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.

  • @[email protected]
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    279 hours ago

    I’m not crazy old, but I’m old enough that the supermarket I went to as a kid had these at all the checkout aisles and the cashiers would use them to send cheques/reciepts/ whatever.

    It was awesome to see.

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)
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      76 hours ago

      Okay, maybe my town is just not up to date, but these are still in use at all the banks and pharmacies where I live. Are they phased elsewhere?

    • @[email protected]
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      138 hours ago

      They still use them today in some supermarkets, now they use them to send packets of cigarettes through the store.

      • @[email protected]
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        46 hours ago

        That’s actually a pretty good use. In my local market they send the person to a separate counter.

        • swim
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          34 hours ago

          Very cool, I’ve never seen the ones that can send a person. Can they breathe in transit?