>
>Subject: Re: Bubble memory devices
> From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
> Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:52:51 +0000 (GMT)
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
>
>> Anyway, on page 46 I stumbled across an interesting article (called "A
>> Slow Road To Bubble Memories") about bubble memory. The main bubble
>> memory manufacturers of the time were Intel Corp., Texas Instruments
>> and Rockwell Int. The article also mentions that Rockwell had a bubble
>> system, a 256K bit board, available for $1,800. Meanwhile Intel had a
>> bubble system in kit form - 7110-1 Magnetic Memory board came with all
>> control and support circuitry - and sold for $2,000.
>>
>> What happened to bubble memory? Did it die out due to the costs, or
>> did people prefer to use cassettes, disks etc. instead?
>
>I think it pretty much died out due to cost and limited capacity. IIRC,
>that Intel chipset was 1Mbit, or 128K bytes. And it was hardly cheap.
>Bubble memory did get used in some portables, for example, since with no
>moving parts it's pretty rugged.
So the claimed. It was small, 128kb and largest was 512kb. It wasn't
energy frugal the 128k board was something like 12W! It had a fussy
startup and shutdown. and a 3.5" floppy at that time was new, expensive
but bigger(360k) and lower power. Never really made prime time.
I have two of them in a system that work well but speed is lower than
5.25 40track SD floppy and power is the same.
Allison
cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. FS: Bytes and Interface Age mags (Jason T)
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:53:28 -0600
> From: "Jason T" <silent700 at gmail.com>
> Subject: FS: Bytes and Interface Age mags
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
> Time to unload the last of my duplicates.
Hello All;
My collection of Byte Magazines begins with
May 77 and runs thru Oct 84 with maybe a couple of Issues missing.
90 Magazines in all\Anyone Interested. Let me Know
Bob in Wisconsin
USE trebor72 at execpc.com
>
>Subject: RE: Bubble memory devices
> From: "Gavin Melville" <gavin.melville at acclipse.co.nz>
> Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:11:19 +1300
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>Hi,
>
>Bubble was very, very expensive, and about that time SRAM was becoming
>available. I don't have any complete 7110's left -- Intel took them
>all back, but I do have the internals. Inside the various coils was a
>garnet "chip" and under a good microscope you can see the Chevrons that
>steered the magnetic bubbles.
Really? I have two complete BKK72s operational.
>The problem for the company I worked for at the time was temperature --
>at about 0 deg C all the bubbles wandered off. I still clearly remember
>the Intel FAE telling me, with great conviction "you still have every
>bubble -- none have been lost". My explanantion that that was of little
>use -- I don't know which byte or address they belong to was lost on
>him.
Never tried them over temp.
>Steering the little bubbles around was fun -- you could rotate the
>majority loop, rotate the all minority loops, and replicate from one
>loop to the other. Random access it wasn't...
It never tried to be. Howver it was trying to fit in the floppy slot
and at 128k for the smaller it was a tad small.
>Because of supposed military uses Intel were REAL serious about security
>-- they had to know where they all were, who the customers were etc.
??? Really. Never been so much as contacted.
Allison
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org
>> [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Burton
>> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 1:42 PM
>> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
>> Subject: Bubble memory devices
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Whilst waiting for a video to download (I'm still on dial-up)
>> I decided to have a flick through an issue of 80
>> Microcomputing. It's issue 10 (October 1980) and inlcudes an
>> article about the row about whether the US government and/or
>> patent office should honour copyrights for computer software.
>>
>> Anyway, on page 46 I stumbled across an interesting article
>> (called "A Slow Road To Bubble Memories") about bubble
>> memory. The main bubble memory manufacturers of the time were
>> Intel Corp., Texas Instruments and Rockwell Int. The article
>> also mentions that Rockwell had a bubble system, a 256K bit
>> board, available for $1,800. Meanwhile Intel had a bubble
>> system in kit form - 7110-1 Magnetic Memory board came with
>> all control and support circuitry - and sold for $2,000.
>>
>> What happened to bubble memory? Did it die out due to the
>> costs, or did people prefer to use cassettes, disks etc. instead?
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Andrew B
>> aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
>>
>>
>>
Hey guys,
Someone gave me an Apple // europlus. I don't have any system disks for it
at all. If I send someone a 5 1/4 inch disk or disks, would this kind soul
send me a DOS 3.3 system master disk?
Now if I could get that together, and find a super serial card, I could
transfer software of disk images to it.
Take Care,
Mark
I am working on restoring a DEC TU10 tape drive for my PDP-8/E and want to
see if anybody has experience repairing them before I do too much to it.
It was made in 1973 and probably last powered up in 1988. I have the
maintenance manuals and prints for it. Though for some reason they don't
have the 20 year idle maintenance procedure.
Does anybody have a TU10 with a good capstan who can accurately measure
the diameter or the coating thickness?
Also does anybody have a 9 track 800 BPI alignment/skew tape? A bunch
of the maintenance procedures use it.
So far I have cleaned it and taken stock of its condition.
The vacuum switches are bad but it looks like they are still made
by World Magnetics so I should be able to get new. The markings on them
don't exactly match the new parts so hopefully the manual 10" H2O
is correct. If anybody knows more it would be appreciated.
The capstan is past dead and seriously into decomposing. The price for a
NOS one is scary. It is about 1.8" in diameter and directly moves the
tape. Since this is a critical component to the tape path I suspect my skills
with the do it yourself repairs will leave it too lopsided. Has anybody
tried www.terrysrubberrollers.com. I saw a couple references on the list but
didn't see any reports of results. It looks like he uses some black rubber
which I don't know if it will have similar friction to the original.
>From whats left it looks like the original capstan was translucent amber.
The blower sound noisy when turned by hand. Plan to see if I can
open and inspect.
One of the reels doesn't turn easily. The manual has a section on
cleaning the brakes so plan to do that.
Plan to do the standard power supply checkout.
A lot of the old equipment like this tape drive has parts with permanently
lubricated ball bearings. So far I have decides that if the device sounds
fine to leave them alone since it won't get that much use and taking it
apart enough to get the bearings out has some risk. They also are sometimes
pretty well sealed making cleaning and relubricated difficult. I have
wondered how good 20-30 year old grease can be. What do other people do?
Has anybody found a good way to relubricate these type of bearings to
prolong the life? Or wait until they fail and hope the bearing assembly
matches something you can buy?
Thanks,
David Gesswein
http://www.pdp8online.com/ -- Run an old computer with blinkenlights
Hi,
I am on the scrounge for a SC/MP CPU for a project I am working on.
A search of ePay has failed to turn up any options. Does anybody here
know of a supplier?
Doug
--
Doug Jackson, I-RAP, MAIPM, MIEEE
Principal Information Security Consultant
EWA-AUSTRALIA
PO Box 6308 O'Connor ACT 2602
Level 1, 214 Northbourne Ave, Braddon ACT 2612
Tel: +61 (0)2 6230 6833
Fax: +61 (0)2 6230 5833
Mob: +61 (0)414 986 878
http://www.ewa-australia.com
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I should have posted this years ago.
But does anyone on the list have or know someone (company or individual)
that has a Magtape (reel) drive that can read an old Vax Magtape?
I have about a half dozen tapes I'd like to get the data off, and it seems like a lost art.
I'm not about to try and restore my uncles Wabash PDP hard disk though (external disk pack)
I'd be willing to pay a small fee for time/trouble, though I'm not made of money.
I'd rather trade equipment if there's something you need (sparc?) :)
Dan.
_________________________________________________________________
I just wanted to get the notice out there..
A date has been chosen for the 4th VCF/Midwest, and it's going to be on
Saturday and Sunday, April 26th and 27th, and will be held again at
Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Sellam is working on getting the website set up, and hopefully it will
be up soon. If anyone here is interested in doing a talk for this
year's VCF/MW, please let me know. I'm working on a few leads for
speakers right now.
I also hope to have a piece of Big Iron from my own collection up and
running at the show this year.
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
On Feb 17, 2008, at 10:00 AM, Vince wrote:
> But won't Tony refuse to *use* the TARDIS until it is documented
> well enough for him to *repair* it :-)?
That would be a good idea, don't you think, considering the chances
of finding a factory authorized service center and spare parts in 1900?
On 13 Feb, 2008, at 02:53, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
>
> Have a HP N3390 laptop, 8 years old. An antique...
>
Are you kidding? My machine is 46 years old and that is a SECOND
generation computer.