Heck I was thinking of Ne bulbs for a computer. :)
I seem to remember that Lindsay Books have reprinted at least one old
book on making neon signs :-)...
More seriously, there is a useful book called 'Cold Cathode Tube Circuit
Design' that contains circuits for using neon bulbs as counters and shift
registers. However, I don't think this book has been reprinted, and it's
not cheap second-hand (no, my copy is not for sale!)
-tony