The early plasma displays were basically a big array of neon lamps. Coincident voltage on X and Y lines turned pixels on and off. A sustain voltage kept the lit pixels lit. The screen was thus its own memory.
IBM had big flat panel plasma displays in the early 1980s.[1] Early in the history of AutoCAD, a driver was written for one of those things interfaced to a PC. The slow update rate was a big problem for the cursor. Orange plasma displays struggled along for decades, but the slow refresh rate limited their usefulness.
