Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

If transistors would not be possible, then lots of other stuff would not exist, like solar panels or digital cameras. Handy electricity conversion, etc.

I think alternativly we would have miniaturized vacuum tubes much more, the ones that powered computers before transistors (and made them huge)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum-tube_computer



Surprising to me - size reduced vacuum tubes happened and it's still being worked on in as I understand it. There are some quite miniature working vacuum tubes - if you search you'll find more information.


They have the big advantage, that they are not sensitive to radiation, like transistors are.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: