For the first time in about 50 years, we relight a real Apollo DSKY screen! And we can finally see the mythical glow in person. Much to our collective surprise, the screen is stupendously good - it could pass for a modern high resolution phone screen.
We thank our sponsor *Samtec* for fabricating the NASA-spec connector pins, and of course Marcel for lending us just not one, but two of his precious displays.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro, Apollo DSKY relight short
01:27 What’s an Apollo DSKY?
02:51 Block I and Block II DSKY
07:18 DSKY Reproductions
10:19 We get our hands on two real DSKY displays
1
...2:30 Rewiring the DSKY
14:07 Latching relay drivers
16:39 First light with the early DSKY prototype
17:16 Checking out the NASA relay logic
22:40 Samtec pins and wire wrapping
23:57 SUCCESS! Functional flight spare DSKY!
25:55 Debugging the driver circuit
29:44 We’ve been hosed by CCA wires!
31:32 FIXED! Beauty shots of the working DSKY display
DSKY Relight short video:
Carl’s blog:
Applied Science videos on EL displays
- Electroluminescent displays:
- DSKY display recreation:
Apollo Guidance Computer Restoration playlist:
Many thanks to Samtec, who re-manufactured the NASA-spec contacts:
Our sponsor for PCBs:
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