bitmap display
bitmapped display

    A computer output device where each pixel
   displayed on the monitor screen corresponds directly to one
   or more bits in the computer's video memory.  Such a
   display can be updated extremely rapidly since changing a
   pixel involves only a single processor write to memory
   compared with a terminal or VDU connected via a serial
   line where the speed of the serial line limits the speed at
   which the display can be changed.

   Most modern personal computers and workstations have
   bitmap displays, allowing the efficient use of graphical user
   interfaces, interactive graphics and a choice of on-screen
   fonts.  Some more expensive systems still delegate graphics
   operations to dedicated hardware such as graphics
   accelerators.

   The bitmap display might be traced back to the earliest days
   of computing when the Manchester University Mark I(?)
   computer, developed by F.C. Williams and T. Kilburn shortly
   after the Second World War.  This used a storage tube as its
   working memory.  Phosphor dots were used to store single
   bits of data which could be read by the user and interpreted
   as binary numbers.

   [Is this history correct?  Was it ever used to display
   "graphics"?  What was the resolution?]

   (2002-05-15)