| Pinlite 30003 Alphanumeric Display Module (Pinlite 0-65) | |
| Written by AnubisTTP on 2022-03-02 |
|
  |
This unusual device is a four digit alphanumeric readout built from Pinlite incandescent Minitron-style displays and modular driver cards. Pinlite displays are small vacuum tubes that use heated lamp filaments in a rectangular glass enclosure to display characters. This display module is equipped with 0-65 Pinlites, which are 17 segment fully alphanumeric devices. Each Pinlite display is connected to a small plug-module through a specialized socket mounted on an aluminum block. Character decoding is preformed by an SCS 1007 character ROM, which accepts a 6 bit TTL word to select which character is displayed. The SCS 1007 character decoder chip on each module is a rare and poorly documented part in itself; the date of manufacture is unknown, but is likely to be early given the chip's grey trace ceramic package. Each module plugs into a common backplane with shared power and ground lines to form the completed display. When fully assembled, the entire module is bulky and has lousy digit spacing, but manufacturers were willing to make many sacrifices in the pursuit of a daylight-visible display.
Pinlite 30003 alphanumeric display module, normal operation.
This module is equipped with a Pinlite 0-65 alphanumeric minitron display.
Return to Display & Counting Circuits
