GM's Futuristic '80s Digital Displays – This Man Fights to Keep Them Alive

theautopian.com

59 points·AdamH12113··8 comments

I love these retro future displays and UIs.

Something super satisfying about the colors and contrast.

Often because (as in this case as well) they are not regular LCD or calculator-like segmented displays, but rather Vacuum Florissant Displays. VERY satisfying hue they emit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_fluorescent_display

Old gas-plasma displays are awesome there’s something so retrofuturistic about them, they’re a cross-breed between CRTs and LCDs.

Some laptops specially those for mil applications came equipped with them they also were (and there are some still running) common on industrial machines due to their ruggedness.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TUPQlAsnOI8

In recent Etak article comments webstrand linked to this gem: "INFORMATION DISPLAY - The Official Journal of the Society for Information Display" JULY 1985 VOL.1 No.7

http://archive.informationdisplay.org/Portals/InformationDis...

Page 17 has an article on 1985 Chrysler H-body VFD cluster.

These displays made your car look like a proper fighter plane. Today we get a tablet slapped onto the dashboard :(

I bet the UI latency was lower than current infotainment systems.

In about 20 years from now, you you could write this exact same article but instead of Oldsmobile Trofeo and Trinitron CRTs it will be LCDs and any car sold today.

I don't think that current LCD's will work after 20 years.

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