> From:    Pop <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: More Pigs in spaaace...

> Amazing! I was thinking like about washing machine sized for 32k...

> I dont quite understand how the X and Y wires work.

For the 1024x1 core plane, that could be 64 rows, 64 columns.
Five decoded bits addressing one-of-64 x, five decoded bits
addressing one-of-64 y..

> What speed can it run at? How much heat might the AT motherboard
> sized setup give off?

By comparison to today's RAM, they were quite slow.  It was not
unusual for a 2 full AMPERE current jolt to be sent down the "write"
wires, perhaps a millisecond long.  Heat was not usually a problem
- though there always was a hefty wire-wound resistor or two ( as
thick as a cigarette ) used for current limiting in the write wires.
..Lots of inductance to overcome in a core plane.
B
Core RAM was used a little differently than the way we use RAM
today; it's most important use was as data RAM, rather than entire
programs.
I guess it could be used for an automobile controller; these
need not be fast at all.
In airborne use, the continuously-running program was in ROM,
with things like target az and el position, speed, altitude,
etc. temporarily stored in core RAM.

> Can the sense wires be made of gold?

The wires looked like standard enamelled copper magnet wire,
the kind found in countless small transformers.

- John T.



-- Arachne V1.49;beta, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://home.arachne.cz/

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