19 Nov
2001
19 Nov
'01
1:16 p.m.
In my experiance, very early chips used a purple ceramic with a high thorium
content causing the distinctive color. Unfortunatley, this thorium emits low
level
particles that cause soft errors, which became apparent in the early days of DRAM.
This drove a change in ceramic processing and costs, pointing the way towards
todays plastic packages.
Sellam Ismail wrote:
On Mon, 19 Nov 2001, John Galt wrote:
As far as the color, chip collectors refer to
that color chip as
"purple". If you look at it next to a normal "gray" CerDIP, you can
see the difference. Besides, it would not have mattered had it been
black. The fact is, it's not the white/gold color of a normal Intel
C8080A. The printing on the chip is also somewhat different. My
guess is it's a late run C8080A that was put in the same package they
used for some of the later C8085AH's.
My questions is: why does this matter? Will researchers 50 years from now
find the Purple one useful for any sort of study? What makes the Purple
one special beyond just being a pretty if not questionable shade of
purple?
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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