10 Apr
2015
10 Apr
'15
9:15 a.m.
As far as I know, machines of that era used cores that
were so small the DEC
hired master seamstresses (myth?) to make them. It's certainly not
something that would be done in the field by John Q. Programmer.
As just mentioned, core was hand threaded mostly overseas, except for
IBM core, which was machine made (and even there, they found it was
cheaper to have some made by hand overseas). I do not know if anyone
else automated core production.
And "automate" is a loose word here - core stacks typically had to be
reworked during shipping due to broken wires and bum cores. This is
why with many core stacks, if you look closely, you can see splices in
the wires.
I am pretty sure rope memory (sort of core) could be changed in the
field, due to the general larger dimensions.
If someone is making a list - early Interdatas had rope for the control store.
--
Will