[geeks] PC motherboards - now with integrated tube preamps!

[wa2egp at att.net]

> I was reading a CeBit show report at aceshardware.com and I came across the 
> following picture:
> 
> http://www.aceshardware.com/articles/x86/CeBit2003/AopenK8Tube.jpg
> 
> Source article:
> 
> http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=55000242
> 
> Yes - a PC motherboard with an integrated vacuum tube preamp! I thought at first 
> that it had to be a windup, but April 1st is still a week away.
> 
> Does anyone else think that integrating high-voltage circuitry into a 
> low-voltage system is just asking for trouble?
> 
No. Asking for trouble was using an Intel/AMD/whatever chip and Windoze.  Actually
there have been numerous circuits (amateur radio equipment) that used mixed
circuitry and I don't know of any more failures than other equipment.  The only
thing I would be concerned about would be the heat (you could toast the board
after a period of time, especially around the tube socket).    Bob