Neon bulb logic elements link?

[Bjørn Vermo]

On 26 May, 2005, at 00:34, Eric Smith wrote:

> Tom Jennings wrote:
>> For neon, from flawed memory, strike-over is around 100V, and
>> sustain around 80V.  [...]   You could probably make a
>> coincident-voltage
>> memory from them... but they'd be slow I think, but pretty.
>
> I replied:
>> If the numbers are 80V and 100V...
> [matrix drive ideas snipped]
>
> 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.
>

Automatic testing and sorting should not be too difficult. As long as 
each row had about the same characteristics, the driver circuitry could 
compensate for differences.

Many early portable computers used orange plasma displays which were 
actually such memories. They did not need any refresh, so the only 
thing missing was the readout circuitry.

-- 
-bv