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From: hoffman@pitt.UUCP (Bob Hoffman)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: "Magic Eye" tubes - the Nixie Clock
Message-ID: <5856@pitt.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jul-87 10:45:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: pitt.5856
Posted: Wed Jul 15 10:45:47 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jul-87 05:55:47 EDT
References: <1495@frog.UUCP> <35ffa63b.b8ab@apollo.uucp>
Reply-To: hoffman@pitt.UUCP (Bob Hoffman)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science
Lines: 26
Xref: mnetor sci.electronics:974 talk.bizarre:2505

In article <3452@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> brian@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Brian Kantor) writes:
>   Nowadays, if I had to use Nixies, I'd use some cheap
>horizontal output transistors and a BCD-to-10-line decoder.  I seem to
>remember that you had to switch about 5 ma at 250v or so.

That's about right.  It depends on the size of the Nixie tube being
used.  I built a clock some years ago that used some old B7971 Nixies
that are 2-1/2 inch high 15-segment alphanumeric displays.  They take
a little more current than the little ones.  I have them wired up like
7-segment displays and run them off an MM5314 clock chip with discrete
transistor drivers.

>Ah, the old days of firebottle technology.  (Vacuum-packed depletion
>mode electron-emission devices with built-in indicator lamp and
>environmental heater.)
>	- Brian

That's pretty good -- I like to think of them as Hot-Cathode FETs.

>I am NOT an old fart.

Me neither!  :-)

-- 
Bob Hoffman, N3CVL       {allegra, bellcore, cadre, idis, psuvax1}!pitt!hoffman
Pitt Computer Science    hoffman%pitt@relay.cs.net