Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Mon, 27 May 96 13:44 MET DST | From | (Olaf Titz) |
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Newsgroups: linux.dev.kernel Path: not-for-mail From: Olaf Titz <olaf@bigred.inka.de> Subject: Re: Write-only Memory Message-ID: <ds2ba2.hth@bigred.inka.de> Date: 27 May 1996 13:44:26 +0100 References: <199605250119.TAA02962@morticia.PHYSICS.ColoState.EDU> <Pine.LNX.3.91.960525053013.582A-100000@netcenter.net> Organization: private Linux site, southern Germany Lines: 31
Brett Person <person@netcenter.net> wrote: > I'm told it did/does exist. Seems to me it came out of fairchild(?) and > the customer was the US air force or army.
From the Jargon File 3.1.0:
:write-only memory: n. The obvious antonym to `read-only memory'. Out of frustration with the long and seemingly useless chain of approvals required of component specifications, during which no actual checking seemed to occur, an engineer at Signetics once created a specification for a write-only memory and included it with a bunch of other specifications to be approved. This inclusion came to the attention of Signetics {management} only when regular customers started calling and asking for pricing information. Signetics published a corrected edition of the data book and requested the return of the `erroneous' ones. Later, around 1974, Signetics bought a double-page spread in "Electronics" magazine's April issue and used the spec as an April Fools' Day joke. Instead of the more conventional characteristic curves, the 25120 "fully encoded, 9046 x N, Random Access, write-only-memory" data sheet included diagrams of "bit capacity vs. Temp.", "Iff vs. Vff", "Number of pins remaining vs. number of socket insertions", and "AQL vs. selling price". The 25120 required a 6.3 VAC VFF supply, a +10V VCC, and VDD of 0V, +/- 2%.
-- ___ Olaf.Titz@inka.de or @{stud,informatik}.uni-karlsruhe.de ____ __ o <URL:http://www.inka.de/~bigred/> <IRC:praetorius> __/<_ >> Just as long as the wheels keep on turning round _)>(_)______________ I will live for the groove 'til the sun goes down << ____
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