13 Dec
2015
13 Dec
'15
8:53 a.m.
On 2015-12-13 4:28 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 12/12/2015 07:41 PM, dwight wrote:
The 2260 control unit did use magnetostrictive delay line memory as did
a few other IBM machines I am familiar with. See
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_ibm2260Y27ar68_33742632 there is a
very good description of the delay lines in that manual.
Paul.
I would assume it makes no sense to have it in
the cable. It is
acoustic not electronic. Typically it would be a loop. Data and
possibly clock goes in one end.
As a practical example, consider the Packard-Bell 250 computer. No,
not the Packard-Bell PC of the Israeli tank driver and his buddies,
but the real Packard Bell, maker of consumer radio and TV gear and
aerospace electronics.
Since the thing could run from an ordinary wall outlet (something
around 1200W) and used only about 300 transistors (and lots of
diodes), it's pretty amazing for a 1961 22-bit minicomputer.
It used magnetostrictive delay line memory, which is what I'd have
thought that the 2260 would have used. Oh well, I guess IBM did
things their way...
--Chuck