Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies
From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Wireless keyboard, wall screen,
Message-ID: <76000322@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 26 Dec 88 03:36:00 GMT
References: <8506@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Lines: 25
Nf-ID: #R:pasteur.Berkeley.EDU:8506:p.cs.uiuc.edu:76000322:000:1227
Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Dec 25 21:36:00 1988


/* Written 12:33 am  Dec 24, 1988 by kenchin@cory.Berkeley.EDU in p.cs.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac */
>The IBM terminals with gas plasma screens were large enough to display
>four login sessions at one time.  But the BIG disadvantage, is their
>lack of a brightness control.  It was impossible to use one near
>a window without the sun washing out the screen. The red color of the
>display was also somewhat irritating.
/* End of text from p.cs.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac */

I find nothing irritating about the color of plasma displays.  Perhaps
you are letting some cultural bias show through.  I have never had
problems with them in over 2000 hours of gas-plasma panel use on the
PLATO system.

One nice advantage of a plasma panel is that you can project pictures
onto it, but this advantage is probably being superceded by LCD
displays.

I don't know why a limited brightness control is impractical in in
principle.  Generally, plasma displays are pretty bright under strong
flourescent lights.  I don't know of any terminals that do well in
direct sunlight.

Don Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois
1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801      
ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gillies