> On Sep 16, 2023, at 11:52 AM, Shoppa, Tim via cctalk <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> Not quite computer tech but I figure this is the best place to ask:
>
> Does anyone recognize the display tech that was used on the Concorde's
> in-cabin display?
>
> Examples:
>
> https://samchui.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CON15.jpg
>
> https://samchui.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CON16.jpg
>
>
> The display had fully-formed digits and letters, and showed either Mach and
> Feet, or Temp and MPH. Some pictures show the display in green and others
> show it in orange - which of course were popular monochrome CRT colors, yet
> the display looks too "flat" to be a couple CRT's. Those colors were also
> popular for Electroluminiscent displays which matches the evident "flatness"
> but I'm not sure I've seen any EL's with fully formed digits like this with
> no visible segmentation?
>
> I want to guess it was individual digits back-projected - which was a popular
> control-theater display tech at the end of the 20th century - but I can't
> rule out, say, really well-done edge-lit character plates. In any event there
> doesn't seem to be any visible jitter up and down between digits that I might
> expect with either of those technologies.
I would make the same guess. They look a bit like the IEE "In line display"
numeric projection displays that were popular in the 1960s. I have a couple,
they are very nice high quality (very readable) numeric displays using a set of
mini-projectors each with its own incandescent lamp to project a digit onto a
frosted glass (or plastic) screen.
https://www.industrialalchemy.org/articleview.php?item=511
The Concorde displays are not those exact units but they may well use the same
technology, or perhaps even use a custom-made variant.
paul
