20 Nov
1997
20 Nov
'97
2:52 a.m.
From: Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
<So how about making our own. A tube containing, say, a 4-bit D-type
<latch? Make a few in that range and a valve computer becomes almost
<manageable! Besides, the smaller it is, the faster you can make it...
A four bit latch using valves would require not less than 8 triodes plus
buffers. Very hard to do in one envelope...
Also tubes had some characteristics that made it very hard to design fast
enough logic that distance(size) was a factor.
I have a few 7586 and 6ds4/6cw4 nuvistors and they are 0.8" tall and 0.45
dia and make really good rf amplifiers but slow switches.
Allison