George's Television Interface Adapter

George's Television Interface Adapter (GTIA) is the successor to the CTIA chip used in the Atari 8-bit computers. The GTIA chip was also used in the Atari 5200. George McLeod designed the chip.

Related Topics:
CTIA - Atari 8-bit computers - Atari 5200 - George McLeod

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The GTIA chip added the following capabilities to the existing CTIA:

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• 256 colors instead of 128. This was done by increasing the valid luminance values from 8 to 16.
• 3 additional graphics modes. All 3 modes are 80x192 pixels, with the difference being in the colors allowed -- one mode allows for 16 shades of a single hue, one allows for 16 hues with a single shade/luminance value, and the last one allows for 9 colors of any hue/luminance.

GTIA also generates keyboard clicks.

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In addition, due to differences in how the CTIA and the GTIA interface with the television, programs that depend on color artifacts will display differently.

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