Monochrome

What Does Monochrome Mean?

Monochrome is a legacy computer display system that only displays one or two colors with several shades. Monochrome refers to early computer monitors that were used from the very first computers until color monitors emerged in the 1980s. Monochrome monitors are now very rare.

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Techopedia Explains Monochrome

Monochrome relies on two main colors – often black and white – as well as all the shades in between. The colors in a monochromatic monitor depend on the type of phosphorus used in the monitor’s display tube. In computer monitors, this color was mainly green, although a few monitors included red or white. Besides computers, the monochrome display was implemented in other devices as well such as cash counters, information kiosks and laboratory equipment displays.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…