2024-09-18 07:00:03 +01:00
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---
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title: Delay_line_memory
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tags: [computer-history, memory]
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created: Wednesday, September 18, 2024
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---
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# Delay line memory
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- First described in the _First Draft_ by #vonNeumann based on work by Eckert
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and Mauchley.
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- Information is stored as acoustic waves travelling through a medium, typically
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mercury. As sound travels more slowly than electric charge (light), if
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electric signals are converted to sound, the delay time involved can be used
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as a type of store.
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- It worked as follows:
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- Imagine we have an 8-bit number. The number is input as a sequence of pulses
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where a pulse is 1 and the absence of a pulse is 0.
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- The pulses are converted into sound waves (as with a speaker) and sent
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through a mercury-filled tube.
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2024-09-18 08:00:02 +01:00
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- The length of the tube is calculated...
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