VT100 preventative maintenance?

[Mouse]

> Also note that we use the term 'valve' for  diodes, triodes, etc, but
> 'tube' for CRTs, nixie tubes, dekatrons, voltage stabilisers,
> probably trochotrons, etc.  There seems to be no obvious reason for
> what is a 'valve' and what is a 'tube'.

Based on your examples, it sounds to me as though a "valve" is a vacuum
device whose major purpose is to control current flowing elsewhere in
its circuit, whereas a "tube" is anything else - a CRT's major purpose
is display, with the current flow incidental to that; Nixies,
dekatrons, and voltage stabilizers are cold-cathode gas-filled devices.
A trochotron...that's an interesting case.  On the above (speculative)
basis I could argue for either "valve" or "tube".

Incidentally, thank you for mentioning trochotrons.  I was not
previously aware of them, and now that I've read up on them a tiny bit
I'm glad I have.

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