On Mar 30, 2007, at 8:24 AM, Jay West wrote:
It may well be the one that Paul saw and was asking
about. But just
as another datapoint, I too remember as a kid seeing a design for a
computer that used a telephone dial for input and it was not the
same one as pictured in the ebay article that Mike pointed out.
The one I saw was more "horizontal" in appearance with the dial on
top, whereas the one on the ebay auction is more "vertical" and has
the dial on the front. I also remember that the one I had seen
definitely had a lot more components
The magazine article is definitely not the one. It is too reliant on
the neon bulbs. It is amazing how much the bulbs have to be
conditioned for it to even work. The one I saw was in a book, not a
magazine, and it did not have neon lamps but regular lamps. I think
Jay is correct about it being more horizontal and having a lot of
components. I remember there what seemed a complex rotary switch,
probably something you cannot even get today but my local electronics
shop was able to order it at the time.
My biggest problem back then was I could not find a telephone dial.
The telephones were the property of the phone company and were only
rented so you could not take one apart. Now I can find a rotary phone
in a flea market for $1.00.