FPGA VAX update, now DIY TTL computers

[Chuck Guzis]

On 11/8/2005 at 5:36 PM woodelf wrote:

> Well everybody likes 12 bits...
>  http://www.cray-cyber.org/hardware/Hardware.php  
>   Forget TTL, go tubes!

Wow, now that's ambitious!

Makes me wonder, though.  Around the time the transistor was in its
ascendancy, the vacuum-tube business came up with a couple of innovations.
One was the nuvistor--an almost transistor-sized tube; and the other was a
low-voltage tube used in automobile receivers that were specified for 12.6
volts on the plate (e.g. 12AE7 dual triode).  These would be coupled with a
solid-state driver and power amplifier for a auto radio with no vibrator
supply.

 The first would seem to make the scale of a digital computer more
attractive; the second would seem to substantially reduce the power
requirements.    To anyone's knowledge were either of these two components
ever used in digital applications?

Cheers,
Chuck