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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment. |
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28th Sep 2011, 2:29 pm | #1 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Weeting, Norfolk.
Posts: 465
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Identifying a ferrite core board.
Is anybody able to identify the following board? It consists of a stack of two core planes and great strips of diodes. The eight transisters present are motorola devices marked SM2824. The board itself is stamped "E2000 Memory", "52 by 52" (52 by 52 cores?) and is dated "? 18 1969".
All the component pieces have SM prefix part numbers. The only sign of a company logo is a stylised "BN" on the PCB. The edge connector is 32 + 32. It's about time I gave my tired desktop a RAM upgrade... Robs
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Real radios glow in the dark M6GLD Last edited by HMV 1120; 28th Sep 2011 at 2:35 pm. |
4th Oct 2011, 8:34 am | #2 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Warrington, UK.
Posts: 14
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
what you have there is most likely to be a magnetic core memory chip with 2 layers of wire grids with ferrite beads threadded onto them in a specific pattern, each ferrite bead represents one bit of information and the cores can be magnetized in two different ways (clockwise or counterclockwise) and the bit is stored in a core as zero or one depending on that core's magnetization direction.
hope this helps with the identification Stephen |
4th Oct 2011, 9:31 am | #3 |
Octode
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 1,176
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
Hi, looks very similar to an old accounting computer I bought decades ago, made by Friden and used a electric typewriter as the input/output. Wished I hadn't scrapped it now, but was rather large and heavy. The boards were about 10" by 8". The core store was the working memory for the whole machine. Bob
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4th Oct 2011, 9:59 am | #4 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,700
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
Burroughs?
Wikipedia - Burroughs: A revolutionary adding machine was the Sensimatic, which was able to perform many business functions semi-automatically. [...] The Sensimatic developed into the Sensitronic which could store balances on a magnetic stripe which was part of the ledger card. [...] The Sensitronic was followed by the E1000, the E2000, E4000, E6000 and the E8000, which was computer system supporting magnetic tape, card reader/punches and a line printer.Kat |
4th Oct 2011, 12:13 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
Not really relevant but if that logo were really DN it would be Dynamit Nobel a manufacturer of the basic PCB substrate material.
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7th Oct 2011, 12:17 pm | #6 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Weeting, Norfolk.
Posts: 465
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
Many thanks to you all so far,
I have so far been unable to find any technical information (or even a date) on the Burroughs E2000 machine. I haver however come across the following brochure for the E1400 (1966) HERE. A US origin seems likely as most of the discreet components are from US manufacturers. Robs
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Real radios glow in the dark M6GLD |
7th Oct 2011, 11:52 pm | #7 |
Dekatron
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Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
Where did the more obvious components originate?
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8th Oct 2011, 12:11 am | #8 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Weeting, Norfolk.
Posts: 465
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
Motorola, Sprague and G.E. (General Electric?), as well as "Trimit"for some variable resistors. On closer inspection (via a hand lens!), a faint quality control stamp is visible on the back with a "B" marking identical to the capital B used in the Burroughs logo.
Robs
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Real radios glow in the dark M6GLD |
17th Oct 2011, 5:41 pm | #9 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
I have the exact same board. As near as I can tell, it's from a Burroughs E2000 machine, which was from CA 1969. I was looking for further information when I found your post.
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18th Oct 2011, 9:38 am | #10 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Lund, Sweden
Posts: 1,632
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
I used to have (maybe still do) some boards for a later Burroghs machine, E8000 or something like that. Interestingly, virtually all TTL chips had Burroughs type numbers on them (in the form nnnn-nnnn, like (fictuous example) 6356-3002). The seemed to be for the most part anyway standard TTL chips when looking at the schematics.
HMV 1120: That really is a wonderful sales brochure. How [computing] times have changed... |
18th Oct 2011, 12:50 pm | #11 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,535
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Re: Identifying a ferrite core board.
Not just computing..... there are some interesting period stereotypes in the pictures! "Your operator" for example.
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