Gregory's ServerOf course the Arma Micro Computer is not a microcomputer by the modern definition, since it was built from transistors. But it was small enough to get the name "Micro Computer". It also shows that 1960s computers weren't all room-filling mainframes. 2/13
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4 comments
Aunty Bee
@kenshirriff Exqueeze me? Wow. How did readout maintain state in the beads? One loop held state while the other was read with subcritical power pulse? 
Ken Shirriff
@KF7RHB Yes, that's basically how transfluxors worked. Readout flipped the small loop, but the large loop didn't flip, so the small loop could be restored from the saved state.
Aunty Bee
@kenshirriff What about bitrot over time nonetheless? How many reads can it afford this way? |
For storage, the computer used transfluxors—the 1960s had the best names for things. Transfluxors were like core memory except the cores had two holes so reading data didn't erase it like regular core memory. Photo is a 512-word module. 3/13