4 ms·
My mind was absolutely blown by mercury delay line memory of the UNIVAC 1. The things we did before silicon dynamic memory were works of crazy engineering. htt
by datameta 2y ago
My mind was absolutely blown by mercury delay line memory of the UNIVAC 1. The things we did before silicon dynamic memory were works of crazy engineering.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay-line_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay-line_memory
- Y_Y 2y agoI felt the same. It never even occurred to me that you could you use a physical compression wave in a fluid as memory in a real computer. Here's a delightful snippet from that article btw: > Alan Turing proposed the use of gin as an ultrasonic delay medium, claiming that it had the necessary acoustic properties.
- rbanffy 2y agoWe should build a computer that uses lasers and the Apollo retro-reflectors as delay-line memory. It’ll be the largest computer in the solar system. Who’s in?
- akira2501 2y agoMy favorite are the "glass delay line memory." https://archive.org/details/TNM_Glass_computer_memories_-_Corning_Electronics_20171206_0185/page/n1/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TNM_Glass_computer_memories_-_Co...
- ForOldHack 2y agoIs this a Williams tube or a Mellon tube? I have seen ONE or these, and they used to be more numerous than pocket change, at least the ones that no longer worked. Unused they were treated like fine crystal, used like empty beer bottles. I wanted to hook one up in a tv to see a 1" movie, or maybe a 3/4" movie with the aspect ratio but the refresh rate was really slow, so it was useful as a memory.