On Thu, Jan 6, 2022, 01:20 Joshua Rice via cctech <cctech@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> > Not cost effective at nearly $10,000! I understand they're very rare, > given they were only used for a few years in industry and they're > clocking on 3/4 of a century old, but even then, that seems an order of > magnitude or two off the real value. > The rarity wasn't that only one _model_ of computer used it. Only one _unit_ used it. It used 80 tubes at a cost of around $500 each, in mid-20th-century dollars. Given that they'd have needed some spares and replacements, the production run would have been more than 80 pieces, but I'd think it unlikely that more than 250 production units were ever made. If someone wants one and is able to purchase it for $10,000, I think they are very lucky.
