NUMI-311 Numitron TIL311 replacement Nixie-era display kit for COSMAC ELF

Description

The
NUMI-311
is an approximate functional replacement for the vintage Texas Instruments TIL311 intelligent hexadecimal display. Instead of LEDs, the
NUMI-311
uses cold-war era IV-9 incandescent 7-segment indicator tubes. These are the Russian counterparts to the American “Numitron” tubes made by RCA, and are remarkably rugged and long-lived. They also provide some advantages over LEDs, in that they are larger, can be filtered to any color, and are bright enough to be read in direct sunlight. The minimum rated lifespan of the display tubes at full brightness is 10,000 hours.
The
NUMI-311
can be assembled in a variety of mechanical formats. The display tube can be mounted vertically on the circuit board, or it can be set horizontally on top of the board to provide approximately the same orientation as the TIL311. It can also be mounted up to one inch above the board, so that it can conveniently protrude through an enclosure. The glass tube envelope and warm filament glow of the digits together provide a pleasing vintage – even “SteamPunk” – aesthetic.  The device displays all 16 hexadecimal digits, unlike most other TTL decoder-driver ICs like the 7447.  However, because of the limitations inherent in a seven-segment display, the "B" and "D" characters are shown in lower case.
The completed device will plug directly into a socket intended for an original TIL311, and provides most of the functionality of that device. There are a few differences between the
NUMI-311
and the TIL311: Only the right-hand decimal point exists in the display tube, so the left-hand decimal pin is not connected. The Latch/Strobe input is not implemented – the
NUMI-311
always displays whatever data is present on the dA through dD pins. The blanking input is functional; however, it affects only the digits but not the decimal point. A pulse-width modulated signal can be used on this input to control the brightness of the display.
The kit includes all parts necessary to assemble the kit, along with a data sheet for the final device and a very detailed instruction manual. The kit is simple to assemble, and can easily be built in half an hour by a moderately experienced hobbyist. The parts in each kit are warranted for 90 days. Obviously, I have no control over how the kit is assembled or used, so I cannot extend the warranty to completed kits unless it can be shown that the parts themselves are at fault. That all said, if you have any problems or issues, please contact me, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out.
Shipping is a flat charge, regardless of how many you order.
Thanks for looking!