5 ms·

That's crazy, you can see it's handmade. I wonder if it still works?

by hcarvalhoalves 13y ago

nsxwolf 13y ago
Might be fun to hook it up to an Arduino and see if you could read/write. I imagine it needs its own power supply.
- TheAnimus 13y ago
  Iron core memory, so it would probably still read/write just fine, if not, fixing it shouldn't be too hard if you've got the hands for it.
- gvb 13y ago
  Core memory is non-volatile. If you hooked it up to a computer, you could read out what was written into it. Theoretically. NASA recovered the Challenger's core memory out of the ocean and was able to read it out months after the disaster. "On March 19, 1986, NASA announced that four of five Challenger General Purpose Computers (GPC) had been recovered from the Atlantic and moved to the IBM Federal Systems Division facility in Owego, NY. The GPCs were cleaned under controlled conditions and submerged in deionized water at Kennedy Space Center prior to air shipment March 16, 1986, to Owego. The GPC ferrite core memories were examined for any possible residual data -- a process that at the time was expected to take several months. This information was in the form of data--not onboard voice--and this path was pursued to add any possible additional information to the accident investigation. Many weeks later, it was found that the additional data frames did not measurably add to the information already gathered during the investigation." Ref: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0258a.shtml http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0258a.shtml
  - hcarvalhoalves 13y ago
    I was going to respond that to the parent, but you beat me :) Imagine hooking up and figuring out you can read it? Even better, imagine it contains nuke launch codes (in the best soviet-from-secret-agent-movie tradition)?!
    - tachyonbeam 13y ago
      And imagine teenagers ended up acquiring it, and getting access to those launch codes! cue Hollywood movie scenario
      - arethuza 13y ago
        Only to discover that the code to launch the missiles at the Soviets was set to 00000000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link
    - rbanffy 13y ago
      I once got a couple SPARCClassic-sized disk packs. Their paperwork said they belonged to an investment bank that didn't survive one of the many meltdowns of the late 20th century. All of them had piles of data that should have been erased before the sale. The SPARCClassic and its stack of disks is still quite impressive.
- atdepth 13y ago
  Reminds me of this core memory shield that was developed for the Arduino: http://www.corememoryshield.com/ http://www.corememoryshield.com/
asciimo 13y ago
This artifact belongs in the hands of someone who can answer that question for himself. I know he's not me; I would waste its potential by enclosing it in a Plexiglas cube and displaying it on my desk. "Look at this curiosity! No, please don't touch it."
VladRussian2 13y ago
it is just ferrittes strung on copper wire lattice, no component to "break" until it is really physically broken. What i've been wondering for many years about is why such schema wasn't miniaturized? We have disk plates with high density in HDDs, and the magnetic head is physically moving. Imagine if instead of the magnetic head there would be a [miniaturized] lattice similar in principle to the one on this image http://sovietsouvenirs.com/catalog/images/ic/core_memory-15-12.jpg http://sovietsouvenirs.com/catalog/images/ic/core_memory-15-.... The similar principle is used in flash memory, yet in the flash memory it is electrons trapped in the floating gate instead of magnetic domains with all the problems (durability, sustained write speed) of flash vs. magnetic disks.
- negativity 13y ago
  Rust is still a problem with those little ferrite rings, though. Depending on the environment you maintain for this device, it can actually be pretty delicate. I have some old (~25 year-old) electric motors, where the magnetic properties of the bigger ferrite rings have been degraded by rust. I guess it probably depends of the quality of the piece. This means there could be one tiny rusty ring in one of the center planes, and that would effectively result in a bad block that exhibits inconsistent behavior for that single bit. A person would have to test for that. It could be programmed around, and you could still have a fully functional object, minus one byte or word (or bit, depending on how you approach it). You'd also want to keep it free of dust, since dust CAN be metallic, magnetic and conductive. The item for sale looks like it's been taken care of nicely!
  - derefr 13y ago
    Since it's "solid state" (none of those parts move, do they?), I don't see why you need to leave it exposed to the outside air. Could you just cast the whole thing in plastic, or would it overheat? Maybe a mineral-oil bath?
    - zokier 13y ago
      The permeability/permittivity of the surrounding substance probably needs to be accounted for. I find it quite feasible that mineral oil (or plastic) would attenuate and/or slow down the changing magnetic fields.
cjensen 13y ago
Ampex made core memory as recently as the 1990s. And yes, they were hand-made.
troels 13y ago
It's USSR area hardware. Odds are it runs even if you put it on fire.

That's crazy, you can see it's handmade. I wonder if it still works?

nsxwolf 13y ago

Might be fun to hook it up to an Arduino and see if you could read/write. I imagine it needs its own power supply.

TheAnimus 13y ago
Iron core memory, so it would probably still read/write just fine, if not, fixing it shouldn't be too hard if you've got the hands for it.
gvb 13y ago
Core memory is non-volatile. If you hooked it up to a computer, you could read out what was written into it. Theoretically. NASA recovered the Challenger's core memory out of the ocean and was able to read it out months after the disaster. "On March 19, 1986, NASA announced that four of five Challenger General Purpose Computers (GPC) had been recovered from the Atlantic and moved to the IBM Federal Systems Division facility in Owego, NY. The GPCs were cleaned under controlled conditions and submerged in deionized water at Kennedy Space Center prior to air shipment March 16, 1986, to Owego. The GPC ferrite core memories were examined for any possible residual data -- a process that at the time was expected to take several months. This information was in the form of data--not onboard voice--and this path was pursued to add any possible additional information to the accident investigation. Many weeks later, it was found that the additional data frames did not measurably add to the information already gathered during the investigation." Ref: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0258a.shtml http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0258a.shtml
- hcarvalhoalves 13y ago
  I was going to respond that to the parent, but you beat me :) Imagine hooking up and figuring out you can read it? Even better, imagine it contains nuke launch codes (in the best soviet-from-secret-agent-movie tradition)?!
  - tachyonbeam 13y ago
    And imagine teenagers ended up acquiring it, and getting access to those launch codes! cue Hollywood movie scenario
    - arethuza 13y ago
      Only to discover that the code to launch the missiles at the Soviets was set to 00000000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link
  - rbanffy 13y ago
    I once got a couple SPARCClassic-sized disk packs. Their paperwork said they belonged to an investment bank that didn't survive one of the many meltdowns of the late 20th century. All of them had piles of data that should have been erased before the sale. The SPARCClassic and its stack of disks is still quite impressive.
atdepth 13y ago
Reminds me of this core memory shield that was developed for the Arduino: http://www.corememoryshield.com/ http://www.corememoryshield.com/

asciimo 13y ago

This artifact belongs in the hands of someone who can answer that question for himself. I know he's not me; I would waste its potential by enclosing it in a Plexiglas cube and displaying it on my desk. "Look at this curiosity! No, please don't touch it."

VladRussian2 13y ago

it is just ferrittes strung on copper wire lattice, no component to "break" until it is really physically broken. What i've been wondering for many years about is why such schema wasn't miniaturized? We have disk plates with high density in HDDs, and the magnetic head is physically moving. Imagine if instead of the magnetic head there would be a [miniaturized] lattice similar in principle to the one on this image http://sovietsouvenirs.com/catalog/images/ic/core_memory-15-12.jpg http://sovietsouvenirs.com/catalog/images/ic/core_memory-15-.... The similar principle is used in flash memory, yet in the flash memory it is electrons trapped in the floating gate instead of magnetic domains with all the problems (durability, sustained write speed) of flash vs. magnetic disks.

negativity 13y ago
Rust is still a problem with those little ferrite rings, though. Depending on the environment you maintain for this device, it can actually be pretty delicate. I have some old (~25 year-old) electric motors, where the magnetic properties of the bigger ferrite rings have been degraded by rust. I guess it probably depends of the quality of the piece. This means there could be one tiny rusty ring in one of the center planes, and that would effectively result in a bad block that exhibits inconsistent behavior for that single bit. A person would have to test for that. It could be programmed around, and you could still have a fully functional object, minus one byte or word (or bit, depending on how you approach it). You'd also want to keep it free of dust, since dust CAN be metallic, magnetic and conductive. The item for sale looks like it's been taken care of nicely!
- derefr 13y ago
  Since it's "solid state" (none of those parts move, do they?), I don't see why you need to leave it exposed to the outside air. Could you just cast the whole thing in plastic, or would it overheat? Maybe a mineral-oil bath?
  - zokier 13y ago
    The permeability/permittivity of the surrounding substance probably needs to be accounted for. I find it quite feasible that mineral oil (or plastic) would attenuate and/or slow down the changing magnetic fields.

cjensen 13y ago

Ampex made core memory as recently as the 1990s. And yes, they were hand-made.

troels 13y ago

It's USSR area hardware. Odds are it runs even if you put it on fire.