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I'd like to make my text editors display like the old skool white-on-green VDUs of yore that I can just about remember from my childhood. I have this idea they might be easier on my old eyes.
I was wondering if there was standard dark green used on these and, if so, what the RGB or Hex values for it might be?
5arx
Posted 2011-11-25T09:56:53.587
Reputation: 1 438
63
DaveBoltman's answer is very remarkable and useful. However, the phosphors' wavelengths in Wikipedia are not exact. There are other references and Google books giving slightly different values. For instance, P1 w/l is 525, not 528 nm: http://www.labguysworld.com/crt_phosphor_research.pdf
Anyway, I remember what colors those phosphors displayed (including the amber phosphors), so I am nearly sure of these RGB and Hex values:
I suppose that Apple //c and Apple /// monitors used the P24 GE phosphor, because they had its hue. And the background of the old monochrome CRTs usually was lighter than pure black, see this photo:
For better eye comfort, I suggest that the OP use any of those greens with that background. In the dark, the old-fashioned green on dark gray looks better than the present black on white.
Giorgio Brandi
Posted 2011-11-25T09:56:53.587
Reputation: 846
22
Inspired by the above (incomplete) answers:
Almost all the "'old fashioned' green screen computer displays/VDUs" used the P1 phosphor (see wikipedia reference)
The P1 phosphor produces a peak wavelength (a.k.a. colour in human terms) of 528 nm (reference)
Converting colour from a wavelength to RGB values (in the commonly used byte format of 0 to 255) using formulae here, gives: Red=65 Green=255 Blue=0, or #41FF00 in hexadecimal. (see this convertor).
This does not take brightness into account. (to adjust the brightness the RBG value would need to be converted to HSV, have the V component adjusted up or down, then converted back to RGB to satisfy the OP).
Reversed Engineer
Posted 2011-11-25T09:56:53.587
Reputation: 321
10
From Wikipedia you can find a wavelength of this phosphor and RGB conversion formulas can be found easily from internet.
Cougar
Posted 2011-11-25T09:56:53.587
Reputation: 533
1Wow! Now that's what I call a geeky answer. Many, many thanks for this amazing idea! – 5arx – 2011-11-25T19:30:17.380
8
RedGrittyBrick
Posted 2011-11-25T09:56:53.587
Reputation: 70 632
I've tried both amber and green. In hindsight I liked the amber best. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen – 2019-11-26T06:23:11.613
"Some makers claimed amber was better for eyes." - Medically-prescribed 'VDU' glasses were/are amber-tinted (a relative worked in a medical eye centre) – Linker3000 – 2011-11-25T12:52:03.023
3in short. do what a lot of nostalgic geeks do, and adjust it till it looks right – Journeyman Geek – 2011-11-25T13:22:05.900
1Unfortunately I don't really remember what it looked like. I was <10yrs old at the time :-| – 5arx – 2011-12-03T23:43:11.433
0
Try RGB color code:
R:36
G:204
B:68
For a result like this:
Ing
Posted 2011-11-25T09:56:53.587
Reputation: 11
13Why do you think this is the right color? Other answers provide some insight and reasoning. How can we tell it's not just your opinion or a wild guess? – Kamil Maciorowski – 2018-02-20T21:31:57.913
It's funny after all this time, eyes feel better with basic combination of ambar or green on black. Just created iTerm2 profile based on your answer. Good stuff, thank you – mau – 2019-09-16T23:52:58.897
I'm unclear what you mean by
hex color #XXXXXX = YYY nm, as that certainly doesn't make sense as an equation. The real-life color produced by some RGB color will depend highly on the display. Which was the original and how did you derive the other from it? – Apollys supports Monica – 2019-12-02T22:26:59.473