Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

bitmap 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)