<Could someone tell me what exactly "core memory" is? From mentions of
Core memory. A system using metal or ferrite(magnetic) material to store
data using magnetization. One core, one bit. The direction of magnetic
field is key to determining the data stored.
<Acoustic delay line? What is that?
The principle is that sound(mechanical vibration) moves slower than
elctrons. Data, bit are translated from voltages or current to using a
transducer resulting mechanical vibration and transmitted through
a medium to a like mercury or water to a like transducer where the
vibrations are translated back to data. The best example is you see
lightening immediately, but sound in air travels about 1100 feet per second.
If you time from the flash to the sound you can calculate how far. In
solids and liquids sound travels faster but still far slower than the speed
of light. So if you put a vibration in to a medium large enough in length
there is time before it comes out. So it's possible to put strings of bits
in if the medium chosen is long enough as the first one is comming out the
last one is in. If you circulate these(with amplification) you now have a
memory that is serial in nature and can store information.
The name comes from the fact that the first data in will have a finite
time delay before it arrives at the other side. The longer the time the
more data can transit the space and the greater the storage. There are
mechanical and other considerations that limit things.
Allison
Received on Sat Nov 22 1997 - 15:48:30 GMT