Orange dot-matrix gas plasma displays were used on pinball machines for over 2 decades before the manufacturers switched to colour LCD screens. Now instead of clever pixel art and high legibility we have cheesy CGI and so much information on screen that I have no idea what to shoot for…

Star Trek: TNG uses one of those displays to great effect. Interactive mini-games, great 1-bit graphics, really clear instructions and directives. It makes for a great game.

LCSI LogoWriter for 68k Macs[0] was my shit. It was my first[1] introduction to programming in elementary school and I spent hours trying to make games with it. There were 4 turtles and you could treat them like sprites; you give them custom shapes and colours, and there were basic collision detection primitives. You could also check for collisions with the background by querying the colour under a turtle. You could play and record your own sounds... spent so much time with that little round Apple microphone[2] recording goofy sound effects.

[0] https://www.macintoshrepository.org/6717-logo-writer-2-0

[1] technically I had used the Apple II version a couple times first

[2] https://applerescueofdenver.com/products-page/macintosh-to-p...

See also “Your DietBet Destroyed the World” https://laprade.blog/your-dietbet-destroyed-the-world

One of my favourite short stories, it’s always stuck with me since it was posted to HN a few years ago.

Good thing that in our universe L-glucose seems to act as a laxative, so there is less of an incentive to mass-produce that for dieting purposes.

Every time I see my article reposted, I get nostalgic for the 30” Apple Cinema Display I used in the photos. Maybe the best monitor of all time… the thing was MASSIVE and was peak Apple design perfection. I kept it until 2016-ish, and by then the backlight was giving out, and the ecosystem had moved on from DVI and Mini DisplayPort. Your subpixels are sadly missed. ;-(