CompuServe Messages

32 bit ram?

    06-Jul-91 07:04:46
Sb: #27353-32 bit ram?
Fm: Mike Roth 73316,1075
To: Don Curtis/SYSOP 76703,4321
I think you're all thinking too recent. RAM was originally applied to ferrite core and drum memory because the time to access any given address was the same. With core, because it was wired in. With drum, because at any given time any address on the drum was equally likely to be the next one read. Compare that with tape, where the block you want may be right under the head, or 100 yards away on the reel. THAT's non-random access. Maybe this shows my age, but I spent a lot of time with a Univac 1108 with real tapes and a real "FASTRAND" drum, and with an old IBM (I forget the number) with 4K of real "core". Mike