Anyone else here have an attraction to magnetic bubble memory? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Ccandrews
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 02:51:02 am
content: Ever since hearing about magnetic bubble memory, I have wanted to make a card for my 8085 single board computer system. However first it was limited release, then it was too expensive, then it was history. Finally, I am getting around to building a bubble memory card and just got it fired up and reading today. Here is th3 board with the dummy module installed in place of the bubble—And with the bubble installedSo I was wondering if there are any other magnetic bubble memory fans out there. Probably unlikely but if there are I wanted to share this project. After polishing up the documentation and possibly making another revision of the PCB, the build files will be released just as the rest of the SBC-85 system.In the meantime, I have the project and logs onhttps://hackaday.io/project/17083]Hackaday.ioor video atregardscraig

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 07:36:14 am
content: I have a Intel dev kit here somewhere but never used it. I bought it when they were obsolete and for sale at surplus stores. The socket is missing.Is that a board you designed?

author: marcopolo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 05:35:48 pm
content: It's really a nice projectI like bubble memories but the components for this kind of projects are extremely difficult to find.Marc

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 06:10:22 pm
content: Is it the same/similar component as the one used in the Grid Compass?

author: Tom45
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 07:03:49 pm
content: Back in the early 80s we sold a system to a company that did process control in a manufacturing plant. Our system, a Hewlett Packard 21mx based system, replaced an earlier one from another company using a PDP-11 Q-Bus system with a Q-Bus bubble memory card.The people in the plant had grown very used to the old system but about the only thing they didn't like about it was that the bubble memory errors were very common and a great source of frustration. Just mention bubble memory and their blood pressure would go up.Anyway, the customers on the plant floor were constantly complaining to us that the old system would do all this great stuff that we didn't. In actuality, we did everything the older system did plus a lot more. Just not in a way that they were used to.So one day I got fed up with their complaining and mentioned that we were thinking of "upgrading" our HP computer to using bubble memory. Never heard another complaint from them after that.

author: Ccandrews
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 07:05:42 pm
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on April 11, 2020, 07:36:14 amYes, my design. Like the rest of the SBC-85 system I will put the build files available when I finish all the testing. I imagine the sockets for the 7110-1 are impossible to buy so I will be making the board able to accept the 7110-4 version also. The 7110-4 is what came in the BPK set of 6 chips.

author: Ccandrews
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 07:11:05 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 11, 2020, 06:10:22 pmYes, but the Grid had three of the 7110 bubble modules to get the 360kb

author: Ccandrews
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 07:14:29 pm
content: Quote from: marcopolo on April 11, 2020, 05:35:48 pmI have frequently seen the bpk in original new old stock packaging for around $75. So not dirt cheap but available. Considering how expensive they were when new and that someone has been storing these for 40 years, not a bad price actually.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2020, 10:46:57 pm
content: Quote from: Ccandrews on April 11, 2020, 07:05:42 pmNicely done! Good work on the pun in the headline too.I bought my kit back in the late 80s when I was still in high school. I didn't quite grasp what it was but it was cheap. Once home I read the manual and realized this wasn't something I'd be hooking up to my C64. I probably could these days though...

author: Ccandrews
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2020, 01:12:39 am
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on April 11, 2020, 07:36:14 amThank you, and thanks for noticing. Magnetic puns are not usually in my domain.