Color Palette CGA/EGA 16-Color

The classic CGA/EGA 16-color palette. Every color available in text mode.

Standard Colors (0-7)

Black

#000000

Blue

#0000AA

Green

#00AA00

Cyan

#00AAAA

Red

#AA0000

Magenta

#AA00AA

Brown

#AA5500

Light Gray

#AAAAAA

High-Intensity Colors (8-15)

Dark Gray

#555555

Light Blue

#5555FF

Light Green

#55FF55

Light Cyan

#55FFFF

Light Red

#FF5555

Light Magenta

#FF55FF

Yellow

#FFFF55

White

#FFFFFF

Semantic Assignments

BIOS Background

#0000AA

Highlight Bar

#AAAAAA

Selected Item

#00AAAA

Accent/Value

#FFFF55

Typography Font Configuration

All monospaced. No proportional fonts in a BIOS setup screen.

H1 / VT323 / 36px

CMOS SETUP UTILITY

H2 / VT323 / 28px

STANDARD CMOS FEATURES

H3 / VT323 / 24px

Advanced Chipset Setup

H4 / VT323 / 20px

Boot Device Priority

H5 / VT323 / 18px

Integrated Peripherals

H6 / VT323 / 16px

POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP

Body / Share Tech Mono / 14px

The BIOS setup utility allows you to configure system hardware parameters stored in CMOS RAM. Use arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select, and F10 to save and exit.

Code / IBM Plex Mono / 14px

C:\>EDIT CONFIG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=40
BUFFERS=20

Links and Inline Elements

Navigate to Advanced Settings or edit AUTOEXEC.BAT for startup config. Yellow text shows configurable values. Gray text marks read-only fields.

Spacing System 4px Base Unit

Spacing scale based on a 4px unit. Text-mode grids are inherently coarse.

Scale

--space-1

4px

--space-2

8px

--space-3

12px

--space-4

16px

--space-5

20px

--space-6

24px

--space-7

28px

--space-8

32px

--space-9

48px

--space-10

64px

Buttons Interactive Elements

No rounded corners. No gradients. Instant state changes.

Standard Buttons

Status & Disabled

Function Key Style

Sizes

Form Elements CMOS Configuration

Input fields styled as BIOS configuration entries.

Cards Information Panels

Panel containers for grouped BIOS setup information.

Standard CMOSActive

Date/Time02/05/2026 14:30

IDE Primary Master420MB

IDE Primary SlaveNone

Floppy Drive A1.44M, 3.5 in.

Chipset FeaturesAdvanced

DRAM TimingBy SPD

CAS Latency3

AGP Aperture64M

POST ResultsPASS

CPU Test ........ OK

Memory Test ..... OK

HDD Test ........ OK

Video Test ...... OK

CMOS ErrorFAIL

CMOS Checksum Error - Defaults Loaded

The CMOS battery may need replacement. Please enter BIOS setup to verify configuration.

Data Table System Resources

IRQ assignment table. Hover to select a row.

IRQ	Device	Type	I/O Port	Status
0	System Timer	System	0040-0043	OK
1	Keyboard Controller	System	0060-0064	OK
3	COM2 / Serial Port 2	Serial	02F8-02FF	OK
5	Sound Blaster 16	Audio	0220-022F	Shared
6	Floppy Disk Controller	Storage	03F0-03F7	OK
7	LPT1 / Parallel Port	Parallel	0378-037F	Disabled
14	IDE Primary Channel	Storage	01F0-01F7	OK
15	IDE Secondary Channel	Storage	0170-0177	Conflict

Badges & Tags Status Indicators

Status badges and bracket-style tags for device states and settings.

Status Badges

Default OK Warning Error Info Optimal Outline

Bracket Tags

ENABLED DISABLED AUTO MANUAL PNP LEGACY IRQ5 DMA1

Alerts System Messages

BIOS notification and error messages.

PASS:

Configuration Saved

CMOS settings saved successfully. System will restart with new configuration.

INFO:

Plug and Play Detected

New PnP device found on ISA bus. IRQ 10, DMA 3, I/O 0300h allocated.

WARN:

CMOS Battery Low

Battery voltage below threshold. Date/time may be lost on power-off. Replace CR2032.

FAIL:

Keyboard Error

Keyboard not detected during POST. Check connection. Press F1 to continue or DEL for SETUP.

Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG

Intel 486DX2-66 CPU Found

Memory Test: 16384K OK

CMOS Checksum Error - Defaults Loaded

Floppy Disk(s) Fail (40)

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP

ASCII Box Drawing Border Characters

Box-drawing characters for panels, menus, and dividers.

┌───────────────────────┬──────────────────┐ │ Date (mm/dd/yyyy) │ Tue, Feb 05 2026 │ │ Time (hh:mm:ss) │ 14:30:00 │ ├───────────────────────┼──────────────────┤ │ IDE Primary Master │ 420MB │ │ IDE Primary Slave │ None │ │ Floppy Drive A │ 1.44M, 3.5 in. │ │ Floppy Drive B │ Not Installed │ └───────────────────────┴──────────────────┘

Double-Line Box:

╔════════════════════════════╗ ║ BIOS FEATURES SETUP ║ ║ Virus Warning Enabled ║ ║ CPU L1 Cache Enabled ║ ║ CPU L2 Cache Enabled ║ ║ Boot Sequence C,A,SCSI║ ╚════════════════════════════╝

Design Principles Philosophy

What separates DOS/BIOS from other retro aesthetics.

01

Blue, Not Black

The BIOS screen is blue (#0000AA), not black. This is the defining difference from green-phosphor terminals and modern dark UIs. Every panel floats on solid blue.

02

No Glow, No Scanlines

Unlike CRT terminal themes, BIOS has no phosphor glow, no scanlines, no curvature. Text is flat, sharp, and purely functional. VGA text mode, not graphics mode.

03

Highlight Bar Selection

Selection uses a highlight bar: gray background with black text. This block-level selection replaces focus rings and underlines. One item selected at a time.

04

Function Key Bar

Every screen has a function key bar at bottom. F1=Help, F10=Save, Esc=Exit. Actions are keyboard-driven. The bar is always visible and sticky.

05

16 Colors Maximum

CGA/EGA palette only. White for text, yellow for values, cyan for links, gray for disabled, red for errors, green for OK. No gradients, no transparency.

06

Box-Drawing Borders

Single-line and double-line box-drawing characters. No rounded corners, no shadows. Borders are structural grid lines, not decoration.

BIOS Setup Demo Full Panel

Advanced BIOS Features

Virus WarningEnabled

CPU Internal CacheEnabled

External CacheEnabled

Quick Power On Self TestEnabled

First Boot DeviceFloppy

Second Boot DeviceHDD-0

Third Boot DeviceCD-ROM

Boot Up NumLock StatusOn

Security OptionSetup

Help

Quick Power On Self Test: Setting to Enabled skips full memory test during boot. Set to Disabled for thorough testing after hardware changes.