The Screen

Often called the monitor,the VDU (Visual Display Unit) or even

CRT(Cathode Ray Tube),the screen is the most widespreed
output device, because it enables users to visualize directly the
processing of their data.
The data displayed can the be altered as necessary before
being outputted-on a printer,for instance.The data displayed on
the screen is called soft copy while the data printed out is called
hsrd copy because it is ''matuarilzed "on a sheet of paper.When
buyien a computer the monitor is supplied with the sistem and
some technical specifications can be puzzling for the noninitiated.Abbreviations such EGA,VGA,SVGA may seem
obscure,but these terms are of paramount importance for any
applications you might want to make use of pramont importance
for any applications you might want to make use of as they
actually indicate the amount of graphics your computer can
handle by giving information about the resolution of the screen.
The higher it is,the sharper the graphics;the lower it is,the
fuzzier the graphips.Since the resolution of a screen depends on
the number of dots or pixels(the contrcated form of"picture
elements")the highter the number of dots the highter the
resolution,and vice versa.
In the early eighties,the resolution of monitors was wery
low compared to what comes as the minimum graphics standart
today.I can remember some drawings I made on my TRS 80 at
the time;the diagonals I tried to draw looked ike flights of stairs
because the graphics resolution of my screen was too low (128
pixels by 48 pixels) and the dotswere so big that anything you
drew was extremely ugly.These days VGA(Video Graphics
Array) is the graphics standart supplied when purchasing a
PC,VGA has replaced CGA(Colour Graphics Adaptor) and
EGA(Enhanced Graphics Adaptor) vhich are cars enabling the

used to handle various types of graphics on the screen.A CGA

monitor is capable of displaying four collors on screen(from a
choice of eight) and can display up to 320x200 pixels.An Ega
monitor can display up to 16 colours at once at resolutions