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Computer Partners Until the early 1980’s most monitors were terminals. They were boxy video display terminals (VDT’s) combined with an attached keyboard. A terminal could be configured to work with just about any computer on the market. (Not that there was a wide selection of personal computers for you to choose from.)Terminals were attached to computers by a serial interface. In those days, the VDT was commonly referred to as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).
Before DOS, the dominant operating system (OS) for 8 bit computers was CP/M (Control Program for Microprocessors). Early CP/M machines were originally designed to use separate memory-mapped video display devices and discrete keyboards that plugged into the machines – not unlike video display cards used later. The most well known was the VDM-1. Terminal manufacturers recognized this “lost market “and began to market mainframe and mini-style terminals to the CP/M community. The sales pitch of “just like a real (mainframe at the time) computer” paid off. CP/M computers soon used terminals almost exclusively
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