Gas panel

Gas panel is a type of display device used in some computer systems and calculators from the 1970s. The gas panel display technology was primarily developed and marketed by IBM.

History

The gas panel technology was first developed in the 1960s by engineers at IBM. The technology was used in a variety of IBM products, including the IBM 3270 terminal and the IBM 2260 display station.

Technology

A gas panel consists of a sealed glass envelope filled with a mixture of neon and other gases. The panel is divided into a grid of cells, each of which can be individually illuminated by applying a voltage across the cell. The illumination is caused by the ionization of the gas within the cell, which emits light.

The gas panel display is a type of plasma display, but differs from modern plasma displays in several ways. One of the main differences is that gas panel displays are monochrome, while modern plasma displays can display full color.

Advantages and Disadvantages

One of the main advantages of gas panel displays is their high brightness and contrast, which made them suitable for use in brightly lit environments. They also have a wide viewing angle, which is an advantage in situations where the display needs to be visible from different positions.

However, gas panel displays also have several disadvantages. They are relatively expensive to produce, and they consume a lot of power compared to other display technologies. They also have a relatively short lifespan, typically around 10,000 hours.

Legacy

Despite their disadvantages, gas panel displays were widely used in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in IBM products. However, they were eventually superseded by other display technologies, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and light-emitting diode displays (LEDs).

Today, gas panel displays are mostly of historical interest, although they are still used in some specialized applications.

See also

• Plasma display
• Liquid crystal display
• Light-emitting diode display