Monochrome Display Adapter

(M-D-A)

The original two-color, text-only PC display. The display showed text in 80-character lines with 25 lines per vertical display (so called 80x25). The characters were 9 pixels wide and 14 pixel high so the effective resolution of the display was 720x350 but the individual pixels were not addressable so this was only a text display.

The mid-1980s saw the development of the Hercules graphic display. Connected to a monochrome monitor, the individual dots became addressable and graphics support came to the monochrome display world.

More Information

• CKnow Reference Guide: Video Display Standards
• Video Display Standards