Pen2_the_penguin

iTrader: (4)

How was I ignorant to the news of a 3.0 rebuild?

I remember why I love you now. No homo.... well, maybe a little.

GeneSplicer

iTrader: (14)

Did you know... the ******' huge Saturn rockets we launched into space used these as the computer memory?!?!! Outstanding - hell no I wouldn't sit in that seat for the ride...

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

Sit down and watch Rebuild 1.11

It's been a long, long time. We still have to wait for a while before it comes our way



Edit: for the thread

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

The primary computer (called the AGC) aboard both the Apollo Command Module and the Lunar Module also used core memory, both in plane format (as shown above) for the "RAM" and in rope format for the "Program Memory" (ROM.)

The Mark I series AP-101 computers in the Space Shuttle also used core memory until the AP-101S retrofit which started in 1990. (There were spaceships flying around with core memory in the year my car was built.)

The Shuttle computer was also used as the main avionics computer of later models of the B-52, and as the primary avionics / fly-by-wire computer in the the B-1. In fact, the Shuttle's computer was derived from the AP-1, which was the central computer of the F-15 fighter.


Core memory is astoundingly durable and reliable. It's damn near immune to ESD, and maintains its contents even when powered down, allowing the machine to resume operation immediately after a power-cycle event. Such computer restarts happened numerous times during the Apollo missions, and every time, the computer was able to immediately reset and resume normal operation without the crew even noticing.

I'd have no problem at all flying that thing.


Rope memory was weird stuff:



It had to be hand-woven, with each strand either passing through a bead or not passing through a bead at each bit position. Needless to say, making a change to the program after it was built was an extremely arduous process, as you had to un-thread an entire strand all the way back to the point of the change, and then re-thread every single bit. The code was literally woven into place with a needle and thread, and for this task, NASA employed highly skilled and experienced seamstresses, who were, without exception, all older women. For this reason, the engineers at MIT (which designed the AGC under contract) nicknamed it LOL Memory, for "Little Old Lady"

By the standards of the day, rope memory was extremely dense. When optimally packaged, it could hold about 72 kilobyts per cubic foot, as compared to roughly 4k / ft^3 for plane-style read/write memory.



Edit: If anybody here really wants to know how to build a complete, functioning replica of an original Apollo Guidance Computer in your basement, this guy has already done it and documented the process: http://klabs.org/history/build_agc/

Pen2_the_penguin

iTrader: (4)

I had a learned.

GeneSplicer

iTrader: (14)

THAT is insane - I took a tour through the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center yesterday (where I snapped previous pics)... I could have spent all week there and only let .1% of it actually sink in... need a MIND **** poster after that

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

My wife and I laughed at the pillow dresses.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, there was some really neat stuff going on in the 50s and 60s.

Core memory (of the flat-plane style you pictured earlier) was extremely common back in those days. There were other types of memory available (magnetic drums, delay lines, williams tubes) but for sheer performance and reliability, core was the way to go. Very large systems would commonly feature a combination of drum and core memory, with a relatively small amount of core serving as the high-speed memory (such as for registers, and for what we'd today call cache) with the slower but higher-capacity drums used as the main program store.

One story from the early days at DEC goes that after the videogame SpaceWar! had been created at MIT, it was common practice to use it as a final diagnostic program on new PDP-1 computers at the factory. The machine was shut off with the program still in memory, so that when it was delivered to the customer's site and re-assembled (and provided that everything had survived the trip and was functioning properly), the game would immediately resume from where it had last left off.


Core memory evolved over the years in a process which somewhat resembles Moore's Law today. Here, for instance, is a core from the old Whirlwind computer, in which you'll note that vacuum tubes are used as the read/write amplifiers:




Later designs were much more dense. This unit is from a CDC-6600 supercomputer, and holds 4 kilobits, measuring just over 4 inches on a side:



They could also be stacked into complete modules with a relatively high density:

dk wolf

conclusive evidence that cars can make girls ejaculate.
SFW
Spanish Girl Has Epic Ferrarigasm Video

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

What do I have to do in life to become cool enough that Weird Al will sing the happy birthday song for me in front of a sold-out auditorium, with audience participation (and promise to buy me a Fudgie the Whale cake)?

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

It's funny how the "follow the links" game works.

From Fudgie the Whale to Obama Ice Cream.



Aah, you crazy Russians. Chocolate on the outside, vanilla on the inside. And a little fudge center.

(Not a joke, this is an actual ad for an ice-cream bar.)

Rough english translation: "The flavor of the week- Black in White!"

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Going to call my cousin and see if he could buy me some.

jeff_man

iTrader: (7)

Sad that 4chan is the only place to get the real story.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I had to look up who Amanda Todd was.

Now I understand why this image I saw on FunnyJunk is funny:





Here's a helpful tip: If you post an image / video / etc of yourself flashing your **** on the internet, it's going to get passed around. You can't put the tit-genie back in the bottle.

rleete

iTrader: (21)

There's a tit-genie? How do I get my wishes granted?

dk wolf

Literally the dumbest bitch in the world

vehicular

iTrader: (3)

Where I can find dem?

buffon01

iTrader: (9)

She such a tard... Ermerghed Frererarrrir

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

You want a random picture?

Here's one of Mandy Biondi placing an Apollo Command Module Unified S-Band Equipment Transponder into her refrigerator:

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Scion FRS with overfenders in Japan looks pretty good but is it quick?

Maiham-Media.com // Rocket Bunny Scion FRS on Vimeo