19 Jul
2021
19 Jul
'21
9:50 p.m.
On 7/19/21 3:40 AM, Joshua Rice via cctalk wrote:
I believe much of the core manufacturing for DEC
minicomputers was
outsourced, but a lot of it had become much more automated by the late 60's
and early 70's.
I've got a trio of planes here, two of which are from a Lockheed MAC-16,
but the other one is made by Keronix out of Santa Monica for an unknown
machine (dated 1973, model number "P4" and p/n 816335 if that means
anything to anyone, approx 16"x16" with two 100-pin, double-sided finger
edge connectors on 0.1" spacing).
Anyhoo, the Keronix one has a sticker on it saying it was repaired by DMA,
inc. in Amery, WI in 1980 - which might suggest that there were third
parties around working on boards, rather than them having to go back to the
manufacturer for repair. (I have no idea what the nature of the repair was,
of course; maybe it was to surrounding logic rather than the mat itself).
It's worth noting that most computer manufacturers
appreciated the
fragility of core memory planes at the time, with most of them being
protected with either PCB's or perspex/plastic shields on top of the core
planes.
Yes, that's how all the ones I've ever seen have been. The Keronix one has
an additional shield over the top of the entire PCB, on top of the one
protecting the cores.
Jules