LED displays (TIL305, TIL308, etc.)

Hi, All, Since one of the first computers I ever got my hands on as a kid (Quest Elf) happened to have TIL311 HEX displays, I've long been fascinated with display technology of that vintage. I was poking around for images of some of the related displays to the TIL311 and ran across a couple of links with pictures and some history... http://www.decodesystems.com/old-displays.html http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/tubepage.php?item=33 In particular, I notice that one of the displays I have one of is a TIL305 or MAN2 (no logo on mine). I was also looking at the TIL306 or TIL308, but don't happen to have any of those. I do have a reasonable quantity of TIL311s for my various Elf and Elf2000 machines and even a set that came with an INS8073 SBC. I would love to find a couple more TIL305s so I can round out an old project, plus I had an idea for a project that would be interesting to use TIL306s or TIL308s (don't care about where the decimal point is, so either is acceptable), but ISTR some discussion on the list a while back about those in particular, possibly as replacements to some HP counter, and how difficult and expensive they are to obtain. TIL311s are frequently found on eBay for various prices; I've gotten them myself for as little as $2.50 each in small quantities. I doubt that TIL306s and TIL308s are anywhere near that inexpensive, no matter what the quantity, but I thought I'd ask if anyone has recently found any place selling them. I'm not trying to repair a bit of vintage kit, so I'm not willing to pay "any" price for them - if they are too expensive (as I suspect they are), then I will find some other display. Yes, non-driven LEDs are inexpensive to free and modern microcontrollers can drive wads of LEDs easily and cheaply, but what I'm going for is a 1970s look with 1970s components (i.e., popcorn-logic driven, not micro- processor-driven). The advantage of the TIL306s and TIL308s is now what it was then - a high level of integration reducing the overall wiring complexity and parts count. The disadvantage now as then is that the displays are more expensive than the entire rest of the device. They still look cool, though, and that's the real point. -ethan -- Ethan Dicks, A-333-S Current South Pole Weather at 29-Sep-2008 at 22:20 Z South Pole Station PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -71.3 F (-57.4 C) Windchill -102.3 F (-74.6 C) APO AP 96598 Wind 7.6 kts Grid 72 Barometer 683.5 mb (10496 ft) Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html