Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

ebay.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 103 posts

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#81

Post by VladRussian2 »

jlgreco wrote: post #78
skore wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't really "measure" or double-blind test how well this thing kills people. Only if you have well developed taste can you appreciate the finer details, the warmth, the clarity, the fidelity.

> Only if you have well developed taste can you appreciate the finer details, the warmth, the clarity, the fidelity. There are reports of ground crews for MiG-25's drinking the hydraulic fluid for the planes, which was apparently based on ethanol. Truly an aircraft for those with a discerning palette.

>Truly an aircraft for those with a discerning palette.

or a lifesaver for aircrews stationed in "dry" countries like Yemen :)

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#82

Post by fancyketchup »

goatforce5 wrote: post #64
javajosh wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is clearly a beautiful design - and the workmanship is incredible as well. I can't imagine how long it must have taken to build just one of those things. It reminds me of the workings of a fine mechanical watch. That said, I think it's grossly overpriced. Probably worth about $800-$1k (based on it's similarity to classic mechanical watches).

How many collectable watches are available vs antique Soviet memory modules?

How many collectors of watches are in the market vs those looking for antique Soviet memory modules?

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#83

Post by michaelt »

alex_hitchins wrote: post #73
jrabone wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that the power plate indicates 60 Hz supply - yet the UK is 50 Hz. Perhaps stretching things for the title to claim it's "from" the BBC, as opposed to "as used by" - this one was most likely was made for the US market. I wonder what its provenance was?

Could it be to filter out the 50Hz mains interference?

The whole point of broadcast TV operating at mains frequency is because it makes interference less noticeable, accdording to sources like [1].

[1] http://www.adelia.co.uk/frame-rates-ntsc-pal/

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#84

Post by te_chris »

hamiltonkibbe wrote: post #29
JonnieCache wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an offshoot of the Mellotron[1] which was basically the original sampler. The mellotron was/is a keyboard where pressing each key spooled out and played back an individual tape strip of a real string section, cello, flute etc. It's the string sound that's really famous and recognisable. The mechanisms make a VHS look simple, see the wiki article for diagrams. The linked machine is a read-write version of the mel…

And the Strawberry Fields flute sound!

And Led Zep's Rain Song.

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#85

Post by te_chris »

ck2 wrote: post #14

Is it just me or is that "art". Nice design. Weren't the Russians making vacuum tubes for decades after the US stopped and "perfected" them?

Yep, there's huge demand for certain NOS (new old stock) tubes used in tube microphones (like the Neumann U47, U67 etc). I think one of the big factories has just opened up again actually.

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#87

Post by VladRussian2 »

the search in Russian for "Блок памяти БП-20" leads to this

http://www.ngpedia.ru/cgi-bin/getpage.exe?cn=61&uid=0.381138...

which points to "АСВТ-М" series of machines used in all areas of economics, government, education, and military as well.

http://www.icfcst.kiev.ua/MUSEUM/PHOTOS/M-6000_r.html

Usually the military components would have "ВП" stamp ("Военная приемка" - "accepted by military QA") - at least that was the case with electronic components from torpedo and cruise missiles at the navy base hardware dump that we sourced our hobby electronics components from in the childhood, and this doesn't seem to have it :

http://sovietsouvenirs.com/catalog/images/ic/core_memory-15-...

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#88

Post by derefr »

negativity wrote: post #50
VladRussian2 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is just ferrittes strung on copper wire lattice, no component to "break" until it is really physically broken. What i've been wondering for many years about is why such schema wasn't miniaturized? We have disk plates with high density in HDDs, and the magnetic head is physically moving. Imagine if instead of the magnetic head there would be a [miniaturized] lattice similar in principle to the one on this image htt…

Rust is still a problem with those little ferrite rings, though. Depending on the environment you maintain for this device, it can actually be pretty delicate. I have some old (~25 year-old) electric motors, where the magnetic properties of the bigger ferrite rings have been degraded by rust. I guess it probably depends of the quality of the piece. This means there could be one tiny rusty ring in one of the center pl…

Since it's "solid state" (none of those parts move, do they?), I don't see why you need to leave it exposed to the outside air. Could you just cast the whole thing in plastic, or would it overheat? Maybe a mineral-oil bath?

Re: For Sale: Soviet Military Ferrite Core Memory Stack Cube and Manual

#90

Post by darkmighty »

VladRussian2 wrote: post #42
hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #4

That's crazy, you can see it's handmade. I wonder if it still works?

it is just ferrittes strung on copper wire lattice, no component to "break" until it is really physically broken. What i've been wondering for many years about is why such schema wasn't miniaturized? We have disk plates with high density in HDDs, and the magnetic head is physically moving. Imagine if instead of the magnetic head there would be a [miniaturized] lattice similar in principle to the one on this image htt…

From wiki: "A typical magnetic region on a hard-disk platter (as of 2006) is about 200–250 nanometers wide (in the radial direction of the platter) and extends about 25–30 nanometers in the down-track direction". It's not trivial to say "Let's get X and miniaturize it to this scale".

Flash memory uses standard semiconductor techniques, and HDDs simply employ platters with tightly controlled properties.

Post reply on HN