# stupid old computer q - Did vacuum tubes glow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2010, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550 "2010-04-01T09:09:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/21 "2010-04-01T16:11:52Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Git offa mah lawn! _waves cane_ > > Never had to switch the radio on a minute before the show started to let it warm up either, I’ll be bound. :rolleyes: > > Kids these day… I have to wait a minute or two for my projector to warm up before it comes on. BTW here is an article on tube amplifiers for Ipods. [http://dvice.com/archives/2008/04/top-ten-ways-to.php](http://dvice.com/archives/2008/04/top-ten-ways-to.php) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/22 "2010-04-01T16:13:28Z")
(Re: Tube testers) > [@Clothahump](#): > > Those machines were fun! Were? I have a portable tube tester. They are still fun (if you have a certain geekoid mindset). ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/23 "2010-04-01T16:13:59Z")
My old Chevy truck had tubes in the radio. Took a while to heat up! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/24 "2010-04-01T16:26:37Z")
They were still manufacturing hybrid tv’s in the mid 70’s. They used tubes in the vertical and horizontal deflection circuits. Those circuits drew a lot of power and tubes were cheaper. High power transistors were very expensive back then. I never saw a computer with tubes. They must of been huge. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/25 "2010-04-01T17:16:24Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Have you heard of “winding a watch”? Of course I have. I’ve done it too, or at least a clock. The oldest computer I ever dealt with was my dad’s Kaypro. I actually wrote a couple of stories (or started them anyhow) on it. I kinda miss it - I wish my PC folded up like that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/26 "2010-04-01T17:48:38Z")
> [@](#): > > CRT displays are still common. microwave ovens use them. The only sort of display I’ve ever seen on a microwave is the LCD numbers showing the time. I’ve certainly never seen one with a CRT display. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/27 "2010-04-01T18:17:03Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I never saw a computer with tubes. They must of been huge. The one that I used filled a large room. It was about as powerful as a programmable calculator is now. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/28 "2010-04-01T18:23:18Z")
I was the engineer for several commercial radio stations over the years. You haven’t lived until you’ve warmed your hands up over the tubes of a 1940s vintage RCA 5KW transmitter. Beautiful blue glow that danced with the modulation of the station. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/29 "2010-04-01T18:26:09Z")
> [@](#): > > I never saw a computer with tubes. They must of been huge. The SAGE computer occupied most of a building. The vacuum tubes were in well-spaced racks that were taller than a person. This allowed air to circulate (and cool the tubes) and let technicians get at the tubes easily and replace them. The system was 100% redundant – there were two identical systems, so that you only shut down the side that was broken in case repairs were needed. They had a small section of this set up in the old Computer Museum in Boston – you could literally walk through it. You can walk through the racks of the TX-0, too, but it’s nowhere near as nig – there were very few vacuum tubes, since the whole point of TX-0 was to replace the vacuum tubes Whirlwindf had used with solid-state components. > **[Semi-Automatic Ground Environment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi_Automatic_Ground_Environment)** > > The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. SAGE directed and controlled the NORAD response to a possible Soviet air attack, operating in this role from the late 1950s into the 1980s. > The processing power behind SAGE was supplied by the largest discrete component-based computer ever built, the AN/FSQ-... > **[TX-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TX-0)** > > The TX-0, for Transistorized Experimental computer zero, but affectionately referred to as tixo (pronounced "tix oh"), was an early fully transistorized computer and contained a then-huge 64K of 18-bit words of magnetic-core memory. Construction of the TX-0 began in 1955 and ended in 1956. It was used continually through the 1960s at MIT. The TX-0 incorporated around 3,600 Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistors, the first transistor suitable for high-speed computers. The Designed at th... And, for kicks, Whirlwind: > **[Whirlwind I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlwind_%28computer%29)** > > Whirlwind I was a Cold War-era vacuum-tube computer developed by the MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory for the U.S. Navy. Operational in 1951, it was among the first digital electronic computers that operated in real-time for output, and the first that was not simply an electronic replacement of older mechanical systems. > It was one of the first computers to calculate in bit-parallel (rather than bit-serial), and was the first to use magnetic-core memory. > Its development led directly to the Whirlwi... [http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/TheCompMusRep/TCMR-V08-P04.jpg](http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/TheCompMusRep/TCMR-V08-P04.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![mbetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@mbetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbetter)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/30 "2010-04-01T18:36:05Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I don’t find that at all surprising: hardly any devices use vacuum tubes these days. The most likely place to find them is in a science museum. Or a guitar amp. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/31 "2010-04-01T19:34:18Z")
Or a [CD player](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.soundscapeav.com/musichall/cdt100.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.soundscapeav.com/musichall/shanling.htm&usg=__xmi1NbkInesMdtbDTUhHWH3IBR4=&h=640&w=692&sz=50&hl=en&start=5&sig2=ijZV4gzYMBWhNZXTPUBGqg&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=m50Rkb9W72DbOM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=139&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dshanling%2Bcd%2Bt100%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26tbo%3D1%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=uPS0S4aVJ9XZ4ga0oOS8Dg)! Scroll down to the CD T100 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/32 "2010-04-01T21:19:16Z")
I’m 35. I’ve only seen vacuum tubes because I collect them. I have a tester as well. I’ve never seen my tubes glow though. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/33 "2010-04-01T22:16:38Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I have fond memories of taking dead tubes to the drugstore, and testing them on that machine by the front door. Then you open the door underneath, and there was a replacement tube! Me too (I’m 40 years old). It was my favorite part of going to the department store, because my mom would boost me up and let me try and match the tube the correct socket port. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/34 "2010-04-01T22:57:00Z")
You used to see signs in the windows of many stores “RCA Tubes Sold Here” or “Tube Testing.” ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/35 "2010-04-02T02:07:56Z")
Worked at the Argonne National Lab back in the early 60’s, and remember their computer that handled the payroll, Was in a huge room, with lots of cabinets full of vacuum tubes, each cabinet cooled via a big air contitioning duct. I’ve read that the first real electronic computer, the ENIAC, expected a crash around each five minutes, and the software was written to take that into account. You young whippersnappers don’t know what fun was had back in those days. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/36 "2010-04-02T02:33:26Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Git offa mah lawn! _waves cane_ > > Never had to switch the radio on a minute before the show started to let it warm up either, I’ll be bound. :rolleyes: > > Kids these day… You mean there were actual “shows” on radio, and not just music and people talking at you? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/37 "2010-04-02T02:37:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You mean there were actual “shows” on radio, and not just music and people talking at you? Why yes! Just this past week I saw not one but two Captain Midnight Secret Squadron Decoder badges at an antique store. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/38 "2010-04-02T02:44:05Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > I’ve read that the first real electronic computer, the ENIAC, expected a crash around each five minutes, and the software was written to take that into account. Now we know what Bill Gates biological dad did for a living. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/39 "2010-04-02T18:46:51Z")
My 1960 Chevy’s radio had a bunch of tubes and one big transistor. Guess which part was responsible for it not working? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550/40 "2010-04-02T18:55:35Z")
Heh. I’m such a geek I \*own \*a Hickok tube tester. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-old-computer-q-did-vacuum-tubes-glow/534550.md?page=3)