18 Dec
2009
18 Dec
'09
10:57 a.m.
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:07:29 -0800
From: cisin at xenosoft.com
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: trs-80 model II trouble--problem solved..and follow-up
On Thu, 17 Dec 2009, Chuck Guzis wrote:
Hi
I recall when 2716s first came out. Intel got premium prices for them.
They had a number of half bad parts that they labeled as 2508s ( not to be confused
with TI's 2508s ). These also had the high/low selector in the name.
Over the years, competition and demand brought the price of 2716s down.
There was no increased demand for the 2508s so their price remained
high ( even higher than a 2716 ). Towards the end, 2508s were in fact
perfectly good 2716s that were relabeled as 2508s.
It was actually more expensive to have a different flow process for
the 2508s than to just test them all as good 2716s.
At the time that I recall seeing an Intel price list, the 2716s were ~$5
while the 2508s were at ~$32.
Dwight
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I probably still have a bunch of these--they were
castoffs from work
when we got some "real" 16K DRAMs, I got to keep the '09s. Curiously
most of the 09s worked just fine in full 16K mode and passed every
diagnostic I could throw at them. So calling them "bad" was perhaps
a little misleading. It could well have been that half the chip
didn't meet specs.
Let's not do like Gibson/Spinrite.
Perhaps the manufacturer had some test for the chips that was more
rigorous than what we have. If they say that their product is bad, I'll
believe them, even if it "tests good" most of the time.