PC Illustrator 3.0

System

PC Illustrator 3.0

PC Illustrator, first released in 1984 by Computer Graphics Group, Inc of Atlanta Georgia, is an easy to use freehand drawing and business charting package. Charting mode supports bar, area, line, and pie charts, and you can add your own drawings around the chart. It supports the use of a Microsoft compatible mouse, light pen, or digitizing pad.

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GloriousCow

Okay, this easily takes the cake as the best light pen application for the PC and CGA - previously I was only aware of Micrografx PC-Draw, but it's a bit overcomplicated, and only runs in high resolution CGA mode which is the worst mode to operate a light pen in.

This paint program appears to have been designed for kids, but it is surprisingly feature-rich. What it means though is everything is easily accessible via menus. I just spent an hour having a grand ol' time painting and writing stuff with the text tool. Heck, there's even multiple levels of italics.

When you enable the light pen, the background color switches to blue so the pen can track the screen. But beyond that, you're still free to switch between the two basic CGA palettes.

The resolution limitations of the CGA light pen interface are pretty apparent when drawing freehand.