[Milsurplus] Old CPUs

[Gene Smar]

Gents:

     I recall from my Frosh days at Lehigh U (1969) the Student System 
Development Organizaton (nerd club) obtained, through one of our connected 
profs, a Minuteman (1, I believe) nav computer.  It was inside a drum that 
looked to be about 30 inches in diameter (I'm probably wrong) and contained 
core memory - a matrix of wires wherein a torroid core (hence the name) was 
connected to each pair of intersecting wires.  I never got to play with the 
thing.  Too bad.

     Then in 1972 HP came out with its HP35 calculator and the world changed 
forever.

73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Morrow" <kk5f at earthlink.net>
To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Old CPUs


> >Back in '69, Data General core was going for $4000 for a 4 K Word plane.
>
> But that's understandable for core memory.  I'd bet that today building
> the same core would be the inflation adjusted equivalent of $4000.
>
> The flight computer for the warhead bus on ballistic missiles 30 years
> ago used plated-wire memory technology for ROM.  That has excellent
> EMP survivability!
>
> Mike / KK5F
>
>
>
>
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