Neon bulb logic elements link?

[Tom Jennings]

On Wed, 25 May 2005, Eric Smith wrote:

> I've just looked at the specifications for Chicago Miniature Lamp
> neon bulbs, and it looks like they don't have anything suitable.
> The problem is that the specifications for the "maintain" and
> "breakdown" (start) voltage ranges are too wide, and often there
> is overlap.  So unless you are willing to cherry-pick bulbs that
> meet tighter specs, 2-D matrix drive doesn't seem practical.

THat is a problem, huh :-)

What did HP use in their old thermometer-type counters?

THere are still bazillions of the old NE-2 types around, surplus.
I wonder what they are like.

Time to hit old literature.

If there was some way to work addressing schemes where instead of
varying voltages, you vary time-constant, you could pulse the
selected cell with a voltage sufficient to overcome the
too-many-variables problem.