# FreeVGA - Video Programming Glossary
Pure VGA/SVGA hardware programming (registers, identification, and otherlow-level stuff.)
Author: Joshua Neal
Keywords: VGA SVGA hardware video programming

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Hardware Level VGA and SVGA Video Programming Information Page
Video Programming Glossary

Introduction
This page is a glossary covering video programming related terms. It is extremely difficult for me to determine which terms should be included in this page, thus if you have come here looking for a particular term and are dismayed at not finding it listed here, please send a note with the Feedback Form including the term in the body of the message, and it will be added here.
------ C ------

CLUT -- see Color Look-Up Table

Color Look-Up Table -- see Palette Look-Up Table

------ D ------

DAC -- acronym for Digital to Analog Converter, which is a integrated circuit that converts intensity values to analog signal values. This is used in video chipsets to produce the analog signals that are sent to the monitor. Some DACs, known as RAMDACs contain a palette look-up table.

Digital to Analog Converter -- see DAC

------ F ------

Frame Buffer -- RAM that is part of the graphics hardware that stores the pixel values that are converted into color intensity.

------ P ------

Palette Look-Up Table -- a small table of RAM that contains a set of RGB intensity values for each index, of which there are 256 locations. The information in this table is used by the DAC to generate the analog signal. Also known as a Color Look-Up Table or CLUT.

------ R ------

RAMDAC -- A DAC that contains a built-in palette look-up table.

RGB -- acronym for Red, Blue & Green, which describes the three primary colors of light that a CRT generates to produce the range of visible colors.

------ S ------

Super VGA -- see SVGA

SVGA -- acronym for Super-VGA, which is a term applied to chipsets and the advanced functionality of those chipsets that are above and beyond the capabilities of the original IBM VGA chipset.

------ V ------

VGA -- acronym for Video Graphics Array, which is the term for IBM's successor to the EGA graphics chipset. This term is also used when describing register compatible functions of other chipsets such as SVGA chipsets.

Video Graphics Array -- see VGA

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All pages are Copyright © 1997, 1998, J. D. Neal, except where noted. Permission for utilization and distribution is subject to the terms of the FreeVGA Project Copyright License.