[[Image:Amstrad pc1512-2.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad PC1512''' - The first PC by Amstrad]]
[[ImageFile:Amstrad pc2086-pc1512-ad.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad PC2086'''PC1512 advertisement]]
[[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 Mega-pc2386-65.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The '''Amstrad Mega PCPC2386''' - Built in Sega games consoleThe 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).
* '''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 an EGA capability.
* '''Sinclair PC 200''' (1988) : same as Amstrad PC20, but with additional TV output and with differently coloured case
= The video displays =
The 3 major kind VGA / EGA / CGA / Hercules graphics comparison: [[File:Prince of display from this persia vga ega cga hercules.png]] During that era had (late 1980s to get early 1990s), different graphics standards typically required their own specific monitors, and those which were quite expensive. Each graphics standard had particular signal timing and connector requirements: *CGA monitors needed to handle 15.7 kHz horizontal scan rates with RGBI signals*EGA monitors required support for 21.8 kHz scan rates with analog RGB signals*VGA monitors needed 31.5 kHz scan rates with a different analog RGB implementation
=== CGA ===
Enabled On RGBI monitors, it 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 It also get offered a text mode with character attribute based 16 colours display. On composite monitors or TVs, composite output enabled artifact-based NTSC colour emulation, simulating more colours (typically 16 colours simultaneously, but up to 1024 colours have been demonstrated).
The Amstrad CPC can quite be considered a custom and more versatile CGA.
=== 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 emulate all previous modes from CGA and EGA cardsmodes. However, as VGA monitors no longer supported 15.7kHz scan rates, CGA, EGA, and MCGA modes were line-doubled to match the monitor's capabilities.
<br>
This looks quite like a ZX Spectrum palette.
Note: Color 6 is treated specially. Normally, color 6 would become dark yellow, but in order to achieve a more pleasing brown tone, special circuitry in most RGBI monitors makes an exception for color 6 and changes its hue from dark yellow to brown. Some monitors even provide a potentiometer labelled "BROWN ADJ." to adjust this color.
*EGA palette :
= 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]