Chapter 12. Video Hardware

Display Adapters and Monitors

Although the monitor (or video display) is as vital to a PC’s user interface as the mouse and keyboard, it is actually a latecomer to computing. Before CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors came into general use, the teletypewriter was the standard computer interface—a large, loud device that printed the input and output characters on a roll of paper. Early personal computers often used nothing more than a panel of blinking light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for a display.

The first monitors used on computers displayed only text in a single color (usually green), but to users at the time they were a great improvement, allowing real-time display of input and output data. Over time, color displays were ...

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