On 15 Aug 1999, Eric Smith wrote:
> William Donzelli <aw288_at_osfn.org> wrote:
> > It seems to me that maybe, just maybe, if you shine a bright enough image
> > (with very good contrast) at a stock CRT you could detect the variations
> > in the beam current. I think this was tried a while back in a CRT
> > specially made for the application in an early memory device.
>
> I imagine you're thinking of Williams Tube memory, which was used on
> various computers before core memory was available, including the IBM 701
> and 702 (their first mass-produced electronic computers for scientific
> and business applications, respectively).
And the Bureau of Standards Southwestern Automatic Computer (or SWAC).
The first computer built west of the Rockies, and the fastest in the world
when it was inaugurated (fall of 1950). Built at UCLA by a team headed by
Harry Huskey.
> IBM apparently was never able to make Williams Tube memory work reliably
> at the density that they originally quoted to customers (1K bits per tube),
> so they scaled it back to 512 bits per tube with twice as many tubes.
The SWAC's density was 1 bit per tube :)
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
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Received on Sun Aug 15 1999 - 11:54:27 BST