LGR Oddware - 5.25" Drive Bay CRT Monitor from 1997

This is the STS Tecom CKS-05V from 1997, a 5-inch amber monochrome VGA CRT monitor that fits into three PC drive bays! And it is a delight to use with both retro games and modern software. Surprisingly sharp image and that beautiful orange glow, ah, just a fantastic oddity.
● LGR links:
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
● Check out United & Co's write-up and photo gallery here:
unitedandco.net/2021/07/07/a-...
● All background music licensed from:
www.epidemicsound.com
#LGR #Retro #Oddware

[@NeonThoughtBox]

This is the most Fallout looking thing.

[@ScottGrammer]

Fallout was almost the first thing I thought of when I saw it. Did you see that on the Win98 desktop he booted up, there was a Fallout icon?

[@thisisakodibox2635]

I smell a cross episode with Ben Heck pipboy mod.. (but seriously dont do this)

[@michaelathens953]

Yeah I was just gonna say "play fallout 1/2 on it!"

[@Pulse-da-proot]

“Yo, this pip-boy update looks good! But why the name windows? Oh, hey, they have solitaire!”

[@starmarker3896]

I was going to mention Fallout, but I see I'm too late.

[@wesleythomas7125]

"Why's the network so slow?" "Ted's playing DooM on the server again."

[@TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

"if I were your boss, I'd deathmatch ya in a minute!"

[@vespasian606]

@Wesley Thomas An actual occurrence. Large factory next door had it's production line regulated from several offices. Nearly all the PC's had Doom installed and late night matches were common. The only problem was the production line was 24/7 and started to stutter because all the bandwith was being eaten up. After two weeks of low key investigation word came down. No more Doom. -We- They just played single player after that. Not the same.

[@xolta11]

I would be playing doom.

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

I'd give a thumbs up, but I don't want to break the "666" you got going there. :-)

[@drek9k2]

@@vespasian606Hey man these kids don't even know what it's like having to reserve the phone line to just chat over IM with friends or look shit up for schoolwork. Yeah we couldn't share the household phone line. We had internet somehow come magically over it in 56.6kb/s. You can imagine how having nearly 1/20th of a megabyte download speeds can cause problems with attempting to do anything. Tbh I am still actually mystified they found a workaround to get Starcraft and Counterstrike to actually play over the fuckin phonelines. Like, I mean you even *imagine* a dev being tasked with that kind of optimizations for this day???! They freaking leave me using literally over a gigabyte for Pillars of Eternity save files. My Witcher 3 save folder is like 3gb, my old The Witcher 1 is nearly 1gb. For the SAVES don't even get me started on all that bloat from Terraria/Rimworld type shit still somehow taking up more damn space than the entire 4 disc install of Warcraft III.

[@snarkasticdouche3863]

It's seriously amazing how much detail a monochrome monitor can have, especially when it's a tiny thing like that.

[@8skellerns]

No shadow mask in them : )

[@Aikisbest]

It is the same with many small and simple devices indeed :)

[@rkirke1]

Yeah, I was expecting a blurry mess!

[@donvalette3589]

Monochrome its OP

[@simongrozov1801]

No mask or grille, i.e. nothing to muffle the image. I remember getting myself a 5-inch Commax CCTV monitor and getting blown away by how sharp everything looked on it. Like, you can read the tiniest fonts with a converter set to 4k. ACTUAL 4k on this thing, and beyond. Like the previous comment said, this is OP.

[@BitestheStuff]

03:15 Took me a moment before I realized Kevin addressed Clint by name.

[@DaveRicher705]

Bahahahahahaha

[@efa666]

I read it and I was like the dude must be Australian.

[@DeckerFI]

😁

[@pyr3x849]

I thought it said "Hi Cunt" 😔

[@bas9752]

@@pyr3x849 haha same here 😂

[@darkwinter6028]

That SCREAMS “put me in a custom Fallout-themed gaming PC build!”

[@realityveil6151]

Fallout is dead and bethesda sacrificed it on the alter of exploitation for short term gains. Fallout 76, death is thy name.

[@koghs]

@@realityveil6151 nobody asked.

[@w1ck3dz0d1ac]

@@koghs he's the opposite of his name. He lifted the veil on reality. He should change his name to Capitan obvious.

[@themanwithnoname4385]

Fallout died so S.T.A.L.K.E.R could live

[@jbfarley]

@@realityveil6151 get over yourself

[@Indigo_Gaming]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution would look exactly the same on that screen as it normally does. 😆

[@WednesdayMan]

Now I want to see dues ex: Human Revolution on this CRT

[@lethauntic]

I don't know why, but as I read what you said, my brain imagined that the double negative from the game and the monitor would somehow cancel out.

[@nobyra]

You win this comment section

[@tchitchouan]

orange and black

[@chompythebeast]

@@tchitchouan Beats orange and teal, god, remember that phase?

[@rydillo]

This is it. It's the peak of 90s oddware. It's something absolutely no one asked for, but it exists and it's amazing and I want it.

[@rollingtroll]

I swear there's times when my brain tricks me into thinking this is a colour monitor with an amber haze. Trippy! It's remarkably sharp though!

[@ZakkandtheJ]

I see it too

[@totems07]

The same here. Amazing little thing

[@Bubbabyte99]

Same

[@benm3382]

If you think about it, color is ultimately the way our eyes and brain process what we see... so the screen itself may only have one color but as our minds fill in the blanks we almost see other colors, especially if we know what color things should be.

[@steveclem7873]

Isn't a parallel

[@rhysun]

When I was at university in the mid nineties, my department had a little server room which had a few of these towers with amber monitors stuck in them. It seemed so awesomely futuristic at the time. We had our microbiology incubators in the same room and every time I went in there I had a "what an age we live in" moment.

[@BarelyGoodTV]

I would install this if you could still buy them

[@louistournas120]

I was shopping around for a PC back in 1997. I went into a store and they had stuck a laptop LCD to the right side of a PC tower. I guess someone had a dream of using LCDs with towers back then and 6 y later, they became more common place.

[@computernerdinside]

@@louistournas120 now that would be one hell of an all-in-one.

[@aeroripper]

I assumed these were probably mostly used for monitoring servers. They look pretty cool actually I bet you can purchase modern led versions nowadays. I haven't seen skifree since the 1990s and completely forgot about it lol.

[@squirlmy]

​@@BarelyGoodTV an lcd panel the same size is very doable.

[@Ticklethealgorithm]

If someone started re-producing these, I'd buy one JUST for a Fallout themed build.

[@Roxor128]

In the meantime, you might be able to make something close-enough with a small LCD screen and a clear plastic bubble to fake the tube.

[@PhilLesh69]

Remember that the power supply in a typical pc tower is 300 or 400 watts and has a bundle of wires with multiple switched 12 volt and 5 volt outputs. You can fit a double din car stereo head unit in the drive slot with a slight modification and power off the switched 12 volt. You could put any 12 volt accessory in there. Bonus points if you find a way to get a data signal line to the motherboard. Though USB sort of makes that child's play anymore.

[@ikeyasector]

I'm curious if today someone made a LCD version. I have a home server that I only use it's monitor to put in a password and that's it. Would be nice to have so I can use the full size monitor for something else like my Raspberry Pi or something.

[@cristiancabrera6627]

I want 3!

[@JaronOdele]

Combine it with the drive bay speakers for an all-in one setup if you can get ahold of a tower with a fourth drive bay. I'd definitely love to see that. Though, would the build use a vertical or horizontal case I wonder? Are there horizontal cases with enough bays is probably a good question on that front...

[@AtomicShrimp]

I am very relieved that you played Duke Nukem on it. I thought for a moment you might not.

[@jackfroste]

Shrimp after I saw him play it on a graphing calculator, I would be utterly disappointed if he didn't play it here!

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Well I for once am relieved he played Fallout New Vegas on it. I would have cursed at my monitor if he wouldn't have done that.

[@jacobparker5358]

The thought of 1990s Atomic Shrimp, younger but just as well spoken, pensive, and dryly humorous playing the adolescent, hormonal raunchfest that is Duke 3D is fascinating to me.

[@rembramlastname3631]

Yeah, but what about Fallout!

[@JohnGames-gz7ue]

It’s LGR, If he didn’t play duke nukem 3d we need to call an ambulance.

[@Lunareon]

There is just something utterly fascinating about old tech in a small size. The amber monochrome sets a nice post-apocalyptic atmosphere. What a treasure!

[@scotshabalam2432]

How did this not find a niche?? It turns PC towers into homebrew stand alone test equipment for the bench and works as a status display on host PCs without needing a massive monitor.

[@mcwomble99]

KVM switches where already out when this was released.

[@EmergencyChannel]

Price would be my guess.

[@roguebanshee]

@@EmergencyChannel Price is almost certainly one factor, marketing and the space requirements were also very likely factors. The cost of one of these monitors (more so with the image quality shown) would likely have driven costs to a point where you'd only really consider it if there was no way to find space for a conventional monitor. But I can't honestly recall any marketing for monitors like this, not even in "professional" magazines. Which is a surefire killer for the success of a product. And even if you knew of these monitors, you would need a large enough case at a time where there was a market push for mini-tower desktops (which usually had 2 5 1/4" slots). And given that you needed 3 empty 5 1/4" slots at a time where a CD (or DVD) drive was basically required for software installation, you were left with far fewer systems where it would fit in the first place.

[@franksnowboarder]

Did the monitor run of the computers power supply, or did it need to use its own power supply?

[@LaciDoszka]

@@franksnowboarder Probably You could use the Computer PSU Molex cable inside the PC. Same connector for the drives.

[@seoulpurpose]

Pure, concentrated Odd. Without LGR, I'd never have even suspected this kind of stuff existed.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

You happened to notice the world that is also.. Odd.. on his desktop? Damn, talk about ODD Ware ;)

[@seoulpurpose]

@@adventureoflinkmk2 I think he's playing up the amber. He knows well how to set a scene. The presentation of oddware episodes is amazing these last few years in particular

[@TheFarmboys]

Its great that a guy like Clint could blow up on KZbin and get these kind of opportunities. There's not a better guy in the world to show off this kind of thing!

[@bloxyman22]

If I had known I would have bought it back in days... If it was still sold I would buyt it today even :P

[@UNSCPILOT]

LGR and Technology Connections always find the coolest retrotech

[@moe_dk]

I like Kevin being a realist, and asking for a return before 2023 :D

[@Azeria]

The 1997 version of those PC cases with LCD displays on their case windows lmao

[@steveclem7873]

Suh 5.25 FloPPy yuh?..

[@celebratelife865]

Junk.

[@CarletonTorpin]

8:16 - Despite the orange-only color palette of this monitor, my brain tries to convince me that I can see all four colors on the Microsoft "Start" button logo.

[@plan7a]

Some of the other things were like that for me also, I guess it is because it isn't completely black and white (Or orange and black).

[@FroggyMosh]

13:29 - My brain tells me the bright colors are there for the "New 'n Tasty" billboard. But can't figure out why they're Amber, Amber and Amber. It's 11pm now, and I really feel the compulsion to go play old games on an amber screen now.

[@LadyLexyStarwatcher]

There is probably some colour theory or psychological reason for it.

[@quadruple_negative]

When he was in Windows, I swear I could see it in colour. Some sort of brain muscle memory, I guess.

[@Bubbabyte99]

Same

[@Sgnolbo]

I love how the New Vegas hud looks perfectly unchanged!

[@youmukonpaku3168]

Kinda wonder how Deus Ex Human Revolution would look on this. Probably unchanged

[@WhatAboutZoidberg]

This thing is actually incredible, its so legible at just 5in. I remember all the consumer sets looking like a foggy mess, but this is fantastic.

[@steveclem7873]

RowndyRowszzza

[@whaduzitmatr]

in an odd twist I have a 5" b&w TV made in about 1980 which is sharp as a tack

[@Vervexx]

I've seen one of these in person exactly once. I remember it being installed on the master computer in one of my classes in primary school. Nice to see one in action after all these years.

[@steveclem7873]

0fishAles?

[@Skradgee]

I misread this at first, as "I've seen one of these in PRISON exactly once."

[@firesurfer]

Where and when? No need to be exact for privacy reasons.

[@Vervexx]

@@firesurfer In the early 2000's (2001 or 2002 I think) in Quebec, Canada.

[@FloralGiant]

Watching Abe's Odyssey on this monitor makes it really feel like you're seeing game events through CCTV within the factory, that's awesome.

[@steamedauroraborealis8208]

Using Fallout for the thumbnail was the most absolute perfect choice you could have made. This feels exactly like a Vault tech Terminal

[@Rutherford_Inchworm_III]

Close, but no cigar. Not all blocktext monochrome monitors are created equal. Fallout's entire art style is dominated by the P1 green phosphor. The amber P3 is contemporaneous, but looks totally different and just doesn't do it for me. If this monitor was made in P1 it would be amazing.

[@ethanyoung1894]

@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III in fallout new vegas the whole aesthetic is based on amber displays

[@magmajctaz1405]

It's amazing how my eyes "got used to" the amber. When you cut back to your set, the items on your bookshelf seemed so much more colorful and bright!

[@intelbreak]

Aesthetic. This would actually be so sick in a Half Life 2 build with a grey distressed theme, orange LEDS and a custom Half Life style UI for the CRT displaying system stats like CPU temp ect..

[@metfan4l]

My first thought was "I really want to see New Vegas run on it"... glad this video delivered!

[@Aaronlcyrus]

The amber didnt' help

[@CommodoreFan64]

Same here, but I think it would look better with a green, or blueish white CRT, but considering what the original usage of this monitor was for being mostly text, I think amber was the best choice.

[@CoralCopperHead]

I wish I liked New Vegas, but the only game in the franchise I truly enjoyed was 3, and I went out of my way to check 1, 2 and Tactics.

[@Lumberjackk]

Hahaha I’m watching this video whilst playing Vegas myself

[@occono3543]

@@CoralCopperHead New Vegas doesn't have as good an opening as 3, admittedly, but I suggest sticking with it, it's better overall.

[@dodgeman777]

Me immediately: "I NEED THIS SO BAD" LGR: "...insanely hard to find, only a few are known to exist" DAMN

[@trevorpomroy550]

Anyone know for a supply of vga pos monitors that we could convert as substitutes?

[@DrewLSsix]

Time for a kickstarter lol.

[@craiggilchrist4223]

Same here.

[@MrStrangeUsername]

You could probably make a modern version with only a little bit of custom work. Mini-monitor off Amazon, and design and 3D print a 5.25" mount.

[@AlfredRusselWallace]

I'd be shocked if VGA LCD displays for drive bays don't exist

[@kastro4460]

6:07 Oh COME ON

[@ProfRenderer]

Pretty sussy

[@DavisMakesGames]

Wow, that's amazing! I want to make my own of these with one of those little 5' Raspberry Pi LCDs.

[@jorge1170xyz]

Watching it slot perfectly into that similarly yellowed case was sooo satisfying.

[@steveclem7873]

It is what it is?

[@steveclem7873]

(CooWeCanBildCyclesRidesENgoolCrazeeGuvAksRoolinNoknowENaz..

[@monopolyshark]

Seems like something much older from the ‘80s, I’m surprised that was made as late as ‘97. Fascinating.

[@straightpipediesel]

Usual story would be that some industrial/embedded systems were using them and the manufacturers didn't want to spend the money to engineer and qualify something else, so they kept buying them unchanged.

[@guardiane]

Never stop doing your thing, LGR. Loving this nostalgic tech reviews/builds.

[@samiam5836]

I love your Oddware videos. This one is one of my favorites. That display is absolutely awesome.

[@rb3020]

When installed on a tower, it reminds me of the early days of television when TV's were the size of a radio cabinet with nearly a five inch screen

[@eDoc2020]

The proportions of the unit as well as the shape of the CRT and its bezel look surprisingly like a late 1940s television. I'm lucky enough to have one (a TV that is, not this monitor) and there's just something surreal about using it.

[@jorge1170xyz]

It also resembles an original Macintosh in a way that I thought more people would be poking fun at :-)

[@eDoc2020]

@@jorge1170xyz I don't think it looks that similar to an old Mac. The Macintosh has a more typical bezel which is round all around, and the CRT there is similarly bulbous. This mini monitor has rounded corners on a perfect rectangle which was a standard bezel shape on round-CRT TVs. The flat-ish curvature of the CRT is also very similar to early TV CRTs like the 10BP4 and 7JP4.

[@jorge1170xyz]

@@eDoc2020 I just mean in the overall arrangement...a too-small monitor unaturally crammed into a rectangular case for the sake of design and "portability". There were no PC analogs to the all-in-one Mac design for many years, so I find this configuration to be amusingly and ironically similar.

[@eDoc2020]

@@jorge1170xyz I get what you're saying now. However I think Macintosh screens were plenty large enough given their low screen resolution. PCs and other non-Macs had plenty of analogs. The Osborne I had a 5" screen and ran CP/M, the Commodore SX64 had a 5" color CRT, and of course there was the Compaq Portable. This was PC-compatible with the same 9" screen as the Macintosh. The big difference is these were horizontal and the keyboards latched onto the screen to make a truly "portable" or at least self-contained computing package. Having written all that, it would be neat to put a monitor like this into a horizontal ATX case to recreate one of these old-school luggables.

[@chadhartsees]

This is one of the few Oddware episodes where it's something I've never ever seen - not in a magazine, not in a store, not in my wildest imagination.

[@donrosario3]

haha

[@bearbearingston7696]

As always very enjoyable, man. Your old camera reviews are on another level too, hope you can get by something like it soon.

[@WimvdBrink]

Just love to see the old games running on it, good times.... great review and love to hear you having a lot of fun with it :-D

[@user-lw4ic9tr5w]

Everything looks like a full blown night mode, it was surely ahead of his time.

[@RuviaPawz]

Crts good darks like oled

[@phimuskapsi]

Sometimes I have the captions on, and I'm glad I did this episode: "[most excellent menu music]"

[@RickMyBalls]

Practice mowwde

[@jwillisbarrie]

Thanks for taking time to add actual captions for the Deaf. This was really cool, never saw one of these.

[@parahumanoid]

This playlist is a treasure! Keep it up. Initially I came looking for Datasonix Pereos and when I saw there was more, I knew I had to sign up.

[@TKsMantis]

Seeing Fallout running on this thing is breathtaking. What a cool video, man! Thank you for doing this.

[@Camka427]

I know a spell that will show me your true form! Cave rat taught it to me!

[@DirtyRottenTaylor]

Love your memes bro

[@Kevin_Morales_Tube]

@@Camka427 It’s the ghouls, I tell you! Religious ghouls in rockets looking for a land to call their own! Don’t you laugh at me!

[@snarkylive]

you're breathtaking

[@benbrist]

Would be cool to have New Vegas running on the main display and then use that display as a Pip-Boy display, similar to Fallout 4's mobile companion app thing.

[@smeqwack7337]

"Mom I want a machintosh" "We have a machintosh at home" *Machintosh at home:*

[@michaelouz]

... LGR needs to Hackintosh this omg

[@Kabelkerl]

my first thord to

[@KingTurkeySub]

I'd rather have the one at home

[@RickMyBalls]

Except this beats any mac because you can game on it

[@ulisessolis3182]

Can someone explain this to me? Is that a joke or something?

[@De.therapist]

Hello love your all videos , you are the one who is kind of time travel machine for me , you always help in recalling my old memories .❤

[@flmalegre]

Clint, the level of research that you do is unreal! You're the best, man.

[@tehroller]

Thank you so much Clint, for showing me that 5 inches can still impress...

[@RC-nq7mg]

I love the slight roll in the image these old monitors have when re-establishing sync during resolution and refresh changes.

[@someguystudios23]

It's like a quick nod telling you your settings are set.

[@marcse7en]

Fantastic! Delightfully retro! Looks amazing! 👍😍

[@CC-ke5np]

My dad used to work in a large furniture store during the 1980s here in Germany. I remember a special semi soundproofed room with some dot matrix printers and a chunky computer with a built in monitor. The monitor was usually displaying a bouncing @ symbol. I well remember my dad explaining to me that the “@” is the “Klammeraffe” (literally: “clinging ape”, zool.:“spider monkey”) symbol. It took many years until I learned that this symbol was used as a shorthand in the English language. German typewriters don’t have this symbol. This computer was hooked to several VT51 (like) terminals spread through the building. I remember that my dad sometimes went into that room, punched a few keys and two pages of paper were printed. Then he used a mechanical teletype for an end of day sales report. Also I sometimes had seen his boss using the screen watching a progress bar and swapping tapes. I can’t remember any details but I guess that this screen was mainly used for properly shutting down or rebooting the computer, doing some maintenance, displaying and printing some stats and to initialize and monitoring backups. It sure was ASCII only as the entire system was based on a special OS running a sales and warehouse database for ASCII terminals.

[@tomikuusla925]

I've seen lots of weird hardware, but never anything like this. Thanks for making a video about it! What a weird little gem.

[@nathanhamman418]

I found one of these at the dump once, it didn't work well or for long.

[@erik3371]

It's very neat! I think you can consider rack mounted monitors a successor? Since the application systems are similar... I have a 3U dual 7" monitor/s in my rack, It's very useful! I've seen cases, and they look like they are still selling, with a modern crt mounted in the front along side the drive bays. Probably doesn't confirm to any other case though.

[@golinart4570]

@@nathanhamman418 Did you keep it at least? Something this rare is worth preserving, functional or not.

[@nathanhamman418]

@@golinart4570 It was in terrible shape, i attempted a repair, but that only made things worse, i planned on replacing the internals with a raspberry pi and a small lcd, but unless i have it in storage, i don't have it anymore, though i can't remember if i actually got rid of it.

[@mrevaym6535]

I mean, your PC after installing this is technically an all-in-one! Cool video, and cool monitor! I'd be more than delighted to find one of those somewhere...

[@Bembel81]

Minus the drives!

[@windowschamp3799]

@@Bembel81 So a modern all-in-one.

[@renakunisaki]

@@Bembel81 and keyboard and mouse

[@windowschamp3799]

@@renakunisaki Modern all-in-ones don't have those built in either.

[@brucewrigleysgumchewz4667]

That's what a laptop is for. 😝 And as for drives, I have a crap ton of CD and DVD games. I need that drive. I had to buy an older laptop because so many newer ones don't even have a DVD drive (or even blue ray drive). Would be nice if they offered one instead of just assuming EVERYBODY don't need it. They act like discs aren't made anymore. I still see lots of them being sold. Also not everyone has an AWESOME internet connection. I just barely got semi decent broadband in my area not too long ago.

[@mCreecher91]

Sixty seconds into the video and I’ve said awesome about six times. One of the coolest oddware vids yet. Thanks, Clint and the person who sent it in! That’s awesome.

[@claytonbouldin9381]

This is incredible to watch. I can't recall seeing one of these before your video.

[@Chaos89P]

There's just something amazing about just managing to plug a modern computer into an old-school CRT monitor and still be blown away by its graphical capability.

[@steveclem7873]

Computer=word

[@EzraBradford]

Analog technology!

[@Tall_Order]

I always loved green monochrome back in the 80s and early 90s the best, but every since Fallout New Vegas existed I've grown to appreciate Amber as well. This looks great. It's hard to hate the pip boy.

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

The little time travel device in Loki (TV show) is Amber (fake though, of course). I always liked green too though. Could probably see an LED version get very dim and still see it. Could probably play Pong on these bad boys!

[@jessez924]

i never knew something like this existed. but i love it. thanks for the awesome video. was cool seeing all those old games

[@ForestSchweitzer022097]

Terrific video! Always love your stuff. I'm from Raleigh so it's cool to watch content from a fellow NC-er.

[@jackmcslay]

If this was a thing you could buy regularly, I'd totally put it in a modern PC

[@KOTYAR1]

Ikr.

[@renakunisaki]

There are LCDs, and you could use an Amber color filter... but yeah, this one is so damn sharp!

[@tomyyoung2624]

@@renakunisaki Essay pea! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jackmcslay]

@@renakunisaki I don't think an LCD would be as fun, and even then they're not easy to find either.

[@blanchfor]

There is something about LGR videos that feel so relaxed, comfy, and nostalgic. Great content bro!

[@myfaveyoutube]

background saxophone

[@bloxyman22]

Nostalgic and completely new at the same time.. I never knew a thing like this even existed.

[@therighttune]

8:06, for the past 20 years, i finally heard the legendary windows 98 sound background 😭😭

[@sierrakobold6896]

This is awesome man and really made my day

[@buddyclatone9632]

I would run that as a second monitor and put a system monitor on it. This sort of thing needs to be a thing again.

[@RadioactiveBlueberry]

JayzTwoCents made a while ago just that for an LCD screen equivalent in video "EVERY PC should have one of these! How to make a sensor panel!". Go check it out.

[@MrBorstel27]

I am using the exact setup on my server to monitor the system resurces

[@kc1nzo]

I have an old hardware serial (RS232) terminal, a clone of the popular DEC VT-100, that I use as a Linux terminal. That way the terminal window is not cluttering up the GUI on my better (but still small) HDMI monitor. The terminal is basically an old tele-typewriter plugged into a computer, but with a CRT instead of a printer, so absolutely no graphics or color. No dynamic brightness, either, the terminal just sends and receives ASCII characters and displays them as a preset brightness level. It works amazingly on a GNU/Linux computer, just use a null modem cable, enable logins on /dev/tty0 or whatever serial device you have, then setup serial port speeds on terminal and pc so they are the same, and you are good to go. It works great, and the old terminal is not just sitting around gathering dust.

[@TheInfinitySystem]

Always did prefer amber to that matrix green. Have to admit, that's one bad assed little 5.25 monitor. Sharpness is amazing after all this time.

[@VulpisFoxfire]

Supposedly, amber was supposed to be easier on the eyes than green was.

[@Kara_Kay_Eschel]

I prefer the matrix green.

[@chiarosuburekeni9325]

This is super trash compared to what we have today. What do you guys actually like about this antique?

[@VulpisFoxfire]

@@chiarosuburekeni9325 You have absolutely no clue what the retro scene, or this channel, are all about, do you. Not to mention, show me a modern system that has a monitor screen mounted in the drive bay?

[@theViomax]

@@VulpisFoxfire lol nowadays its tough to show a modern system with drive bays.

[@rickbest7458]

It looks pretty smooth for such a small display. I love it!!! I’ve always liked stuff like that !!

[@scherzox]

The thing about amber monochrome is that I mostly don't miss the full colors. It almost feels alright in a weird way.

[@AUlonestar]

I imagine AOE on a monochrome monitor gets extra exciting when two large armies meet and players deploy the priests.

[@LGR]

Romans are red Hittites are blue Priests go Wololo Everyone is amber and this poem is poo

[@trevorpomroy550]

@@LGR hehheh

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@LGR Have you thought of going into greetings cards?

[@leontechtalks]

LOL

[@MogoPrime]

Easily one of the coolest accessories you've shared with us, and that's no small feat! We are all sad that these are not more readily available because, dangit, the world would be a better place with more adorable little amber CRTs!

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

I used to build a high brightness mono-green CRT display of this same form factor that got placed on the very old, very early "Steady Cam" outfits that get placed down by the ground because the steady cam operator has to look at his footfalls, not the camera viewfinder. So the CRT provided him with a viewfinder perspective down at his feet. Steady Cam tech has since evolved and I am sure he probably wears an Oculus or such now. But that CRT was the same one used in the F-4 Phantoms. We made hundreds for the original SteadyCam inventor/implementor (at the Hollywood level of course).

[@steveclem7873]

Context this IS a 5.25 FloPPy drive? Long globe bowl2find pc netw?

[@steveclem7873]

@@cosmicraysshotsintothelight access dive bomb is blue sky no comparison (CRT/TFT?) GreenSeeks! (This is just a 5.25 FloPPy drive?)

[@IRgEEK]

wow! That's awesome! And here I thought I was cool with my combo 3.5"/5.25" drive that fits in a standard bay! That is one nice find LGR!

[@brokenelectronics3665]

This is incredibly cool. I am amazed at how sharp the picture is.

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

I was pleasantly surprised with how well Duke 3D and Age of Empires look on the CRT, even with the amber screen taking a big toll on readability. It's a testament to how strong of an art direction both games have. Heck, Fallout: New Vegas didn't look half bad, either, in stark contrast to Fallout 1.

[@monkeyman767]

I actually love this, it has that weird late 60's early 70's "what the future will look like" kinda look to it

[@dodgeman777]

That's why I was amazed when he said 1997!

[@chompythebeast]

They call that "Retrofuturism", and it's a fun time to dive into examples of it online

[@reneschmidt9799]

Absolutely ingenious. Never seen before. Thanks for the clip.👍

[@cowgoesmoo3850]

I remember when I was younger, my dad had a TV like this(a little bigger) when the power went out. He somehow powered it and we were still able to watch Stargate and Battlestar Galactica lol. Good memories.

[@steveclem7873]

Ubin810ByTriffids? WeedingGardEN? SovErailrowdooDaddys?.. emc2tukups?

[@JozefLucifugeKorzeniowski]

you could probably hook that shit up to a car battery no problem.

[@paytopray1468]

It was probably one of the portable battery operated tvs. I’ve got one that runs on a shit ton of D batterues

[@Smashmilk]

I've always appreciated how you fade to commercials like a regular tv show instead of just random places ...

[@SnipE_mS]

That toshiba CDRom you showed is one of the first ones we had on our AMD K5 system back in 97-98. Soooo much nostalgia for a relatively mundane piece of tech.

[@MrDuncl]

CD Rom was still fairly new back then. When PC World opened in Southampton the opening offer I couldn't resist was a 4x Speed CD ROM at a bargain £60. It came in a huge box complete with several CDs including the obligatory Grollier Encyclopedia and a VHS tape explaining how to fit and use it.

[@Duddie82]

Its so cool. I played thsat game for hours back then. Looking at you play brings back lots of good times.

[@scottevensen2615]

Dang, that looks sweet! Such a cool idea, so sharp and clean 👌

[@stevethepocket]

This basically transforms any desktop into a modern-day "luggable." It'd be interesting to get something like this into a system new enough to support multiple displays and use it for digital readouts.

[@TheBibliofilus]

Hey, back in the day we lugged around big CRT's to LAN's and boy was that hard and nerve racking with a 21" 70lb CRT!

[@GamesFromSpace]

Or just tape an LCD panel to a desktop. Pretty sure you could DIY this with modern parts, like an OLED for a pi.

[@RichieBlaze1]

I'm seriously blown away by how good this monitor looks! Even on camera the small text is legible. Such a neat find and super interesting!

[@tbw666]

CRT technology was/is solid for sure

[@slip0n0fall]

Dude you are living my childhood to a tee. Some thoughts that come to mind, maybe ideas for future videos? U320 SCSI, obnoxiously tall full beige towers, power switch panels (under CRT),... love the nostalgia your channels provides - thanks and kudos.

[@fit4lifenickzagorov592]

Thats really cool dude thanks for the Video.

[@alextirrellRI]

It's almost hard to appreciate how tiny it must be in real life, but man it must be sharp to look that good with the camera so close.

[@blinkinglightsandsmokingcaps]

This would have been handy with some of the systems I used to work with back when this was new. Servers were usually connected via a KVM to a single screen and monitor for admin purposes, but with some systems you really also needed a dedicated monitor just to catch the occasional important error message scrolling up the screen.

[@mattyl9299]

Man, the novelty factor is a real thing. I remember searching through my dads shed when I was younger and I found a little portable black and white crt that was powered by a crap ton of AA batteries, luckily it also took a power cable as well. I plugged my playstation 2 into it and started playing through half life 1 on this tiny ass black and white display, not because it looked good but just for the novelty factor :)

[@steveclem7873]

JeezGizSANtaCaym4xmasEN

[@ashuggtube]

Great stuff! I'm impressed with how sharp it is. Most of those small CRTs were "good enough" for 80x25 text displays. I have fond memories of my little amber CRT from 20+ years ago which was great as the console for the collection of home Linux/*BSD servers. (Might have been on a VGA+PS2 KVM!)

[@mymarci]

I grew up on a farm in the Netherlands and i remember we had this screen in the computer that monitored the pigs shed, like automaticly distributing food at certain times or starting the sprinklers in summer when it became too hot, but also to control the power for the lights and fans. The computer ran on windows 3.1 and had a network connection to one of the both computers, that stood in our living room. Usually we used the computer in the living room to control and monitor the shed, but i remember espacially at thunderstorms when flashes frequently hit our shed, a alarm went off and we had to go there to restart the computer so the power of the shed went on again. It was always very frightening for me as a 10yo boy, because that computer was placed at the end of a long hallway, with 16 doors on one side with a few hundreds of panicking and screaming pigs behind those doors. It was dark, loud, and we couldn't turn the on the lights and switch off the alarm until the system was online again, so sometimes when i was alone at home, i had to walk across the street to that shed, enter with a flashlight, walk down that 130m long hallway, with flashes that came through small windows underneath the sealing and start that pc with that spooky monitor. I completely forgot that device, mostly because it was not a very pleasant experience when i had to operate that thing, in situations that could be straight out of a Freddy vs. Jason movie. But it's still cool to see that thing, in a much more comfortable way in 2021.

[@gnarlin4964]

This would be absolutely PERFECT for a home Linux server. I want one.

[@jamesslick4790]

👍😊👍

[@ChairmanMeow1]

My absolute first thought personally would have been "I wonder if you could play Fallout on this." The fact that you thought the same thing, and did it... that... that is why I love this channel.

[@QuaaludeCharlie]

Hardly any flicker rate , I Love it , Thank you and the Loaner for Sharing LGR :) QC

[@adriansdigitalbasement]

I'm in love!

[@rastislavzima]

Hehe, who would think that Adrian will fall in love with odd crt. :-)

[@adriansdigitalbasement]

@@rastislavzima heh, totally surprising to no one I'm sure. :-)

[@christyshultz6443]

Yeah too bad that there aren't very many in existence huh?

[@BilisNegra]

I can picture you fine-tuning all internal adjustment pots and stuff the moment one of these fell into your hands.

[@DavidMarvin]

I need this.

[@sirtanon1]

It's so satisfying to see Fallout: NV played on that amber monitor, especially seeing that Pip-boy.

[@paulmuaddib451]

Going from your Apple IIgs review to this is amazing.

[@andywolan]

This unit popped up on a few online forums I visit. Glad it got the LGR treatment. I must say this is like the ultimate in drive-bay add-ons, next to a multi-disk CD-ROM drive.

[@dustin6225]

Man, I always love seeing your Oddware. I thought I knew obscure tech then LGR goes all "hold my obscure mouse from 1970" and busts this awesome screen out

[@CarthagoMike]

A great CRT to play the new Quake 25th anniversary on.

[@allucardster]

This is so cool. Thanks for the video :)

[@JoelElRican]

This gives a whole new, or old, meaning to 2nd monitor. Great video!

[@JayOhm]

An interesting peculiarity of the display, especially visible at 18:55 : When average image brightness increases (e.g. opening Notepad), the monitor pushes overall brightness up, which is especially visible on the overscan. Moreover, at the same time image gets larger! You can really see how its corner gets closer to the plastic when Start submenus open.

[@TrimeshSZ]

That was pretty common on small displays like this - the EHT for the tube was generated by a winding on the flyback transformer that also drives the horizontal deflection. Another winding on the same transformer generates the supply for the electron gun in the tube (normally a few hundred volts), and this is normally what the regulation works from (since it's a lot easier to measure than the EHT) - the problem is that when displaying a lot of white (or amber in this case) it takes extra current from the +B supply and the regulator compensates for this by driving the transformer harder. Since it's all one transformer this also increases both the EHT on the tube (so higher brightness) and the drive to the line coils (so you get a wider image).

[@someguystudios23]

my LCD does that weird brightness thing. I dinct know what would cause that in a non-CRT screen.

[@hananezumi]

@@someguystudios23 adaptive contrast probably

[@donrosario3]

@@TrimeshSZ dude whoa

[@unitedco1904]

Wow the blog is in the video! That's awesome! Thanks for the showtime Clint and greetings from Quintus, the writer!

[@jamesslick4790]

About 130 years ago, I had a Gateway P5 133XL. THIS monitor was the thing I never knew I needed!