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April 1, 1972: Write Only Memory

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it-was-funny-before-i-was-born dept.

Embedded Geek writes "While digging around Jack Ganssle's site, I came across an amusing prank from days gone by. In 1972 Signetics recognized April Fools day by printing a full color datasheet (scanned sheet 1 and sheet 2 here) for a Write-Only Memory (which accepts data but never reads it back), a considerable effort when documents were made via literal "cut and paste". Packed with jokes both obvious (a graph of "number of pins left versus number of insertions") and subtle ("Vdd = 0V +/- 2%") it's worth a chuckle."

3 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. In the Jargon Lexicon by Raedwald · · Score: 5, Informative

    This has been in The Jargon Lexicon for ages. Don't all slashdotters know of it?

    --
    Ne mæg werig mod wyrde wiðstondan, ne se hreo hyge helpe gefremman.
  2. 'Read protection' by Ed+Avis · · Score: 4, Informative

    On the BBC Micro you could add 16Kbyte banks of 'sideways RAM'. I remember that some upgrades had a 'read protect' switch, which sounded very odd. I think it was for compatibility; read protect made the upgrade effectively invisible.

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  3. Footnote 6... by markmoss · · Score: 4, Informative

    They even planned far ahead. In 1972, "VFF = 6.3VAC" was obvious in itself, but for you youngsters that don't know about vacuum tubes they added the footnote "6. For the filament heater, of course."

    Yes, it's now a very old joke, but it's been fun watching a new "generation" rediscover it every five years or so.