Panaplex display history

[Jon Elson]

On 06/01/2015 04:03 AM, Christian Corti wrote:
> On Sat, 30 May 2015, Jon Elson wrote:
>>> Is there a good reason why filament lamps were used on minicomputer
>>> front panels until the mid 1970s? Things like the PDP11/45, Philips 
>>> P850, etc
>>> all used filament bulbs, not LEDs.
>>>
>> Inertia!  The 11/45 was designed before LEDs were available, and so 
>> they never changed.  To do it right, the PC board would have to be 
>> re-designed to
>
> Hold on! Most 11/45 have LED frontpanels (such as mine from 1974). The 
> earlierst ones might have bulbs, but they switched to LEDs during 
> production.
>
OK, I know 11/70's had LEDs, but all the /45's I worked with had bulbs.  
Ours was SN 343, which I guess must have been an early unit.  We got it 
used in 1976 or possibly 1977, and it looked pretty "well used" when we 
got it.

Jon