28 Feb
28 Feb
3:48 p.m.
For those who/ve not seen it, it was reprinted (without comments) amongst
some genuine data sheets in the back of _The Student Manual for the Art
of Electronics_. second edition. (FWIW, there are other jokes scattered
about in that book...)
-tony
1 Mar
1 Mar
2:15 a.m.
On 2/28/06, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
For those who/ve not seen it, it was reprinted (without comments) amongst
some genuine data sheets in the back of _The Student Manual for the Art
of Electronics_. second edition. (FWIW, there are other jokes scattered
about in that book...)
I always wondered to which device /dev/null pointed.
Simon
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
5:30 a.m.
On 3/1/06, Simon Fryer <fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
On 2/28/06, Tony Duell <ard at
p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
And in some CPU R0 is a write only register --- you always read a 0
For those who/ve not seen it, it was reprinted (without comments) amongst
some genuine data sheets in the back of _The Student Manual for the Art
of Electronics_. second edition. (FWIW, there are other jokes scattered
about in that book...)
I always wondered to which device /dev/null pointed.
Simon
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
5:20 p.m.
And in some CPU R0 is a write only register --- you
always read a 0
I think I once mentioned here that I have a machine -- a real,
production, machioe, with 16K words of memory that can be written by the
CPU, that can be excuted as a program, but which cannot be read back by
the CPU as data.
OK, at the hardware level, the memory can clearly be read, since the
contents can be executed. But it's almost write-only memory to the
programmer.
-tony
6:25 p.m.
On Wednesday 01 March 2006 05:15 am, Simon Fryer wrote:
On 2/28/06, Tony Duell <ard at
p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
The Bit Bucket, of course. And heaven help those that fail to empty them
periodically...
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
For those who/ve not seen it, it was reprinted (without comments) amongst
some genuine data sheets in the back of _The Student Manual for the Art
of Electronics_. second edition. (FWIW, there are other jokes scattered
about in that book...)
I always wondered to which device /dev/null pointed. 
10:36 a.m.
This was a favourite of a friend of mine who worked for British Telecom in
the early 80s.
He would persuade a new (usually graduate - always more gullible) engineer
to save data to WOM, then switch off the machine........
Jim.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Duell" <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: funny: write-only-memory (WOM) datasheet
For those who/ve not seen it, it was reprinted (without comments) amongst
some genuine data sheets in the back of _The Student Manual for the Art
of Electronics_. second edition. (FWIW, there are other jokes scattered
about in that book...)
-tony
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.1.1/271 - Release Date: 28/02/06
10:43 a.m.
I can see it as being a useful item, like an accumulator on an
hydraulic line, it would smooth out the pressure on the bit bucket
preventing "hammering" in the line when the down line digital switch
is closed.
On 3/1/06, Jim Beacon <jim at g1jbg.co.uk> wrote:
This was a favourite of a friend of mine who worked
for British Telecom in
the early 80s.
He would persuade a new (usually graduate - always more gullible) engineer
to save data to WOM, then switch off the machine........
Jim.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Duell" <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: funny: write-only-memory (WOM) datasheet
--
Jim Isbell
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
For those who/ve not seen it, it was reprinted (without comments) amongst
some genuine data sheets in the back of _The Student Manual for the Art
of Electronics_. second edition. (FWIW, there are other jokes scattered
about in that book...)
-tony
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.1.1/271 - Release Date: 28/02/06
2 Mar
2 Mar
12:27 a.m.
"Jim Isbell, W5JAI" wrote:
I can see it as being a useful item, like an accumulator on an
hydraulic line, it would smooth out the pressure on the bit bucket
preventing "hammering" in the line when the down line digital switch
is closed.
Hmm, that reminds me of an occasion many years ago during a faaaaaar too long
(and late) programming session. Characters being output from a program weren't
being displayed on a terminal. In a semi-delusional state I started
thinking of the characters as physical objects that had gotten lost moving around
the hardware: "OK, if they didn't get to the terminal screen then where
are they now?.. they must be in there somewhere." In a moment of lucidity I
realised it was time to go home and get some sleep.
--
Jim Isbell
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
(Does the edge of sanity count?)
- - -
While the datasheet is amusing (I was reminded of seeing it decades ago by the
dripping water tap for the drain connection on the IC block diagram.), one could
argue that WOM is actually no more ludicrous a term than ROM. After all, a ROM
was written to (once). An application of WOM could be said to be cockpit data
recorders, where writing and overwriting is continually being done, but you only
read it once, and under exceptional circumstances.
1 Mar
1 Mar
1:52 p.m.
Jim Beacon wrote:
He would persuade a new (usually graduate - always
more gullible) engineer
to save data to WOM, then switch off the machine........
Hopefully the graduate would point out that switching off the machine
wasn't even necessary :-)
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
2:17 p.m.
From: "Jim Leonard" <trixter at oldskool.org>
Yeah, but it usuall took a couple of days for them to calm down first.
Jim.
Jim Beacon wrote:
> He would persuade a new (usually graduate - always more gullible)
engineer
to save data
to WOM, then switch off the machine........
Hopefully the graduate would point out that switching off the machine
wasn't even necessary :-)
--
6634
days inactive
6636
days old
10 comments
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participants (9)
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
bert＠brothom.nl -
fryers＠gmail.com -
hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca -
jim.isbell＠gmail.com -
jim＠g1jbg.co.uk -
rtellason＠blazenet.net -
trixter＠oldskool.org -
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