Emulators of Classic Computers

From: Gordon JC Pearce <gordonjcp_at_gjcp.net>
Date: Wed Jan 21 06:52:52 2004

On Wed, 2004-01-21 at 12:38, William Maddox wrote:
> > > But with TUBE computers you just fix the broken part.:)
> >
> > Oh really? :-) When was the last time that you saw someone pop open a
> > tube and replace or repair an open filament, repair a short between
> > elements or restore the vacuum in a gassy tube, etc., and then put the
> > tube back into use?
>
> I make no claims about the practicality of doing this for the small tubes
> used in computers, but it used to be common to rebuild CRTs for TVs.
> The setup for doing it was suitable for a small shop -- I recall TV service
> oriented magazines containing ads for equipment to get into the rebuilding
> business. I believe the point was to salvage the expensive glass bottle,
> replacingthe entire electron gun. You removed the end of the neck, and
> "welded" on a new one, then pumped the tube back down and sealed it
> off.
>
> --Bill
>

I seem to recall that although rebuilt tubes were fairly inexpensive (at
least in the late 1970s, early 1980s) the quality was rather variable.
TV tubes these days last so long, and the sets are so inexpensive (read:
cheap and nasty) that it's not really worth retubing conventional
televisions. Projection TVs are a different matter...

Gordon.
Received on Wed Jan 21 2004 - 06:52:52 GMT