Display technology? (old laptop)

[[email protected]]

What kind of display technology did old laptops like Toshiba J-3100GT use ..?
It had this distinctive red color, I think it was some gas-cell stuff.

Examples:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/pc/h/t3100.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/mickfrench/Images/093.jpg
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/description/toshiba/Toshiba_T3100_System_s1.jpg

Those screens that did greyscale.. what technology did they utilise ..?

 

[Ecnerwal]

What kind of display technology did old laptops like Toshiba J-3100GT use ..?
It had this distinctive red color, I think it was some gas-cell stuff.

They were marketed as plasma, as best I recall (way out of my reach at
the time, but I did see a few). An array of tiny neon bulbs,
conceptually, or something close to that.

 

[[email protected]]

I think that's right. I had an IBM PS/2 Model 70 Portable (25 MHz 486,

very swish at the time) with an orange plasma display. It was a sealed
glass panel filled with low-pressure gas and it used electrodes to
strike a plasma--exactly like an array of very small NE-2s in one
envelope. It was definitely less purple-pink than a plain Ar/Ne glow,
so they must have put some helium or something in there as well.

Must been this one (IBM PS/2 Model 8573-P70 8573-121):
http://www.tpuser.idv.tw/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27636

Seems someone figured out how to controll them aswell:
http://ps-2.kev009.com:8081/ohlandl/8573/8573-P70.html

Guess an FPGA and 5V level translation should enable one run the screen without
the computer

I've seen some greyscale displays from this era aswell. Any idea how they work?
http://www.tulipgv.nl/tlt-nb.html

 

[Phil Hobbs]

Must been this one (IBM PS/2 Model 8573-P70 8573-121):
http://www.tpuser.idv.tw/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27636

Seems someone figured out how to controll them aswell:
http://ps-2.kev009.com:8081/ohlandl/8573/8573-P70.html

Guess an FPGA and 5V level translation should enable one run the screen without
the computer

I've seen some greyscale displays from this era aswell. Any idea how they work?
http://www.tulipgv.nl/tlt-nb.html

Now that I think about it, I think it was a Model P75--same thing but
with a 486DX. It looked exactly like the one in the pictures...weighed
probably 25 pounds. Running DOS and DesqView (a full-screen DOS task
switcher that I just loved), it was great stuff for 1990.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

 

[Arie]

I've seen some greyscale displays from this era aswell. Any idea how they
work?
http://www.tulipgv.nl/tlt-nb.html

Those are all LCD screens.

The Plasma screens were limited to about 16 intensity levels, mainly
because the dot could not be completely extinquished. The display was
self-scanning, at one end of a row a dot was created, then transported using
much like the charge in a modern CCD. By modulating the current the light
output was controlled.

I designed some medical equipment in those days using Burroughs "self-scan"
plasma displays, they needed AFAIR a hefty 200V dc at almost 100W if fully
lit. A 4-phase clock transported the dot.
For the principle see http://pdplab.incheon.ac.kr/images/selfscan_TM.gif


Arie de Muynck