On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:45:45 +0000, Larry wrote:

(Richard Casady) wrote in news:49c969b9.9397015
:

Eight bits, one byte, per tube.


I'd love to know the physics behind how they did that. Dual triodes, such
as 12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7, or even earlier 6SN7 were used as latching flip
flops, but they only stored one bit...0 or 1. To get 8 reliable levels
would be magic. They did use a neon counter tube that had multiple
cathodes. Perhaps that is the "tube" that did a byte.

They told us that each tube stored 8 bits as charged spots on the
cathode. Maybe the cathode was in segments. The computer was called
the " Cyclone " and had its own unique language, EERIE. You programmed
it with a pencil. Your page went to some guy who punched the cards.
Some other guy fed the box. The first thing I had it do was an
approximation of the area under a curve by breaking it down into a
hundred rectangles. Computers are fast? You could learn calculus in
less time.

Casady