7 Oct
2012
7 Oct
'12
1:10 p.m.
On 10/06/2012 12:31 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
To be honest, I've not looked into it for the green-blue ones. Hacking
some drive/control electronics for the Panaplexes wasn't hard though, so
I assume the green-blue type aren't much different.
They're much easier. The ones I've used need 20-30VDC for segment drive.
It's a shame that there's not much else beyond
a clock that lends itself
well to using just a small number of 'cute' displays - ideas on a
postcard...
Well there are sorta-related things. Thermometer, barometer,
hygrometer...all very easy to do these days if you know a bit of
electronics, and of value even to disinterested and as-yet-unflushed
spouses.
What would be pretty cool would be a Sudoku grid
formed with some cool
ol' display technology, but as you say these kinds of things seem to
sell for not insignificant sums these days.
Yeah.
I picked up an 80's-vintage Royal calculator from
a junk store the other
day, just because of the nice green-blue VF 7-seg display that it had in
it. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff...
Me too. :-) They are easy to drive, too. There's an elderly betamax VCR in the same store
which keeps tempting
me, as that looks to have a similar type of display (probably with
custom VCR-related bits of course, but I could always mask those off
behind a bezel and just expose the numeric part).
Eh. "General use" VFDs are everywhere, and still made new of course.
There are some really nice Russian ones that I've played with, the
IV-17, readily available cheap (new!) on eBay. Leads, not pins. See:
http://www.neurotica.com/misc/multiseg-vfd.jpg
http://www.neurotica.com/misc/multiseg-vfd-powered.jpg
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
