12 Nov
2000
12 Nov
'00
6:11 p.m.
On 12 Nov 2000, Frank McConnell wrote:
"ajp166" <ajp166(a)bellatlantic.net>
wrote:
They were quite popular with the early manufacturers of Digital
Voltmeters and other such equipment. Makers such as NonLinear Systems
(think Kaypro) and Electro Instruments and others whose names do not
immediately come to mind.
They permitted display of larger characters than nixies, had no high
voltage requirement, and with a filter you could make the display any
color you wanted.
- don
You can but nixies are a pita to drive. Of era
lamping would be
bulb per bit. cheaper too.
Hmm. I saw an interesting display device at a friend's the other day,
in some sort of Genrad whatsit that he was getting ready to scrap.
(He's keeping the display digits though.) Each digit is a box with a
bunch of tiny incandescent bulbs mounted in the back; each bulb
illuminates one layer of plastic at the front; these layers are
stacked and each has a digit (or other symbol, e.g. decimal point)
etched in it (as a bunch of etched dots). There's a diagram on the
side of each digit-box that indicates which bulb illuminates which
digit or symbol.
Anybody got any ideas about this thing? His speculation is that
somebody didn't want to pay for nixies (but he's amazed at what these
things must have cost to build in comparison), mine is that they
wanted something nicer than a column of digits 0-9 with a bulb behind
each. -Frank McConnell