Kevin Santo Cappuccio's Simple Add-On Gives Your Badge a Classic Nixie Tube Display

Maker Kevin Santo Cappuccio, creator of the Jumperless smart breadboard system, has designed a Simple Add-On (SAO) that gives your badge a vintage display — in the form of a Burroughs Nixie tube from the late 1960s.

"So the Supercon badge this year is apparently all about [Simple] Add-Ons, which are like little electronic (or not, there aren't any rules) stickers that stick onto the main badge. But I'm knee-deep in [Jumperless V5](https://www.crowdsupply.com/architeuthis-flux/jumperless-v5) so I’m not about to make any more PCBs or write more code, so I’m building stuff like it’s 1969. Genuine Burroughs Nixie (Numerical Indicator eXperImEntal) tubes, a big selector switch, and a 3V to 180V step-up High Voltage power supply."

Released in the 1950s, Nixie tubes feature a wire-mesh anode connected to multiple stacked cathodes — typically, though not exclusively, shaped to form the numbers 0-9. Switch which cathode you're using, and you'll be met with a cheery glow. The birth of the light-emitting diode (LED) largely put paid to Nixie tubes, but they remain a popular choice for makers looking for a vintage aesthetic — like Cappuccio.

"This thing is just a ghetto DIY slip ring made of pogo pins," Cappuccio explains of the gadget, which pulls its power from a connected badge, "a selector switch from a resistance substitution box, a Nixie power supply, and a Burroughs 122P244 Nixie tube (with bonus Krypton 85 inside). The best part is I just busted this out in six hours and don’t have to think about it again until November. Anything with firmware never feels 'finished,' so I'll just avoid all that."

The project is documented in full on Cappuccio's Hackaday.io page.