What was the failure rate of those vacuum tubes, that they had to be so quick & easy to replace?
I'm also curious, if the cathode was grounded to the machine frame, how dangerous was it to do work on those machines?
MelonArmiger 53 minutes ago [-]
Vacuum tubes don't have the longest "natural" lifespan, but you also have to remember that early manufacturing techniques mean a lot more "bad batch" variability.
When part performance is more unpredictable, ease of maintenance is a much bigger deal for everybody all across the price/quality range.
kens 5 days ago [-]
Author here. I've powered up another tube module from the IBM 604, so let me know if you have questions...
Rendered at 17:51:56 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
I'm also curious, if the cathode was grounded to the machine frame, how dangerous was it to do work on those machines?
When part performance is more unpredictable, ease of maintenance is a much bigger deal for everybody all across the price/quality range.