vacuum tube

/VAK-yoom toob/ · noun · Hacker Culture · Origin: 1904

Definitions

  1. An electronic component that controls electric current flow through a vacuum in a sealed glass container, used as switches and amplifiers in the earliest electronic computers. ENIAC used over 17,000 of them. Vacuum tubes were hot, fragile, power-hungry, and occasionally attracted moths — one of which became the first literal 'bug.'

    In plain English: A glass bulb that early computers used instead of transistors — they were big, hot, fragile, and needed constant replacement.

    Example: The operators had to replace burned-out vacuum tubes almost daily, and the building needed industrial air conditioning to handle the heat.

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