On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 11:05 PM, Brent Hilpert via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> On 2017-Dec-01, at 7:12 AM, Tony Aiuto via cctalk wrote: > > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/263005049078 > > > > EBay listing for a "Soviet Magnetic Ferrite Core Memory Board". It looks > > like 20 something gigantic cores and a lot of diodes. I am guessing it is > > some kind of ROM, but it doesn't look like a rope memory. And maybe the > > cores are not cores at all, but some sort of inductor. I've not seen this > > before. > > > That's very funny. > It looks to be a core rope memory that hasn't been programmed. > I think that is the most likely case. > > Other organisations might be possible, but it looks like a > pulse-transformer type of core-rope, > where the cores are just for ordinary induction, not switching/memory > cores. > > - the matrix of black what-look-to-be diodes would be data-wire > isolation diodes > > - the little brown 'stools' are wire routing posts > > - you can see the mulit-turn sense windings (bluish) already > present on the cores > > - above the cores are the sense amplifiers or 1st stage thereof > > - there is one wire through all the cores, perhaps a test wire for > core and sense amp response > > Each data-wire would start at one of the solder pins in the pin matrix on > the left, weave through the cores to encode the data, > turn back 180, then 90 degrees around one of the stools to drop down and > terminate at the solder pin by an isolation diode. > > There would be another board for decoding the address to 1-of-x and 1-of-y. > > I didn't count precisely but it looks like it would be 256 words of 20 > bits. > > That might be a date code of 6847 on a cap (or is it 6B47?), so perhaps > earlier than the listing-stated 1981. > > Actually, it kind of hints at it in the description: "With out Firmware > ROM wire (empty slots)" > Ah, you read the description. I just looked at the title and saw "with the firmware". My addled brain made the leap to a external firmware, which made no sense. "firmware ROM wire" would be a clear case for rope memory. On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 11:32 PM, Charles Anthony <charles.unix....@gmail.com > wrote: > > The last picture has "ДЗУ-5". Some googling takes us to > https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%97%D0%A3 > > "DZU is a factory in Stara Zagora , a major producer of magnetic disk > storage devices (hard drives and floppy disks) during the rise of computer > production in Bulgaria in the 1970s and 1980s, century. Today it is part of > VIDEOTON Holding ZRt., Hungary [1] ." > > The article says it was a disk drive factory, but maybe... > > -- Charles > Given the cleanliness of the board and other things the seller is offering, my guess now is that this NOS from the DZU plant. Thanks, everyone.
