graphics adapter and ''de facto'' computer display standard from 1984 that superseded the Color Graphics Adapter, CGA standard introduced with the IBM Personal Compu ...

(EGA). (Pictures and programming information) (NB. The second edition does no longer discuss the InColor and MCGA cards at detail level.) 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 S3 Graphics, Ltd. was an American computer graphics company. The company sold the S3 Trio, Trio, S3 ViRGE, ViRGE, S3 Savage, Savage, and S3 Chrome, Chrome series of graphics processors. Struggling against competition from 3dfx Interactive, ATI T ...

3Dfx 3dfx Interactive, Inc. was an American computer hardware 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 f ...

nVidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

and

ATI Technologies ATI Technologies Inc. was a Canadian semiconductor industry, semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985, the company listed pub ...

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. 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) *

Netbook A netbook is a small-sized laptop computer; they were primarily sold from 2007 until around 2013, designed mostly as a means of accessing the Internet and being significantly less expensive than regular-sized laptops. At their inception in l ...

s: eCafe ec-800, 900, 1000W, 1010W * Speakers: XPS: Stereo, 2.1, for iPod and 5.1 *

Webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...

s: DualPix: Classic, Infinite, Exchange, Emotion * Networking: Wireless (

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

) and ePlug (PowerLine)

Former products: Graphic cards

* Hercules based:

(HGC), Hercules Graphics Card Plus (HGC+ with RAMFONT), Hercules InColor Card, Hercules Network Card Plus, Hercules Color Card * Tseng Labs based: Dynamite Pro * Rendition based: Thriller 3D * ARK Logic based: Stingray 64 *

based: Stingray 128/3D * S3 based: Terminator Professional, 64, Beast, Beast SuperCharged *

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

based: Terminator 2x/i ( i740) *

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 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 computer companies based in California Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Graphics hardware companies Sound cards Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area 1982 establishments in California