Subject: RE: Magnetic Memory making a comeback?

From: Gooijen H <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:29:07 2003

Yep, had read about that a few months ago.
See my text on the website:

www.pdp-11.nl/pdp11-35/memory/core-intro.html

MRAM is described (brief) at the end. Also has
a link to a Motorola article!

  greetz,

- Henk.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bryan Pope [mailto:[email-masked]]
> Sent: dinsdag 10 juni 2003 16:23
> To: [email-masked]
> Subject: Magnetic Memory making a comeback?
> 
> 
> There is a _new_ type of memory being developed called MRAM, 
> which uses magnetic fields to store data.
> 
> An interesting quote from the article (to bring it on-topic):
> 
> "Magnetic fields have been used to store data since time immemorial,"
> he joked. "We were using it in the early 1960s and 1950s."
> 
> The article can be found at:
> http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-1014865.html
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bryan

---

From: Jim Davis <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:29:20 2003

>a link to a Motorola article!
IBM reports success with magnetic memory,
www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1122890,00.asp
Jim.

---

From: "Gary Dean Hildebrand" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:29:56 2003

>> See my text on the website:
 snip snip
> www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1122890,00.asp

I remember when DRAM was 'faster than static RAM, and that was great until 
static ram became faster than dynamic.  All a matter of technology needing 
something and then getting it. 

Nowdays fast is the word, with buss speeds over 200 mHz.  Sometimes old 
ideas need nothing but an update.  And of course volatility is a factor here 
too. 

What I've always wondered is that the main data storage is still 
magno-mechanical, not much fundamentally different than storage was in the 
50's and 60's with diskpacks.  You'd think that a completely electronic 
storage would have emerged by now, besides small EEPROMs? 

As a humorous sideline:  When NASA spent thousands of dollars trying to make 
a pen work in zero-G, the Russians simply used a pencil . .  . . 

Gary Hildebrand
St. Joseph, MO

---

From: Mail List <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:32:43 2003

> You'd think that a completely electronic storage would have
 > emerged by now, besides small EEPROMs?

FLASH Memory, Solid State Disk Drives, etc. They do now exist.

At 04:42 AM 6/11/03 -0500, you wrote:
>ideas need nothing but an update.  And of course volatility is a factor 
>here too.
>As a humorous sideline:  When NASA spent thousands of dollars trying to 
>make a pen work in zero-G, the Russians simply used a pencil . .  . .
>Gary Hildebrand
>St. Joseph, MO

---

From: William Donzelli <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:32:58 2003

> FLASH Memory, Solid State Disk Drives, etc. They do now exist.

It should also be noted that magnetic memories have been making a 
comeback for about 20 years now...along with integrated circuits with 
tubes...

William Donzelli
[email-masked]

---

From: Tom Uban <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:33:07 2003

Does anyone know if there are problems with close proximity magnetic
fields and MRAM?

--tom

---

From: emanuel stiebler <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:33:25 2003

> make a pen work in zero-G, the Russians simply used a pencil . .  . .

Which was a smart thing to do, this way they got rid of all static in 
space having all this graphite flying around through the air ...
;-)

---

From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:35:15 2003

Was it a click type plastic pencil or the ones with wood you sharpen?

---

From: Kevin Handy <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:35:22 2003

>Was it a click type plastic pencil or the ones with wood you sharpen?
It wouldn't matter much which one you used. The one that needs
sharpening would have a somewhat higher volume of conductive
dust floating around, but both generate stray carbon dust, and
conductive chunks that break off when used.

I'd rather not have to worry about loose pieces of flamable conductive
dust floating around.

>>>make a pen work in zero-G, the Russians simply used a pencil . .  . .
This is just an urban legend.  

    http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.htm

Just because it sounds too good to be true, doesn't make it true. ;=)

>>space having all this graphite flying around through the air ...

Fischer saw a business opportunity, and designed a pen that would work
in space. They initially sold 400 to NASA at 2.95 each. That's a lot less
than 1.5 million. They made more selling them to the public as a pen that
could write upside down.

---

From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:35:37 2003

Well I would be more worried about the guy with the methane farts next to me
then the stray pencil lead dust.
That or if the heat tiles on the shuttle are still there on the way back
home.

Some of the things the russians did were low tech but usefull. Whose smart
idea was it to fill a capsule full of electical boxes with 100% oxygen
environment for no particular reason?

---

From: steven <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:35:52 2003

I saw this at a local computer joint - a Bell Labs
suitcase programmer with a MAC-8 CPU?

The manual was from 1979.

What do you make of it? Should I pick it up for anyone
here?

Thanks-
Steve.

---

From: William Donzelli <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:36:24 2003

> then the stray pencil lead dust.

NASA was also very concern about the conductive carbon dust or particles 
causing electrical problems.

> environment for no particular reason?

There was a sound reason - use a high oxygen atmosphere, so you can lower 
the pressure inside the capsule and still have it breathable. With a 
lower pressure inside, the walls of the capsule can be much thinner, 
saving weight.

William Donzelli
[email-masked]

---

From: Brian Chase <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:36:31 2003

> Was it a click type plastic pencil or the ones with wood you sharpen?

I'd probably opt for something like a wax pencil or maybe a non-graphite
black or blue colored pencil.  I've seen some of them which are
"sharpened" by peeling off a layer of paper that's wrapped around the
lead.

-brian.

---

From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:36:48 2003

Never heard of the lower pressure before. I thaught humans breath because of
the buildup of co2. So lowering the pressure and just using oxygen wouldnt
help much would it? Besides 100% oxygen makes things that are normally low
combustible highly combustible.

---

From: Brian Chase <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Jun 11 22:36:56 2003

On Wed, 11 Jun 2003, TeoZ wrote:

> Never heard of the lower pressure before. I thaught humans breath
> because of the buildup of co2. So lowering the pressure and just using
> oxygen wouldnt help much would it? Besides 100% oxygen makes things
> that are normally low combustible highly combustible.

Take a cubic meter of air at STP.  Remove all the non-essential gasses,
leaving only the oxygen behind.  You'll end up with same amount of
oxygen necessary to support human life, but the overall pressure will
be lower owing to the lack of those useless gasses.

Well, that's my educated guess at least.

-brian.

---

From: Chad Fernandez <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jun 13 11:12:24 2003

> "sharpened" by peeling off a layer of paper that's wrapped around the

That's a grease pencil..... I wouldn't want to use one for paper work. 
They're better suited for writing on plastic surfaces.

Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA