@TechConnectify "I've always been fascinated with the idea of building 7-segment displays out of weird things. Imagine a clock where each segment is a 4 foot fluorescent tube"
yes
I have done this a looong time ago and it's a nightmare to get the high frequency drive of the tubes right and if I'd do it now I would probably predict when to change digits (if it's a clock) to pre-heat the filaments to strike the tubes flicker-free.
@TechConnectify I think there was no reason for RCA to put more effort into making those.
They already knew there were multiple better technologies that would become viable in a few years, so they just quickly came up with a cheap stopgap solution.
Also, regarding those silly "selling points" in the datasheet - what if they were trolling?
What if the entire product line was a joke to see if the management will let them ship something stupid?
@TechConnectify I wonder if they got some 'certification' thing going, along the lines of 'you use light bulbs in your system, so you can use these without having to do new certification'.
(Either that or a desperate use for the growingly redundant vacuum tube line)
@TechConnectify Related weird-but-somewhat-terrible-tech: my LG dishwasher has a 7-segment display which tries to trick you into thinking it’s an LCD which is emulating a 7-segment display.