Oldest operational computer was Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 54, Issue

[Gordon JC Pearce]

On Thu, 2008-02-14 at 11:58 -0500, William Donzelli wrote:
> >  It does actually say "modern knowledge" - so presumably you could use
> >  any kind of component you can construct.  How hard is a dekatron to
> >  make?
> 
> I am sitting here, reading this thread, and am astounded by what
> people think tubes could do back in 1906. It would have been
> *impossible* to make any sort of computing device using the technology
> of the time. You would have better luck porting OS/2 to a 709.
> 
> Tubes back then barely worked. When they did work, they barely
> amplified. And you were lucky to get 50 hours out of them. A try
> getting two that were vaguely similar electrically. And then try to
> find someone that actually knew how the things worked.

Why do you suppose they barely worked?  Because no-one could make them,
or because no-one had figured out what to make them out of?

I'm going to go with the latter.

Gordon