<div dir="ltr">There are Russian companies who would be glad to supply you with brand new vacuum tubes. However, buy extras: my experience has been mixed with these sources! I needed to replace a tube in the four-channel plug-in for my Tektronix 561A oscilloscope (late 1960s). After trying three tubes, I found one that worked. Good thing they sold them in lots of five. Caveat emptor -- Ian King </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Sep 29, 2013 at 9:34 PM, Aron Levy <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:aronpublic@gmail.com" target="_blank">aronpublic@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On that note, after discussing with a friend of mine, the thought of sourcing nearly 17,500 vacuum tubes, many I which are no longer available seems to render the idea of rebuilding ENIAC somewhat remote.<br>
<br>
Unless Washington and Lee happens to have an entire warehouse full of tubes! (Stranger things have been known to happen.)<br>
<br>
Aron Levy<br>
<br>
I typed this with my thumbs. Please excuse my brevity.<br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
On Sep 30, 2013, at 12:11 AM, "Thomas Haigh" <<a href="mailto:thaigh@computer.org">thaigh@computer.org</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> [James is still having problems sending to the list, but has a good reply<br>
> below. Tom]<br>
><br>
> -------- Original Message --------<br>
> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking help -- if you could design your ideal<br>
> Computer/Information History course, what would you include?<br>
> Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 11:11:34 +0100<br>
> From: James Sumner <<a href="mailto:james.sumner@manchester.ac.uk">james.sumner@manchester.ac.uk</a>><br>
> To: <a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a><br>
><br>
> Dear all<br>
><br>
> What an excellent question -- and it's remarkable to see that the discussion<br>
> very quickly worked its way round to early hardware and games. My first<br>
> thought before seeing the follow-up messages was to give the students a task<br>
> something like this:<br>
><br>
> "It's 1951. The firm you work for has just announced an electronic digital<br>
> computer -- the first to be offered for commercial sale. You have no<br>
> established competition, but this also means you're promoting an unfamiliar<br>
> idea. Many of the people you're trying to sell to are happy relying on human<br>
> clerical labour or existing punched-card technology, which they see as cheap<br>
> and reliable. And many people more generally don't have a clear sense of<br>
> what 'electronic digital computer' means at all.<br>
><br>
> "Your big opportunity to do something about this arrives with a major public<br>
> exhibition on new science and technology of the future, to be hosted at<br>
> [insert name of suitable big expo venue]. Your firm has been offered a prime<br>
> space of [insert dimensions] for a display introducing computers to the<br>
> public. Your task is to build the display. You have X weeks."<br>
><br>
> This is loosely based on the situation facing the British firm Ferranti when<br>
> it produced the Nimrod machine (<a href="http://www.goodeveca.net/nimrod/" target="_blank">http://www.goodeveca.net/nimrod/</a>)<br>
> for the 1951 Festival of Britain. There was not enough time to implement a<br>
> full-scale working computer, and in any case there were questions about<br>
> whether a complex machine would be either reliable enough or intelligible<br>
> enough for public display. The engineers instead put together some<br>
> relatively straightforward electronics to play a simple interactive game<br>
> (Nim -- one step up from tic-tac-toe), and housed it in an enormous,<br>
> imposing case. The result worked well enough for attracting column inches,<br>
> but was judged a partial failure on the marketing side because it didn't<br>
> lead people to find out more about fundamental computer concepts.<br>
><br>
> The idea behind this kind of project, of course, is to play to the strengths<br>
> of a class with a mixture of study backgrounds and skills. A clear<br>
> understanding of the conceptual principles of digital information processing<br>
> has to be present and correct, but there are avenues for taking the social<br>
> history seriously -- what kind of promotional technique were conventional to<br>
> 1950s audiences? What sections of the public would show up to this<br>
> exhibition? Would it be wise to address possible labour fears? -- and for<br>
> thinking about the practicalities of display, the style to aim for in any<br>
> written materials, and the performance aspects of any demonstration<br>
> involved.<br>
><br>
> It might even rival "costumed battle on the front quad" if it could really<br>
> be built, assuming the students followed Ferranti in going for the<br>
> big-and-imposing spectacle approach.<br>
><br>
> The main headache would be in determining what rules to play by on the<br>
> practical construction. Insisting on only "materials that could have existed<br>
> in 1951" would create major problems if rigorously enforced, and would focus<br>
> a lot of time and attention on elements which would probably be most<br>
> interesting to a small minority of students. Tolerating too much simulation,<br>
> on the other hand, would defeat the key point that equipment was inherently<br>
> unreliable, and that the question of whether digital automation was<br>
> worthwhile or not was still a live one. Perhaps experienced replicationists<br>
> might be able to advise here?<br>
><br>
> All best<br>
> James<br>
><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> This email is relayed from <a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/" target="_blank">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members" target="_blank">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
This email is relayed from <a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/" target="_blank">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members" target="_blank">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr">Ian S. King, MSCS ('06, Washington)<br>Ph.D. Student<br>The Information School<br>University of Washington<br><br><font face="times new roman, serif">"Be yourself, everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde</font></div>
</div>