VOGONS


First post, by Andrew T.

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Newbie

When did monitors with physical knobs for brightness and contrast disappear from the market?

Of all the features of computers that disappeared after being taken for granted in the '80s and '90s, this is one that I miss the most. I'm constantly adjusting monitor brightness due to changes in room lighting conditions during the day, and it's much, MUCH easier to do this with the quick flick of a knob instead of a slow trudge through on-screen adjustment displays.

Until the electron gun gave out after 18 years of daily use, I still used a 17" Dell CRT from 1998 with physical knobs. This may have been one of the last: By 2000 Dell's manufacturer had switched to on-screen menus and buttons, which stuck in my craw. But could physical knobs have persisted a little longer on higher-end monitors?

Reply 1 of 1, by Jo22

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Hmm. Not sure, sorry. My family and me used some 80s tech all the way up to the 2000s.
In the 90s, for example, I had got a 14" IBM PS/2 monitor for my 286 and a Commodore 1702 for my (S)NES, while my father had got a 386DX40
with some old medical 20" monitor that had physical knobs and BNC connectors for RGBHV input.

On a wild guess, I'd say that buttons replaced knobs roughly by the time Win95 appeared and OSDs became common.
On the other hand, though, even some monochrome monitors (TTL/Hercules) had got replaced certain knobs early on..
Hmm. Not sure where to draw the line, sorry. 🙁

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