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Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

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Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#11

Post by rocket_surgeron »

> Good luck producing LCD array with same level of tech in some remote colony light years from advanced foundries.

Any colony that can manufacture integrated circuits can easily manufacture LCD panels.

The ability to manufacture integrated circuits will likely be seen as important as the ability to manufacture oxygen in any colony, so there will probably be an LCD "printer" as part of their standard list of abilities.

This person made a simple passive LCD at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zoeeR3geTA

The ability of simple automated machines stashed in a maintenance closet to churn out screens of arbitrary size as-needed is not far-fetched in a world of interstellar travel.

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#12

Post by zdyn5 »

warrenm wrote: post #5

Here I thought you were going to talk about Critical Race Theory ... and I was all set to get up in arms (whether you're pro or con) because scifi should be about the science ! Good on ya!

Harder sci-fi may be more focused on the science but a big component of sci-fi as I understand it is exploration of humanity and its social dynamics in unknown/challenging environments. In which case CRT might indeed be relevant in some scenarios…

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#13

Post by pwg »

If you postulate a species that has solved item #0 (faster than light travel or very near light speed travel) then you have also postulated a species that is likely technically advanced enough that #1-5 no longer matter (i.e., they have found technical advancements that make the other points no longer relevant).

I.e., #1 -- ease of manufacture. A FTL species likely also has some technology similar to Star Trek's "replicators" -- and once said species is capable of assembling products by positioning individual raw atoms, difficulty of manufacture of a product onboard a space ship fades away and becomes little more than a raw supplies (you need the input raw materials) problem.

I.e., an "atomic" (as in placement of individual atoms) 3D printer allows for most anything to be assembled (provided one has the CAD files for the 3D printer and the required atomic materials).

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#14

Post by PaulHoule »

Interstellar travelers get to use whatever kind of display they want.

A key technology for space colonization is advanced manufacturing that lets a small population be self-sufficient. An outpost on the moon can probably be supplied from Earth but even to colonize Mars you would need an advanced industrial base even when the population is 10,000 so you need something similar to Eric Drexler's assemblers even if it is based on different principles. (The existence of life proves that something like this is feasible... Even if you can't assemble molecules with little robot arms or mills it is definitely possible to build arbitrary complex things by composing a set of building blocks.)

The most feasible path to interstellar travel seems to be to use deuterium-deuterium fusion to be self-sufficient off comets between the stars. Recent discoveries about artificial magnetospheres make this seem more feasible than it did 30 years ago because we know think it is possible to slow down using the interstellar medium which greatly conserves fuel.

Interstellar travelers might take 10,000 years to get to the next star but might have a comfortable lifestyle the whole time. If they found a Pluto-sized world floating between the stars they could even establish a colony and build some more ships. The big contradiction is that people like that might not really care to visit star systems at all, which I think is part of the resolution of the 'Fermi Paradox'.

But yeah, there is something sexy about the bridge in Silent Running or the old Battlestar Galactica although it seemed they had a flat screen TV in Star Trek.

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#16

Post by somat »

Are there any manufactures that still make a good CRT or is it like compact cassette mechanism where all new manufactured ones are junk.

Follow up question. Are there application where the CRT is preferred? And don't say to play old nintendo games, that does not count.

My dream setup would be to set up a computer system around one of those large monochrome SAGE raderscopes.

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#17

Post by kokojumbo »

rocket_surgeron wrote: post #9
theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

Several years ago, I read about Americans capturing Soviet-era jet fighters. They were analyzing it and finding all sorts of deficiencies compared to their own fighters, but noted its vacuum tube electronics were resistant to EMPs. > Perhaps the most stunning discovery was the fact that most of the MiG-25’s avionics were based on vacuum tubes—not solid state electronics. This was considered woefully outdated for a to…

> Plus, the tubes allowed for quick and easy maintenance at Russia’s primitive airfields, I don't buy the maintenance angle. Modern solid-state avionics are swappable LRUs. Like lego, you plug and unplug them. Just as easy as tubes, in fact the exact and precise same. Plus you can drop them and they don't shatter. Techs aren't out in the field desoldering surface-mount components and swapping capacitors, the are unpl…

USSR was using tubes because it was technologically far behind the West (it was still producing cars that were between 30 to even 50 years behind the West) and was under heavy sanctions. Soviet bloc made chips were actually less reliable and that's one of reasons why commie bloc TTL based computers were so unstable as they had either to import components from the West (see story of Karpiński and his K-202 architecture) if they wanted components that they were allowed to order them in the 1st place or smuggle them (which would not work for large scale) or use inferior in quality components produced within the bloc. Vacuum tubes were much harder to fuck up while production – hence more reliable than commie bloc TTL or LSI. How do I know? I am from one of countries that been in that bloc.

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#18

Post by kokojumbo »

rocket_surgeron wrote: post #11

> Good luck producing LCD array with same level of tech in some remote colony light years from advanced foundries. Any colony that can manufacture integrated circuits can easily manufacture LCD panels. The ability to manufacture integrated circuits will likely be seen as important as the ability to manufacture oxygen in any colony, so there will probably be an LCD "printer" as part of their standard list of abilities…

We are talking about transporting tons of equipment trough light years of radiation many times stronger then the one that is already frying computers in satellites and probes within heliosphere, heck even on Earth's surface it's enough to flip bits in RAM dies. The simpler and radiation resistant stuff you can pack on board of transport ship the less effort you have to put in shielding that equipment during transport.

As for that passive LCD - I don't see how is that an argument for anything disputed about CRT. This is a far cry from manufacturing exact usable universal LCD display of resolution of even 200x320 that is not slower than snail in terms of responsiveness.

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#19

Post by danjoredd »

warrenm wrote: post #5

Here I thought you were going to talk about Critical Race Theory ... and I was all set to get up in arms (whether you're pro or con) because scifi should be about the science ! Good on ya!

It can be about both, tbh. Dune was like that...it was not only super detailed on the science side, the environment and biomes being so detailed and all, but it also dealt heavily with politics and religion and how either can be abused by charismatic rulers.

In addition, shows like Stargate, Star Trek, and Babylon 5 also had heavy themes of politics despite being hard sci-fi

Re: Why CRT in sci fi deep space ships actualy make sense

#20

Post by theandrewbailey »

Gordonjcp wrote: post #8
kokojumbo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, just look at how much redundancy in satellites and space probes we need to operate within the range of Sun's heliosphere. Outer space outside it would be even more killer to current electronics. Even if we switch to silicon carbide (which could possibly still remain harder to manufacture process) stuff it still would be a factor to consider.

> Even if we switch to silicon carbide (which could possibly still remain harder to manufacture process) In the 1980s I got a copy of the latest Cricklewood Electronics catalogue that had a whole page devoted to these newfangled SiC blue LEDs. Blue! Actually properly blue, too! They were 40 quid each, and indeed the text box where it gave the price said something like "£40 - yes, really, yes these are one of the most…

And for the past 10 years, almost every cheap electronic device has been permanently glowing blue because of them.

EDIT: aren't modern blue LEDs based on GaN?

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