The Dynaco CDV-1 CD player is a glowing endorsement of a technology so old that it predates even the Volkswagen Beetle. Before the mighty transistor, vacuum tubes brought sound into the American home.

Before transistors or microchips, the earliest computers relied on vacuum tubes — glass bulbs that glowed like small light bulbs and acted as electronic switches. Each tube could represent a one or ...

It all began with a cheap Chinese rotary vane vacuum pump and a desire to learn the witchcraft of DIY vacuum tubes. It ended with a string of successes – a working vacuum chamber, light bulbs, glow ...

[Autuin] wrote in to share a few things he’s put together using spare vacuum tubes he had sitting around. With no other practical use for the tubes in mind, he fiddled around and came up with a couple ...