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.

  • toynbee@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    13 days ago

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

    • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      12 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.

    • this_1_is_mine@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      13 days ago

      Tuning forks!!! The Zenith clicker The buttons would work strikers that would hit tuned rods. A different one doing a different function.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      13 days ago

      Buttons and springs would make it click loudly at a predicable frequency.

      It’s why remotes are often referred to as “clickers”.