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"Cathode Ray Tube"? "C RunTime"? Neither makes much sense to me; something else entirely?

Brian Bi
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1 Answers1

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You're right, it's "Cathode Ray Tube". A thing from the past already :) The most common display type before 2005.

Most of the functions in the CRT unit are related to text-mode output and color setup, the only "interesting" things that could be done on an older non-graphical pre-VGA displays.

I'm not that old, but I remember back in 1995 I've been using the Turbo Pascal on a typical 13'' CRT display (they were synonymous with the "display" actually) and it's been 100% natural that the unit containing functions to manipulate that very CRT display is called CRT. Yes, there are also the key presses and stuff, but CRT is pretty natural. Don't know how to explain it better. It's like a 3.5'' floppy disk icon which is a metaphor for "Save file" menu item. Many young people haven't even seen those floppy disks and now it is only a sort of a "cultural legacy".

Viktor Latypov
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  • Could you perhaps explain a bit more about how you know this? Cathode Ray Tube was indeed the first thing I thought, but this name seems silly to me. A much more sensible name would be "terminal" imo. – Brian Bi May 31 '12 at 20:20
  • Actually there was graphics before VGA too. EGA, MCGA, hercules. – Marco van de Voort Nov 17 '12 at 12:16
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    There is notable `CheckSnow` variable, which controls RAMDAC write locking while **not** in [retrace](http://www.andrewferrier.com/oldpages/horizontal_retrace_trainer.html). This feature is tightly bound to CGA hardware. Also, more like 1985, not 95. – OnTheFly Apr 21 '13 at 10:47
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    @Brian: CRT was simply how the display devices were called, in professional circles. So the Pascal unit mostly taking care of the display was called CRT too, these days. They could also have used "Terminal" or "Console", but these had slightly different meanings, then. Terminals were usually hooked up to large mainframe computers and consoles were more for playing games. – Rudy Velthuis Aug 01 '17 at 23:10