For folks interested in the tail end of this: the first single-chip SRAM was Intel 3101, which also happened to be the company's first product. It stored 64 bits. It was a fast but tiny memory to be used primarily for data registers.
The first DRAM came from the same company shortly thereafter - Intel 1103. It could store 1 kilobit and had a 2 ms refresh cycle. The 1103 was considerably more complex than the 3101 and required two supply voltages, but it started displacing core memories pretty fast.
Great article man! Any more like this that you care to put together will be anxiously awaited and gratefully received! (Sorry, I've been reading a book about the Civil War era and my conversation has taken on a rambling 1850s quality 😏)
Apollo guidance computer famously used core rope memory for RAM and ROM, called "little old lady" memory because of the women who manufactured it, and "core dump" on unix famously retains the word "core" which was used for "RAM".
What was used for registers in the CPU before modern SRAM?
What was used for ROM, beyond paper tape, magnetic tape and core?
I never really looked into the Apollo guidance computer, but my understanding is that it used rope memory only for ROM (and "standard" core memory for RAM).
I purposefully didn't get into ROM and bulk data storage because these were typically easier to solve at any given stage. For early computers, you could have input and output on punch cards or perforated tape, and ROM done with a wire matrix. It was the flexible and fast electronic RAM that proved to be the hard part.
For folks interested in the tail end of this: the first single-chip SRAM was Intel 3101, which also happened to be the company's first product. It stored 64 bits. It was a fast but tiny memory to be used primarily for data registers.
The first DRAM came from the same company shortly thereafter - Intel 1103. It could store 1 kilobit and had a 2 ms refresh cycle. The 1103 was considerably more complex than the 3101 and required two supply voltages, but it started displacing core memories pretty fast.
Some of the 1103 design highlights are discussed here: https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/magazines/Electronics/Electronics_V46_N09_19730426_Intel_1103.pdf
And a manual for early Intel memories is here: http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/components/intel/_dataBooks/1973_MemoryDesignHandbook_Aug73.pdf
Great article man! Any more like this that you care to put together will be anxiously awaited and gratefully received! (Sorry, I've been reading a book about the Civil War era and my conversation has taken on a rambling 1850s quality 😏)
Apollo guidance computer famously used core rope memory for RAM and ROM, called "little old lady" memory because of the women who manufactured it, and "core dump" on unix famously retains the word "core" which was used for "RAM".
What was used for registers in the CPU before modern SRAM?
What was used for ROM, beyond paper tape, magnetic tape and core?
I never really looked into the Apollo guidance computer, but my understanding is that it used rope memory only for ROM (and "standard" core memory for RAM).
I purposefully didn't get into ROM and bulk data storage because these were typically easier to solve at any given stage. For early computers, you could have input and output on punch cards or perforated tape, and ROM done with a wire matrix. It was the flexible and fast electronic RAM that proved to be the hard part.