The original IBM MDA was an 8-bit ISA card with a Motorola 6845 display controller, 4 KB of RAM, a DE-9 output port intended for use with an IBM monochrome monitor, and a parallel port for attachment of a printer, avoiding the need to purchase a separate card.

[1] The MDA was based on the IBM System/23 Datamaster's display system,[2] and was intended to support business and word processing use with its sharp, high-resolution characters.

The only way to simulate "graphics" is through ASCII art, obtaining a low resolution 80 × 25 "pixels" screen, based on character positions.

[1] Early versions of the MDA board have hardware capable of outputting red, green and blue TTL signals on the normally unconnected DE-9 video connector pins, theoretically allowing an 8-color display with a suitable monitor.

A command included with PC DOS permitted switching the primary display between the CGA and MDA cards.

[14] The author of an internal IBM publication stated in October 1981 that he had planned to purchase the CGA adapter but changed his mind after seeing its poor display quality.

The higher resolution of MDA's text and inclusion of a printer port made it more appealing for the business applications that were the focus of the original PC.

This resolution was superior to the CGA card, yet offered pixel-addressable graphics, so despite lacking color capability, the Hercules adapter's offer of high resolution bitmap graphics combined with MDA-grade text quality made it a popular choice, which was even shipped with many clones.