Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Had both the baby blue and mustard/khaki...

Yeah, that's the one
Robert — (archived)

Even including the characteristic failure modes you describe. It was early, and we experienced tragically high fallout rates on the line. The whole idea at that point was to shave everything to the bone to bring the price down to even $100, so the continual search for cheaper components regularly injected batches of lemon components into the system. Those displays were an attempt at dirt-cheap fabrication, really just fancy neon tubes done up as two sheets of glass between which thin etched channels held flourescent gases activated by high voltage applied to conductive films on one side. It's an ugly technology, among its drawbacks being high power requirements and consequential tendency of the unit's transformer to burst into flames with distressing frequency. We'd "burn-in" a day's worth of production overnight in long racks, looking for infant mortality component failures with the power turned on; and in the morning I'd come to work and the place would always reek of burning insulation from the percentage of calculators that had burst into flame overnight.

Sorry, man, I guess it's like the making of sausage, you probably don't really need to know what it's like in the factories that produce the things that grace your home. Just pretend we know what we're doing, and you'll sleep better at night.

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