All Questions
13
questions
3
votes
2
answers
320
views
Did anyone use quarter-bad RAM chips?
There was a time in the early 80s when 64k RAM chips had a significant defect rate, such that half-bad ones could be obtained at a discount. Some computer manufacturers such as Sinclair and Tandy took ...
- 63.1k
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Did any 8-bit computers use 16kx4 RAM chips?
An 8-bit computer wanting 64K of RAM, could most straightforwardly use eight 64kx1 DRAM chips (64kbit, 1 data line). The Commodore 64 initially did this, but in the mid-80s, the cost-reduced redesign ...
- 63.1k
13
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How did the Fairchild Channel F provide a 2K frame buffer?
The Fairchild Channel F, released in 1976, was the first modern game console, in the sense of being the first one to accept games as software, rather than just modular configuration switches.
Looking ...
- 63.1k
7
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Could any computers use 16k or 64k RAM chips?
An interesting feature of the Apple II was that it had three rows of sockets for RAM chips, each of which could take either 4k or 16k chips. That meant the minimum configuration was 4K (cheap) but it ...
- 63.1k
4
votes
1
answer
731
views
How wide were the RAM chips in the PlayStation 1?
In earlier years, it was common for DRAM chips to be one bit wide, so that an 8-bit machine would use eight of them to form one memory bank. Occasionally, 4-bit-wide chips would be used, e.g. the ...
- 63.1k
1
vote
4
answers
324
views
Will any modern EEPROM programmer work with the IP3604/КР556РТ5?
Just to say I'm completely new to the world of PROM and I'm a bit bewildered.
My ultimate aim is to be able to program these Russian 4k bipolar PROM chips, which are the equivalent of Epson IP3604, ...
- 2,963
8
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why are RAM chips 1 or 4 bits wide?
I don't know whether it's still the case, but at least in the early days, it was common for RAM chips to be one bit wide, so e.g. an 8-bit computer would install them in groups of eight. I gather at ...
- 63.1k
4
votes
1
answer
329
views
List of Intel microchips
Where could I find a list of all of the microchips released by Intel, including microprocessors, Rams, roms, storage devices. Etc.
I have checked Wikipedia, and they have the processors, but not any ...
user11220
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Were 64k RAM chips $5 in 1981?
According to http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/augarten/p64.htm "In 1981, they slashed the cost of 64K RAMs from some $25 each to about $5, and the price hovered at that level throughout the following ...
- 63.1k
7
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Amiga memory bandwidth
Looking at a timing diagram for the various kinds of memory access occurring on the Amiga http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_2.1/Hardware_Manual_guide/node02D4.html it seems to be saying that video ...
- 63.1k
6
votes
2
answers
285
views
Can fast page mode depend on the first data retrieved?
As early as the seventies, some computers used RAM in page mode, in which you can read two or more words from sequential locations in rapid succession by only supplying the column address once, and ...
- 63.1k
13
votes
3
answers
2k
views
When did CPUs start using page mode DRAM?
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_random-access_memory#Page_mode_DRAM
Page mode DRAM is a minor modification to the first-generation DRAM IC interface which improved the ...
- 63.1k
16
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Speed of early ROM versus RAM chips
In the late seventies, up through around 1981, the maximum access speed of off-the-shelf RAM chips was around 2.6 MHz.
Did the same speed limit apply to ROM chips of the same era? If not, what would ...
- 63.1k