Core Memory - Earliest?
cj...@cc.curtin.edu.au
In addition to the megabytes of RAM that I now use at work and at home,
I have and use a 200 bit (yes Bits!) core memory on a 1953 Seeburg V200
juke box. (One bit for each selection.)
I have been told that this was the earliest commercial use for core memory.
Is this so?
Does anyone know of earlier core usage?
John D.
--
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\ Newm...@CC.curtin.edu.au "The optimist proclaims that we live in /
/ Curtin University the best of all possible worlds, and \
\ Perth the pessimist fears that this is true." /
/ Western Australia - J B Cabell \
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Rick Smith
>I have and use a 200 bit (yes Bits!) core memory on a 1953 Seeburg V200
>juke box. (One bit for each selection.)
>I have been told that this was the earliest commercial use for core memory.
>Is this so?
>Does anyone know of earlier core usage?
Could be. The first _commercial_ use in computers was in 1954 according to
a study I did a few years back. Entertainment equipment has always been
a profitable application for automatic control and it's kind of surprising
that we don't have more early examples like that. The classic story was
how the president of American Totalizer was about to sign an agreement
with Eckert and Mauchly for developing computers for race tracks (or
some such) when he got killed in a plane crash, nixing the deal. Instead
they got bought by Remington Rand and went to business machines. Using
computers in entertainment might have set the "business machine" market
back by years. Look how long it took personal computers to catch on
since the Apple II and such were considered "game machines."
Rick.
sm...@sctc.com Arden Hills, Minnesota
Lance Gay
>
>In addition to the megabytes of RAM that I now use at work and at home,
>I have and use a 200 bit (yes Bits!) core memory on a 1953 Seeburg V200
>juke box. (One bit for each selection.)
>I have been told that this was the earliest commercial use for core memory.
>Is this so?
>Does anyone know of earlier core usage?
In _The Structure of Computers and Computations_, David Kuck writes:
One important outcome of the M.I.T. activity was in the main memory
area. Initially, Whirlwind had a 1024 word, 16-bit, modified Willaims tube
memory. Under Forrester's direction, alternative memory devices were being
studied. The M.I.T. group was in close competition with an RCA team headed
by Jan Rajchman. At least by virtue of consent decrees some ten years
later, M.I.T. won the race. (The settlement included royalty-free rights
to RCA and a $13 million license from M.I.T. to IBM.) In 1953, they had
installed in Whirlwind a 2048-word coincident current magnetic core memory.
This memory had 1 microsecond read time and an 8 microsecond write and
cycle time, and the cores were about 80 mils OD. The machine also had a
cathode-ray tube for output display with a computer-controlled camera
attcahed.
So, it looks like you tied with Whirlwind.
Lance J. Gay Internet: g...@venice.sedd.trw.com
TRW Systems Engineering & Development Div. Phone: 213-764-3988
Redondo Beach, CA 90278