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Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. was a manufacturer of computer peripherals for PCs and Macs founded in 1982.


History

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 mo ...
companies of the 1980s. Its biggest products were the MDA-compatible
Hercules Graphics Card 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 a ...
(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 softw ...
, it tried to go head-to-head with the
Enhanced Graphics Adapter The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is an IBM PC graphics adapter and de facto computer display standard from 1984 that superseded the CGA standard introduced with the original IBM PC, and was itself superseded by the VGA standard in 1987. In ...
(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 wa ...
, 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 ATI Technologies Inc. (commonly called ATI) was a Canadian semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technology Inc., ...
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 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 a ...
(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 softw ...
,
Hercules Network 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 ...
,
Hercules Color Card 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 ...
*
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 wa ...
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