Do you know core memory? Our prehistoric predecessors would store data in the magnetic fields of ferrite rings, reading out the ones and zeroes by setting the magnetic field and detecting if a small current is induced in a sense wire, indicating that the bit flipped, or not detecting the current, in which case it didn’t. Core memory is non-volatile, rad hard, and involved a tremendous amount of wire weaving to fabricate. And it’s pretty cool.
[Andy Geppert] wants to get you hands-on with this anachronistic memory, and builds kits to demo how it works. [Tom Nardi] and [Bil Herd] caught up with him at the Vintage Computer Festival East last weekend, and got him to demo his Core64 project for them. (Video, embedded below.)
The design of Core64 displays its state in lights at all times. And this means that you can write to it using either the onboard Pi Pico, for a blinky light show, or with a magnetic stylus, setting each bit’s magnetic state by hand. This turns it into a magnetic memory tablet and is a sweet demonstration of the principles that make it all work. Or, if you pulse the lines at just the right frequency, you can make the cores spin!
Watch [Andy] explaining it in our interview here, and stay tuned for more coming from VCF East 2023 soon.
Makes me remember i have like 100.000 ferrite cores special for core memory (not any ferrite “donut” would do). And no patience to weave some …
What is the .000 represent? A 1/1000 of a core? :) Those would tough to weave ;) ha!
I too, at this stage of life, not to interested in ‘weaving’ the cores for fun. I do remember, when I was working at my first job, an HP computer they were phasing out had core memory. Loaded the computer with paper tape I believe. One of our engineers still has one of those folding cards of core memory for fun.
Forgot to add, thanks Elliot for the article! Core memory is interesting for sure.
Some non-USA places use “.” in numbers like we use “,”.
If you speak Python that would be 100_000
or if you´re a bit versed into science, it would be 1E5
or 100k cores.
if you still don´t get it then you should travel a bit. USe your feet to drag your pounds across the yard.
Sheesh, statements sure do tweak some posters :) . So the internet goes.
Interesting. Something filtered out the “tongue in cheek” statements … I had written.
In FORTH you write double length integers as digits with punctuation inside, I used “_” and “.” years ago. So “100.000” would be how to write 100,000 into a 16 bit FORTH as a 32 bit double integer.
If you want to find a good home for them I’m looking to weave!
I’d love to try my hand at weaving some core memory! Let me know if you’d like to find a home for the fortunes!
Beware, there are two different types of core memory, ROM and RAM.
Core rope memory is ROM, while magnetic-core memory aka ferrite-core memory aka core memory is RAM.
The latter looses its memory after a read, afaik.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory
So, are the trees in bloom in Wall, New Jersey?
(I haven’t watched the video)
Yes and it’s getting a bit tough to breath as the pollen is causing post sinus drip.
And if 64 bits isn’t enough…
https://hackaday.io/project/11179-ferrite-core-memory-module
(yes, shameless self-promotion)
Oops – meant to post this in response to [Andrew Starr]’s project, not [Chris]’ comment above. Oops. Alas, if people have spare core memory definitely send it to someone who can put it to use (me included!) because I think it will become extremely hard to come by N.O.S. in the future. Here’s what I meant to say to [Andrew Starr]:
“Your project was an inspiration to me! I have provisioned my design to be able to stack 8 planes, but I haven’t actually done it yet. I have in mind that I’ll add a stack of 8 planes to my demo in the near future, and then use a small LCD screen to render a real-time isometric view of the state of each core in the stack. Hoping to make it a 3 dimensional flux detector!”
Saturn V core memory module
https://static.righto.com/images/lvdc-core/lvdc-core-module.jpg
Saturn V core memory group
https://static.righto.com/images/lvdc-core/iu-lvdc-memory-group-w500.jpg
Saturn V Instrument Unit
https://historicspacecraft.com/Photos/Saturn/Saturn_IU_USSRC_2008_RK_3.jpg
While core memory is usually thought of as mainframe or high tech use it did find it’s way into the more mundane applications. NCR (National Cash Register) used it in a cash register/terminal known as the NCR 280. The 4k core held a program that handled basic offline sales with tax calculations storage and online communication data flow via DLC (12v async) to a central multiplexor (NCR 751) which in turn provided synchronous communication to a mainframe for the SKU pricing and inventory control. Multiple terminals in multiple stores were handled via Poll/Select protocols. Printing format of the customer receipt was also in the program and outputted to a Helical Printer. The NCR 280 could be found in the likes of Bergners, Pennys, Sears, Wards and other large chain retailers. In the Midwest, winter was my most favorite time. I would be at Bergners cleaning a printer and would cringe at the snap of static when a salesperson walking across the carpet would touch a 280. The core would take an immediate dump. That meant I would be spending about an hour keying in the main program because there were no download capabilities at that time.
Thank you to the Hackaday team members who made this post possible. Very nice of you! I draw a lot of inspiration from this community and I’m honored to have been highlighted with my obscure little project!