Vacuum tube

A vacuum tube is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes. First invented in 1904, the vacuum tubes formed the base of electronics through the first half of the 20th century, before being replaced by transistor-based solid state electronics.
In the Fallout series, due to the divergence, vacuum tubes continued to be the dominant building blocks of modern electronics, with transistors few and far in between. In fact, the term "chip" typically (but not always) refers to processing units using vacuum tubes, such as the water chip.
==Usage==
Courier: "What's your problem with ED-E?"Arcade Gannon: "It just seems a little twitchy. Some of these robots, you look at them the wrong way, don't screw in a vacuum tube right... The next thing you know you're a pile of ash on the floor and someone's stepping out of a vertibird to sweep your remains into a Nuka-Cola bottle."
Scrap electronics
Broken walkie-talkie: "The electronics in this walkie-talkie are badly damaged. If you replace them, the process will be much simpler. Requires one pile of Scrap Electronics."
Vault 96 terminal entries: "ROBCO VTC-008 QUANTUM MAINFRAME
PURCHASE ORDER: V-2074-9-90400
INSTALL DATE: 8/4/77
INSTALL SITE: Vault 96
CUSTOMER: Vault-Tec
PRIMARY FUNCTIONALITY: Operations, Vault
SECONDARY FUNCTIONALITY: Research, Genetic
HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS:
- Quantum Vacuum Tubes: 125
- Conventional Vacuum Tubes: 54000
- Storage: 89850 Blocks
SOFTWARE SPECIFICATIONS:
 - Custom; see Schedule 21-B."Note: There are two identical entries, one identified as CUT and the other as used.
Fallout 76 loading screens: "The Vault 96 Mainframe incorporated cutting-edge quantum vacuum tube arrays to model, simulate, and conduct rapid genetic experiments."
ATLAS: "Inside its container, a miniaturized ion focus sits nestled in a bundle of tubes and wires, many of which are attached. How will you go about extracting it?"
The Importance of Communication features radio vacuum tubes used for Valiant-1 radio equipment.
Community treehouse alarm: "The alarm is broken.(Requires vacuum tube.)"
A Real Blast: "Error! Unrequested tube decompression detected. Immediate repair requested."
Cultist priest: "The cathode ray tube is the retina to the mind's eye."
Wren: "The usual. Radio vacuum tubes to keep these comms runnin'. Whatever's toxic in this Valley never fails to do a number on my equipment."
Silo code piece
Nixie tube clock
==Behind the scenes==
===Vacuum tubes vs. transistors===
* The preference for vacuum tubes was a conscious choice made early in Fallout's development. Leonard Boyarsky pitched the idea to Tim Cain during the development, proposing that in the universe of Fallout, humans never went beyond transistors (i.e. the transistor was invented, but microelectronics did not catch on) and stayed with vacuum tubes. The idea originated in a proposal to feature a lot of vacuum tubes, since "everything would look cooler if it had vacuum tubes". Cain agreed, adding that vacuum tube electronics would be less susceptible to electromagnetic damage. Leonard Boyarsky recounted the story in 2018, in an interview on Matt Chat.Leonard Boyarsky: A lot of the things we figured out about it, like the fact that they never went beyond transistors, they stayed with the vacuum tubes, started with me going, "We need a lotta vacuum tubes! Everything would look cooler if it had vacuum tubes on it!" And Tim's like, "Well, you know if they never did, if they never went over to transistors, this would make it so that you wouldn't be as susceptible to an EMP blast."(Leonard Boyarsky Matt Chat 396 - January 27, 2018, starts at 4:59)
* This was not consistently implemented, as noted in June 2003 by Joshua Sawyer during an exchange on No Mutants Allowed: When a user stated that Fallout is set in a future where the transistor was never invented, he pointed out the fact that EMP grenades in Fallout and Fallout 2 are incredibly powerful against robots, which would not be the case if they were based on vacuum tubes.User Saint_Proverbius: "EMP damage? Ummm.. Imagine a future where the transistor had never been invented. I wish I could remember which Fallout developer said that to describe Fallout's setting, but it's a fairly major concept! EMP really only works well on integrated circuits, re: transistor stuff, which aren't part of Fallout's setting."Joshua Sawyer: "Let me know if you found out which dev said that, because EMP grenades wreak utter havok on robots all over Fallout and Fallout 2. I walk into the Glow, throw an EMP grenade, and robots drop like flies in a blast furnace. It's pretty clear that ICs are used in robots all over the Fallout world. However, I think that a future Fallout title should take into account that some models of our traditional friends like Mr. Handy and Floating Eye Bot should be made with vaccuum tube tech to reflect the necessity of robots operating in the wake of atomic EMP blasts."(Sawyer and NMA, the next chapter, post on the No Mutants Allowed forum, June 26, 2003)
* During the development of Fallout 3 (2008), and later Fallout 4 (2015), Joel Burgess argued with the team numerous times over the effects the absence of transistors would have not just on the basic mechanics, but also on the culture of the world. In his own words, the butterfly effect change of not inventing a transistor, "[w]hat does that say about the cultural priorities of the people who live in that world?" Burgess recounted this in 2016, in a Ubisoft livestream's closing Q&A.Joel Burgess: "That culture never invented transistors and part of that influences why you see big tube things. The interfaces in Fallout 1 and 2 are engineered in a way that, in a world without transistors, still gets really advanced technology. How is their technology different, by making this one butterfly effect change? This is an argument that I had, many, many times, with people working on 3 and 4, it's like that transistor decision about the world... That rule isn't just about the mechanics of 'how do I build like a fusion car without a transistor, or whatever?' What does that say about the cultural priorities of the people who live in that world?"(Joel Burgess Ubisoft live-stream - November 4, 2016, starts at 1:27:30)
* In Fallout: New Vegas (2011), developed under the leadership of Joshua Sawyer, the platinum chip is an incredibly capacious electronic device and key, printed in Sunnyvale, and an example of integrated circuit technology. Robert House's life extension chamber also include a brain-machine interface, which was described in concept art as mounted on the top of House's head, featuring transistors and vacuum tubes wired directly into the brain after the skull was removed.Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.463: "The helmet might be bolted right into his skull, like a "halo"used to stabilize severe neck injuries.Or it might not be a helmet at all, the top of Mr. House's skull having been removed and fitted with transistors and vacuum tubes.(Behind the Bright Lights & Big City) Integrated circuits and printed circuit boards are also referred to occasionally in the game and its downloadable content.
* In a Tumblr question in March 2019, Sawyer maintained his position on transistors in Fallout, reiterating how robots in the series are affected by EMP blasts and pointed out that "the state of technology isn’t represented consistently", in his Fallout: New Vegas included. He also noted that he believed the whole idea was secondary to the setting in his opinion, though it did push interesting ideas (citing the fact that the Soviet MiG-25 used vacuum tube electronics that would theoretically make it less vulnerable to EMPs).User blingblingboistuff-blog: "I know Cain and Boyarsky have said that they created Fallout and came up with the whole "no transistor" to justify how everything looked but I wanted to maybe hear your opinion on it? I know its out of yours hands now of course, but I just wanted to know how you feel about it. No transistor or transistor?"Joshua Sawyer: "I like vacuum tube tech and I think it pushes some interesting ideas, but it feels secondary in the series. One of the interesting properties of vacuum tubes is that they aren’t really affected by EMPs, such as those produced by a nuclear bomb blast. Some Soviet MiG-25s used vacuum tubes dominantly or exclusively, which would theoretically allow them to fly in the wake of a blast (assuming the pilots weren’t killed by radiation). Still, the robots in the series are affected by EMP grenades and similar attacks, so the state of technology isn’t represented consistently."(Josh Sawyer tumblr post)
===Miscellaneous===
* Although labeled a memory transistor, the item to the right visually resembles and the designations refer to a real-world 6-volt octal (8 pin) vacuum tube. The designations of "6AC7" and "6Ж4" refer to two equivalent vacuum tube types in the North American RETMA tube naming convention and the Russian tube naming convention in Cyrillic, respectively.
* The idea of using vacuum tubes to build chips superior to ones using just transistors and integrated circuits has been explored in recent years.Engadget article archive
==References==
Non-game
Category:Technology
Category:Fallout setting
es:Tubo de vacío