[R-390] TUBES

[Barry Hauser]

I originally wrote:
> >> Yup -- and we used to be able to put men on the moon.  Same thing --
went
> >> out of style <yawn>.

Ed wrote:
> I used to work with a guy who was part of the Lunar Lander landing radar
> design team from Ryan...did it with slip sticks!!!! Hand held analog
'puters
> :^)

Me again:

Well, there ya' go!  Can't put men on the moon without sly-drools.  You had
to be in total mental control of your decimal places at all times, whereas
with digital calcs and computer keyboards, a miss is good as a mile -- off
by a factor of 10 or 100... but the results look authoritative -- so kaboom.
Took nerve to run a slide rule, but there were advantages -- no
power/batteries, maybe some bacteria from hand-goo or slobber, but no
viruses. Some of those things were real works of art, and there are a lot of
specialized ones with the equivalent of high efficency "firmware" built in.
(Metals hardness, steam fittings, hydraulics, and electronics too.)

Not to worry though -- if ya' want one -- just counted 439 listings for
"slide rule" -- guess where, including one that's going final in a few
minutes for $150 plus -a circular one with some corrosion and blems on the
paper scale, but comes with the leather case..  (Sorry ... too late)

Maybe that's why "They don't make tubes like they used to."  to borrow
someone's sig line.  Maybe a slip stick was needed, with some 'magination.
Feed the parameters into a computer system and the answer will come out
"12AU7 DESIGN COMPUTATION FAILURE -- INVALID PARAMETER SET, REQUIRES "HARD
VACUUM", VACUUM= 0, DIVISION BY ZERO, TYPE MISMATCH, N-C-D -- NO CAN DO"

Barry
laffin', scratchin', runnin' & duckin'  -- great name for a law firm