neon tube memories

Allison> Boroughs Panaplex, I have a 32char version that I power up Allison> and it works. I've designed using the 40 char version Allison> pretty cool. Even got to visit the facility in NJ back in Allison> '73 where they were made along with the other gas tubes Allison> (nixe and the like.). I don't believe a Panaplex uses the memory properties of gas discharges. But the PLATO terminal panels did. I have a short (4-8 pages or so) technical description of the mechanisms and the waveforms involved. Some of the magic has to do with stored charges on the walls of the gas cell. In the PLATO panels, the electrodes apparently have a thin insulating layer deposited on them, so they are not directly exposed to the neon. The "sustain voltage" is a fairly complex AC waveform, and the addressing is done by superimposing additional pulses on top of that, in a "coincidence" addressing scheme. All this worked very nicely in a quarter megapixel display (several thousands were made) and in bigger ones too (I've seen military displays of a megapixel -- 16 inch squares.) paul