<s>
AX	O
(	O
Architecture	O
eXtended	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
Japanese	O
computing	O
initiative	O
starting	O
in	O
around	O
1986	O
to	O
allow	O
PCs	O
to	O
handle	O
double-byte	O
(	O
DBCS	O
)	O
Japanese	O
text	O
via	O
special	O
hardware	O
chips	O
,	O
whilst	O
allowing	O
compatibility	O
with	O
software	O
written	O
for	O
foreign	O
IBM	B-Device
PCs	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
Japan	O
took	O
over	O
the	O
project	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
July	O
1987	O
the	O
Preparatory	O
Committee	O
of	O
the	O
AX	B-General_Concept
Consortium	I-General_Concept
started	O
developing	O
its	O
specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
AX	B-General_Concept
Consortium	I-General_Concept
officially	O
started	O
in	O
October	O
1987	O
,	O
including	O
ASCII	O
Corporation	O
,	O
Sony	O
,	O
Hitachi	O
,	O
Sharp	O
,	O
Oki	O
,	O
Casio	O
,	O
Canon	O
,	O
Kyocera	O
,	O
Sanyo	O
,	O
Mitsubishi	O
Electric	O
,	O
etc.	O
,	O
but	O
notably	O
excluding	O
Toshiba	O
and	O
Fujitsu	O
(	O
who	O
were	O
hence	O
the	O
'	O
opposition	O
 '	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
that	O
time	O
,	O
NEC	B-Operating_System
PC-9801	I-Operating_System
was	O
the	O
dominant	O
PC	O
architecture	O
in	O
the	O
Japanese	O
PC	O
market	O
because	O
IBM	B-Operating_System
PC/AT	I-Operating_System
and	O
its	O
clone	O
PCs	O
could	O
not	O
display	O
Japanese	O
text	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
NEC	O
did	O
not	O
tolerate	O
PC-9801	B-Operating_System
compatible	O
machines	O
and	O
was	O
fighting	O
court	O
battles	O
with	O
Epson	O
which	O
was	O
the	O
only	O
PC-9801	B-Operating_System
compatible	O
machine	O
vendor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
display	O
Kanji	O
characters	O
with	O
sufficient	O
clarity	O
,	O
AX	O
machines	O
had	O
screens	O
with	O
a	O
resolution	O
of	O
640	O
x	O
480	O
rather	O
than	O
the	O
640	O
x	O
350	O
standard	O
EGA	B-Device
resolution	O
prevalent	O
elsewhere	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
could	O
typically	O
switch	O
between	O
Japanese	O
and	O
English	O
modes	O
by	O
typing	O
'	O
JP	O
 '	O
and	O
'	O
US	O
 '	O
,	O
which	O
would	O
also	O
invoke	O
the	O
AX-BIOS	O
and	O
an	O
IME	B-General_Concept
enabling	O
the	O
input	O
of	O
Japanese	O
characters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
the	O
display	O
modes	O
supported	O
by	O
EGA	B-Device
,	O
JEGA	O
supports	O
the	O
following	O
modes	O
as	O
standard	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Text	O
80	O
characters	O
x	O
25	O
lines	O
,	O
effective	O
resolution	O
640	O
x	O
480	O
pixels	O
,	O
8	O
pages	O
:	O
overwrites	O
modes	O
2h	O
(	O
graphic	O
screen	O
and	O
overlaid	O
display	O
)	O
and	O
3h	O
of	O
EGA	B-Device
;	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
soon	O
after	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
AX	O
,	O
IBM	O
released	O
the	O
VGA	B-Protocol
standard	O
with	O
which	O
AX	O
was	O
obviously	O
not	O
compatible	O
(	O
they	O
were	O
not	O
the	O
only	O
one	O
promoting	O
non-standard	O
"	O
super	O
EGA	B-Device
"	O
extensions	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Consequently	O
,	O
the	O
AX	B-General_Concept
consortium	I-General_Concept
had	O
to	O
design	O
a	O
compatible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AX-VGA/H	O
was	O
a	O
hardware	O
implementation	O
with	O
AX-BIOS	O
,	O
whereas	O
AX-VGA/S	O
was	O
a	O
software	O
emulation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
of	O
the	O
AX-VGA	O
chipset	O
was	O
delayed	O
,	O
and	O
its	O
first	O
implementation	O
came	O
out	O
in	O
1991	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
less	O
available	O
software	O
and	O
its	O
higher	O
cost	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
PC-9801	B-Operating_System
series	O
,	O
AX	O
failed	O
and	O
was	O
not	O
able	O
to	O
break	O
into	O
the	O
market	O
in	O
Japan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1990	O
,	O
IBM	O
Japan	O
unveiled	O
DOS/V	B-Application
which	O
enabled	O
IBM	B-Operating_System
PC/AT	I-Operating_System
and	O
its	O
clones	O
to	O
display	O
Japanese	O
text	O
without	O
any	O
additional	O
hardware	O
using	O
a	O
standard	O
VGA	B-Protocol
card	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Soon	O
after	O
,	O
AX	O
disappeared	O
and	O
the	O
decline	O
of	O
NEC	B-Operating_System
PC-9801	I-Operating_System
began	O
.	O
</s>
