[vcf-midatlantic] The Transistor......Re: Evan @ IFIP

[Dan Roganti]

On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 10:00 AM, Dan Roganti <ragooman at gmail.com> wrote:

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> On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 9:32 AM, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic <
> vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
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>>
>> And Dan, thanks for enlightening me, I never heard that the FET was
>> invented that long ago. Glad I am here for a good education!
>>
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> ​ I think one analogy relevant to modern times would be the electric car
> 20yrs ago, Consumer electric cars were built,
> Not counting the one from 100+yrs ago - that's even a more dire analogy
> They were not as effective yet​ as today's version of course
> Yet, they disappeared without any further R&D work
> Effectively canceling 20yrs of technology
>


​I guess to give it an analogy which relates to this group
20yrs would be about the same as wiping out the microprocessor technology
of 70s and 80s combined
​So maybe we would still be using TTL based CPU's by 1990




> That doesn't happen without some external influence
> Just look at the production of vacuum tubes.
> The tube elements relied on metals which was a boon to the mining industry
> Less R&D required as opposed to the 1925 FET
> So companies opt for the cheap alternative
> Imagine if we had semiconductor computers prior to WWII
> Dan
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