Core and ICs

[Scott Stevens]

On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:06:02 +0000 (GMT)
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:

> > By the way to answer someone's question, all of my equipment is =
> > transistor &
> > diode logic.  It predates ICs by several years.  Core memory started =
> > with
> > vacuum tubes (or valves, if you prefer), moved to transistors and =
> > finally
> > ICs at the end of the era.  I saw only a few commercial core memories =
> > with
> > ICs.  ICs meant RAM was feasible, so there was a very narrow window of =
> > Core
> > and ICs.  Many of those moved over to RAM in the middle of the =
> 
> I have more machines with core + ICs that core + discretes only....
> 
> Core + discrrete transsitors/diodes : 
> HP9100B
> Casio AL1000
> 
> Core + ICs (mostly TTL)
> Philips P850
> DEC PDP8/e
> DEC PDP11/10
> Other DEC Unibus Core memory planes + drivers
> Casio AL2000
> DG Noav 1200
> HP2100A
> 
> Remmber core was non-volatile which gave it an advantage over 
> semiconductor RAM in some applications.
> 

Core is also more 'radiation hardened' for certain applications.
For space or military use, for instance.  Not as important now
but it was for a long while.