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Cool-retro-term: A terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display

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Re: Cool-retro-term: A terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display

#81
post #44

In my X-ray crystallography/structural biology lab we still use CRTs from over a decade old Silicon Graphics systems. They are the only displays that can do a 120Hz horizontal scan, which is darn critical when you are looking at protein and drug structures in quad-buffered stereo! Sadly, the CRTs are dying off over time and it gets harder to find replacements that can work as well as they do. There are LCD alternativ…

Care to explain what the issue is? Delay? Blurriness?

Flicker. Anything less than 120Hz can give severe eye strain and headaches over long (30-60 min) work sessions.

As to the LCD replacements, the anti-aliasing is just not as smooth (yes, I'm being subjective) as on the CRTs. Perhaps, a "retina" level resolution display with 100+Hz refresh-rate will be a real solution. But those are probably still at the R&D stage and will be ridiculously expensive at launch! And the graphics cards to drive them as well!

Re: Cool-retro-term: A terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display

#82
post #38
post #6

In a modern world where we backlight semiconductors to produce high dpi screens, it almost feels weird to think we used to fire electron guns towards our eyes. I was always partial to the amber screen. Has anyone recently played with an old Asteroids cabinet? The screen is a black and white CRT. When you fire a missile, the screen effect is insanely bright. I'd forgotten just how intense that was. I can't wait until…

> When you fire a missile, the screen effect is insanely bright. There was a rumour that people who played on a Vectrex (a vector display home console) would experience eye damage after protracted sessions.

A bit of anecdata: I spent a lot of hours on a Vectrex and didn't get any eye damage :-)

Re: Cool-retro-term: A terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display

#83

I should take a look to their shaders and tune up more Trillek CRT shader : https://plus.google.com/118048310717476799717/posts/4CSV9LHq... https://plus.google.com/118048310717476799717/posts/diBzDKJ2...

You might also appreciate http://timothylottes.blogspot.com/2014/08/scanlines.html

Re: Cool-retro-term: A terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display

#84

Funny how being around in the days when this was common I couldn't wait to see the future. Now I am in the future and people get excited about recreating the past. I can't win.

Back in those days, sitting behind a WY-85 connected to a VAXstation 3540, I was terrified by a thought that these awful, ugly, clumsy x86 PCs are possibly the future. And now, the future turned out to be even worse than I imagined.

Re: Cool-retro-term: A terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display

#86
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to explain what the issue is? Delay? Blurriness?

Flicker. Anything less than 120Hz can give severe eye strain and headaches over long (30-60 min) work sessions. As to the LCD replacements, the anti-aliasing is just not as smooth (yes, I'm being subjective) as on the CRTs. Perhaps, a "retina" level resolution display with 100+Hz refresh-rate will be a real solution. But those are probably still at the R&D stage and will be ridiculously expensive at launch! And the g…

I'm probably misinterpreting your requirements, but you should look into Korean IPS monitors. They're generally very cheap, are far better at reproducing colours than standard LCD monitors, have higher pixel densities (1440p@27") and can often be overclocked (90-120hz). The best deals are usually on ebay, shipped from Korea.

http://www.blurbusters.com/overclock/120hz-1440p-ips-monitor...

Re: Cool-retro-term: A terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display

#88
post #86
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flicker. Anything less than 120Hz can give severe eye strain and headaches over long (30-60 min) work sessions. As to the LCD replacements, the anti-aliasing is just not as smooth (yes, I'm being subjective) as on the CRTs. Perhaps, a "retina" level resolution display with 100+Hz refresh-rate will be a real solution. But those are probably still at the R&D stage and will be ridiculously expensive at launch! And the g…

I'm probably misinterpreting your requirements, but you should look into Korean IPS monitors. They're generally very cheap, are far better at reproducing colours than standard LCD monitors, have higher pixel densities (1440p@27") and can often be overclocked (90-120hz). The best deals are usually on ebay, shipped from Korea. http://www.blurbusters.com/overclock/120hz-1440p-ips-monitor...

I'd gladly try that out for personal use!

But it is an entirely different manner when your purchase has to be approved by a pyramid of bureaucrats and more importantly, buying things at online auctions (eBay, gasp!) or even otherwise (amazon) takes weeks to be approved. And oh!, we need five of those monitors to start with (and they better work!).

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