Just fixed my Nintendo after it got the purple screen of death. This is usually due to a bad connection with the game cartridge so after cleaning both of the connectors to no avail I decided to replace the one inside the system. I got a new one off of eBay for 10$ and the whole process took less than 40 min. Stay tuned for an article/tutorial if you want to do this yourself and rescue your old system. If your Nintendo just outputs a purple screen or flashes the red light when a game is inserted this is most likely the cause. A quick fix is to just clean both of the connectors with rubbing alcohol or some other solvent, you can also use a Scotch bright pad to get the patina off the connecting pads, but if that doesn't help you will most likely need to do this.

Just ordered a couple different tubes from eBay. I got 10 x IV-3A, 10 x IV-26, and 2 x IV-18. I'm most excited about the IV-18's. They are the same tubes as in the Ice Tube Clock from AdaFruit. I plan on making a clock out of them as well but it will display time and date. Already got a cool design for it in my head that I will have to get down on paper once the tubes come in and I can measure the exact dimensions. The two tubes will be positioned horizontally on top of each other with a brushed aluminum base containing all the electronics. As for the other-ones I have no idea what I'm gonna do with them yet, most likely I will make another clock with the IV-3A's. As for the IV-26's I'm not even sure why I bought them but they can be assembled into a 10x10 matrix which could be use-full for something. I will post updates as I go along but so far the tubes are still on their way from Bulgaria.