I don’t mean BETTER. That’s a different conversation. I mean cooler.

An old CRT display was literally a small scale particle accelerator, firing angry electron beams at light speed towards the viewers, bent by an electromagnet that alternates at an ultra high frequency, stopped by a rounded rectangle of glowing phosphors.

If a CRT goes bad it can actually make people sick.

That’s just. Conceptually a lot COOLER than a modern LED panel, which really is just a bajillion very tiny lightbulbs.

  • Dearth@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    The original tv remote didn’t use batteries. It used sound. Giant clunky devices with large tactile buttons. Never runs out of batteries and still works if your kid tries to block the screen to keep you from turning it off

    • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Those remotes used little spring-loaded mechanical chimes that emitted ultrasonic notes. As a kid I discovered my parents’ big Magnavox console stereo would change channels if I clinked a handful of coins.

    • toynbee@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      How did it generate that sound without batteries? Was it literally the audio from the clicking of the buttons? Genuine questions.

      edit: Thanks for the several answers. They all seem prone to interference, but it is nice that they worked without power.

      • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        The button pressed a spring-loaded thing that struck a piece of metal, almost like a wind chime, emitting an ultrasonic note. I discovered by accident that I could make my parents’ stereo change channels by clinking coins together.