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I have fond memory of using amber monochrome CRT terminals/monitors, and I've preferred to it over the green or black/white monitors back in the days when color

I have fond memory of using amber monochrome CRT terminals/monitors, and I've preferred to it over the green or black/white monitors back in the days when color monitors were rarity. Amber/orangeish text always felt more soothing and pleasant, but on the other hand, green texts felt more readable (ie texts were easier to comprehend), although I couldn't explain why. Edit: Back in the late 70's and early 80's, monochrome monitors were prevalent and one had to choose the screen color when choosing terminal/monitor. Apple 2's and most IBM PC's monitor were green, while Radio Shack TRS80 were bluish/white if I recall. At university, we had Wyse terminals with yellowish/amber color. I also remember working on a terminal attached to a mainframe running IBM RPG III, and it was distinctly dark red, which was probably the coolest color I'd ever seen, and which I'd never seen anywhere else. That reddish color made me feel like I was in a sci-fi movie.

dr_zoidberg 8y ago
> Amber/orangeish text always felt more soothing and pleasant, but on the other hand, green texts felt more readable (ie texts were easier to comprehend), although I couldn't explain why. The human eye has "better resolution" for green light (vs red and blue). It's also why the Bayer pattern array has twice the ammount of green elements vs red (or blue).
- int_19h 8y ago
  Not just resolution, but overall sensitivity as well - meaning that green light of the same intensity looks brighter. This is also why most night vision devices use green phosphor, why some flashlights have a green LED (less energy for the same perceived brightness -> more battery life), and why green lasers for pointing/marking are increasingly common. Since black is the same black in both cases, a green CRT will therefore has a higher perceived contrast.
jankotek 8y ago
Hercules mono screen (XT) had better readibility than color CRTs (EGA and VGA). It had better resolution and refresh frequency.
- kps 8y ago
  You can spend your bandwidth on colors or you can spend it on pixels. (I recall having a 1600×1200 mono display at work circa 1990 when a high-end PC was pushing 800×600 SVGA. Beautiful and crisp, but porn^H^H^H^H the internet killed monochrome monitors.)
jonhendry18 8y ago
I always liked the mid-80s GRiD laptops with red-on-black gas plasma displays https://imgur.com/VGwYtMc https://imgur.com/VGwYtMc The terminal you're thinking of may have been an IBM 3290: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/ef/53/f3ef53c11973a83b2109573ee5fce979.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/ef/53/f3ef53c11973a83b2109...
- djsumdog 8y ago
  oh those gas plasma displays are awesome.
  - jonhendry18 8y ago
    I wonder what it'd take to control one of those if it were extracted from an old laptop. It'd make a sweet terminal.

dr_zoidberg 8y ago

> Amber/orangeish text always felt more soothing and pleasant, but on the other hand, green texts felt more readable (ie texts were easier to comprehend), although I couldn't explain why. The human eye has "better resolution" for green light (vs red and blue). It's also why the Bayer pattern array has twice the ammount of green elements vs red (or blue).

int_19h 8y ago
Not just resolution, but overall sensitivity as well - meaning that green light of the same intensity looks brighter. This is also why most night vision devices use green phosphor, why some flashlights have a green LED (less energy for the same perceived brightness -> more battery life), and why green lasers for pointing/marking are increasingly common. Since black is the same black in both cases, a green CRT will therefore has a higher perceived contrast.

jankotek 8y ago

Hercules mono screen (XT) had better readibility than color CRTs (EGA and VGA). It had better resolution and refresh frequency.

kps 8y ago
You can spend your bandwidth on colors or you can spend it on pixels. (I recall having a 1600×1200 mono display at work circa 1990 when a high-end PC was pushing 800×600 SVGA. Beautiful and crisp, but porn^H^H^H^H the internet killed monochrome monitors.)

jonhendry18 8y ago

I always liked the mid-80s GRiD laptops with red-on-black gas plasma displays https://imgur.com/VGwYtMc https://imgur.com/VGwYtMc The terminal you're thinking of may have been an IBM 3290: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/ef/53/f3ef53c11973a83b2109573ee5fce979.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/ef/53/f3ef53c11973a83b2109...

djsumdog 8y ago
oh those gas plasma displays are awesome.
- jonhendry18 8y ago
  I wonder what it'd take to control one of those if it were extracted from an old laptop. It'd make a sweet terminal.