[mordy]

Many tubes that audiophiles covet today were probably replaced on schedules regardless of how they measured and then thrown out. They were ubiquitous, consumable products and better to maximize uptime than to worry about eking every last hour out of them. I'm thinking about radio, power supply, and telecommunications applications. Then there were the early computers. I shudder to think how many primo 6sn7 tubes were churned through running those beasts.

Let's try to count 'em:

You can actually see this early 1947 computer today according to this:




BRENDAN I. KOERNER
BUSINESS
NOV 25, 2014 7:00 AM

How the World's First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap​

How the world's first real computer, the ENIAC, was restored by an unlikely group of conservationists—all thanks to Ross Perot.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 6


FRANCIS MILLER/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
ENIAC, IBM's electrical problem-solving
An ENIAC clerk registers information with banks of dials, at Aberdeen Proving Ground, 1947.

---

ECCENTRIC BILLIONAIRES ARE tough to impress, so their minions must always think big when handed vague assignments. Ross Perot’s staffers did just that in 2006, when their boss declared that he wanted to decorate his Plano, Texas, headquarters with relics from computing history. Aware that a few measly Apple I's and Altair 880's wouldn’t be enough to satisfy a former presidential candidate, Perot’s people decided to acquire a more singular prize: a big chunk of ENIAC, the "Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer." The ENIAC was a 27-ton, 1,800-square-foot bundle of vacuum tubes and diodes that was arguably the world’s first true computer. The hardware that Perot’s team diligently unearthed and lovingly refurbished is now accessible to the general public at the same Army base where it almost rotted into oblivion.

 

[mordy]

Let's try to count 'em:

You can actually see this early 1947 computer today according to this:




BRENDAN I. KOERNER
BUSINESS
NOV 25, 2014 7:00 AM

How the World's First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap​

How the world's first real computer, the ENIAC, was restored by an unlikely group of conservationists—all thanks to Ross Perot.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 6


FRANCIS MILLER/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
ENIAC, IBM's electrical problem-solving
An ENIAC clerk registers information with banks of dials, at Aberdeen Proving Ground, 1947.

---

ECCENTRIC BILLIONAIRES ARE tough to impress, so their minions must always think big when handed vague assignments. Ross Perot’s staffers did just that in 2006, when their boss declared that he wanted to decorate his Plano, Texas, headquarters with relics from computing history. Aware that a few measly Apple I's and Altair 880's wouldn’t be enough to satisfy a former presidential candidate, Perot’s people decided to acquire a more singular prize: a big chunk of ENIAC, the "Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer." The ENIAC was a 27-ton, 1,800-square-foot bundle of vacuum tubes and diodes that was arguably the world’s first true computer. The hardware that Perot’s team diligently unearthed and lovingly refurbished is now accessible to the general public at the same Army base where it almost rotted into oblivion.

OK - I counted the tubes in Eniac - only 18,000 which may not be enough for some of us LOL:
https://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/february/14/

 

[Wes S]

Many tubes that audiophiles covet today were probably replaced on schedules regardless of how they measured and then thrown out. They were ubiquitous, consumable products and better to maximize uptime than to worry about eking every last hour out of them. I'm thinking about radio, power supply, and telecommunications applications. Then there were the early computers. I shudder to think how many primo 6sn7 tubes were churned through running those beasts.

I sure do wish I had a DeLorean with a Flux Capacitor. . .

 

[shwnwllms]

I sure do wish I had a DeLorean with a Flux Capacitor. . .

You’re going to need larger iron to handle 1.21 Gigawatts of electricity

 

[nwavesailor]

I sure do wish I had a DeLorean with a Flux Capacitor. . .

You would need a Peterbuilt with a 50' trailer, Wes!!!

 

[Wes S]

LOL! You guys are awesome!

 

[Isaacc7]

I sure do wish I had a DeLorean with a Flux Capacitor. . .

I would probably put my money in some other places than tubes if I could go back to the 50s. Picking up a few crates of 300b or even 300A as well would be nice too I guess

 

[mordy]

I sure do wish I had a DeLorean with a Flux Capacitor. . .

Is it this DeLorean Alpha5?

 

[incredulousity]

I sure do wish I had a DeLorean with a Flux Capacitor. . .

You would need a Peterbuilt with a 50' trailer, Wes!!!

And a flux capacitor

 

[bcowen]

When the writer asked why they are shooting down the tubes, they answered: But they are used tubes...
Perhaps they did not know that the Western Electric 300B are rated for 40,000 hours.

Too bad we can't line the guys up that did this and shoot them.

 

[bcowen]

Let's try to count 'em:

HR Person: "Hi Mr. Smith. You have done very well with the interviews and your background is impressive."
Mr. Smith: "Thank you! I'd really love to come to work here."
HR Person: "There is one final test for you to complete. Kind of a technical test."
Mr. Smith: "OK, no problem. Let's get started."
HR Person: "There is a bad tube in the computer. You have 30 minutes to find it."

 

[shwnwllms]

HR Person: "Hi Mr. Smith. You have done very well with the interviews and your background is impressive."
Mr. Smith: "Thank you! I'd really love to come to work here."
HR Person: "There is one final test for you to complete. Kind of a technical test."
Mr. Smith: "OK, no problem. Let's get started."
HR Person: "There is a bad tube in the computer. You have 30 minutes to find it."

This is more daunting than Google’s interview process.

 

[CAJames]

...HR Person: "There is a bad tube in the computer. You have 30 minutes to find it."

My first boss was an old timey computer guy, and when we was trying to explain to us young whipper-snappers how easy we have it (in 1983) he would tell us how he would literally watch his jobs run on the mainframe with a box of vacuum tubes because if you saw a tube burn out and replaced it before that address was accessed again your program would keep running. Otherwise it died and you had to get back in the queue.

 

[bcowen]

My first boss was an old timey computer guy, and when we was trying to explain to us young whipper-snappers how easy we have it (in 1983) he would tell us how he would literally watch his jobs run on the mainframe with a box of vacuum tubes because if you saw a tube burn out and replaced it before that address was accessed again your program would keep running. Otherwise it died and you had to get back in the queue.

LOL! I remember sitting for hours waiting in line to use a punch card machine for a COBOL class. You'd hand your stack of punched cards to a "sysop" and come back the next day to get a printout after the program was run. If you were lucky, you'd get 4 or 5 pages back (out of ultimately 20) on the first try. Go back to the dorm and pour over it for two hours to figure out what you did wrong, and then go back and wait in line again to get on the punch card machine so you could re-do one or more of the cards. Hand the revised stack to the sysop, wait overnight, and maybe you'd get 10 pages back on the second try. Go figure out what was wrong, then go wait in line....

I decided NOT to major in computer science.

 

[leftside]

My first boss was an old timey computer guy, and when we was trying to explain to us young whipper-snappers how easy we have it (in 1983) he would tell us how he would literally watch his jobs run on the mainframe with a box of vacuum tubes because if you saw a tube burn out and replaced it before that address was accessed again your program would keep running. Otherwise it died and you had to get back in the queue.

Notice that when you

LOL! I remember sitting for hours waiting in line to use a punch card machine for a COBOL class. You'd hand your stack of punched cards to a "sysop" and come back the next day to get a printout after the program was run. If you were lucky, you'd get 4 or 5 pages back (out of ultimately 20) on the first try. Go back to the dorm and pour over it for two hours to figure out what you did wrong, and then go back and wait in line again to get on the punch card machine so you could re-do one or more of the cards. Hand the revised stack to the sysop, wait overnight, and maybe you'd get 10 pages back on the second try. Go figure out what was wrong, then go wait in line....

I decided NOT to major in computer science.

A lot of the bank mainframes are still running COBOL. Ever wondered why when you transfer money into your bank you don't see it immediately? The bank mainframes are running batch jobs that only run once per day. All the flashy new web and mobile apps are often simply lipstick on top of these old mainframes.

Apart from those old mainframes, things have changed quite a lot in the computer science world since the punch card days @bcowen Microsoft introduced ChatGPT a year ago, and are already making $800m in revenue per quarter with AI. Nuts.