29 Jul
2002
29 Jul
'02
8 p.m.
"Dwight K. Elvey" wrote:
Humidity is pretty low in these parts,
and so should be OK with silica gel.
As an off-topic digression, isn't silica gel the stuff
that always comes in little packages labelled
"Do not eat"? Honestly. Do they really look that
delicious? :)
I wonder if this is a new trend and soon pink erasers will
sport
similar warnings...
I do. :)
Yes, they show all appearances of being NOS that's never
been
used in any way.
I guess you could call it, to paraphrase a famous fast-food
slogan, the "on and off urge."
:)
Thanks!
-- Ross
From: "Ross Archer"
<archer(a)topnow.com I have some Synertek NMOS 6502s from various
weeks
in 1984, still in their (original?) Synertek static tubes.
(At least, "Synertek" is stamped on the tubes.)
A few "boy are these stupid" questions:
1. Does anyone have any cool Synertek lore they'd like to
share with the group? All I know about them is they made
the SYM-1 and were a 6530 second-source. I guess it's safe
to conclude they were also a 6502 second-source. :)
2. Is this a "Find" in any sense? (I paid all of 30 cents
each for them.) My motivation is to have enough replacement
parts to keep all my 6502-based hardware humming for years
to
come. Though in this case I have several lifetimes' worth.
:)
3. Is there any reason to fear that these chips will "go
bad"
at any significant rate as they age? Is there any way I
could
store them (reasonably, I mean, no vaccum or outer-space
suggestions, please. :) to maximize their lifespan?
Hi
Sitting in the tube, they should last for 1000's of
years. Moisture is about the only problem. Keep them
in a zip-loc with a packet a silca-gel and they will
out live you and your grandchildren's grandchildren.
Any temperature that a human can live in will have
virtually no effect on them.
My plan is to come into work some evening and suit up with
the full anti-static treatment at an EMI bench with my
little
SBC (retrofitted with a 40 pin ZIF socket to avoid bending
their machine-straight little legs), and test them all in
rapid-fire succession. Is there anything inherently dumb
about powering them up?
If these are NOS and not test pulls, they should all be
functional. No need to test them unless you just feel
the urge. Dwight
>
>Okay, well enough dumb questions. Just looking for
>any comments on any of the points, as the spirit moves you.
>:)
>
>-- Ross
>