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Wild that literally nobody makes these things anymore.

20 years ago they were everywhere, $100.

Now there's no factories left. All of the high voltage electronics are kind of bespoke and there aren't really supply chains for them anymore, but you COULD make them again.

The real kicker is the tube, the color mask and phosphor coating is a disaster. And what's more, the machines that made them are now archaic. Even if you were able to get one, keeping it maintained and working properly is a skill unto itself. Generally production engineers will always build new lines using only current era (CNC) machines for which the spare parts and knowhow are widely available.

This is an important little lesson that technological capabilities are not to be taken for granted. 20 years is long enough for a technology to really basically just vanish and once it's gone, you would need to go through a whole new R&D process if you ever wanted to bring it back.
>>Wild that literally nobody makes these things anymore.

Because they don't scale. Try to make one 50" good luck.

Flat screens are such an improvement over CRTs that it makes my head hurt that anybody misses the old CRTs.

And I had not one but three +20" multi-sync CRTs back in the day, the moment LCD panels crossed the 1024x768 resolution threshold at 60hz it was game over for CRTs and good riddance.
>>Oh I don't really miss them. And I don't really have an opinion about screen size because I don't watch TV at all.

I don't watch TV either but my twin 27" 120hz LCD panels I CAD on say hello. And the 52" TV I game on 4k send its regards.

>>It's more thinking about how a technology can be kind of "lost" and it's hard to bootstrap again.

It is not lost, it is 1000% impractical nowadays, two very different things, is like using cassette tapes in the age of digital computers with high definition audio and sophisticated audio file formats, or using floppies to exchange files in the age of the USB drive.

There are technologies like the CRTs that lose their "raison d'etre" once something else smaller and better is available, can you imagine a nintendo switch with a CRT? or a CRT in a combat jet? or a mobile phone with a CRT like the Pipboy?

Technologies that truly matter which are not irrelevant like the internal combustion engine, or how to manufacture tires not only aren't lost, they are being perfected all the time.
> Technologies that truly matter which are not irrelevant like the internal combustion engine, or how to manufacture tires not only aren't lost, they are being perfected all the time.

I was actually thinking that car-sized internal combustion engines, automatic transmissions, etc. are at risk of ending up the way of the CRT, because battery price and density keeps marching on every year so eventually it's really going to make no sense to have a car with an engine...
Not the same situation with combustion engines, there are plenty of types of combustion engines that EVs can't replace, like the ones in air-planes, the ratio of energy/autonomy you can get on an agrarian tractor using Diesel for example (which can be manufactured easily from any oil) pretty much guarantees it will be with us forever.

Electric Vehicles can have some uses, but they aren't a clear cut better option for heavy duty.

Also think of generators... you use those when there is no electricity to generate it.

Now if some form of engine that's more compact and practical appeared yes, old engines would go the way of the dodo.

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Diesel is going to last a long time because they're just super useful engines. As you point out, diesel is the only technology for portable generators with decent efficiency so even just that will be enough to keep them alive.

But I'm not saying internal combustion as a technology, but rather, "4 cylinder, front wheel drive, automatic transmission" type constructs that currently grow on trees, but are a very easy target for electrification...