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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."

15 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Essential For... by geoffsmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Writing perl code! Write once, read never.

    Websurfing done right! StumbleUpon

    1. Re:Essential For... by DarkHelmet · · Score: 4, Funny

      $what($are_you)->$talking("about") . "you" . $technophobe.
      @PERL."is"->$the_easiest->$language->$Eva r

      # As with all other perl code
      # I find documenting this unnecessary

      --
      /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
  2. This is perfect for my project. by seanadams.com · · Score: 5, Funny

    I get a lot of spam, so I've been working on a hardware accelleration card for /dev/null. This'll save me having to develop my own design in an expensive FPGA.

    1. Re:This is perfect for my project. by phil+reed · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I get a lot of spam, so I've been working on a hardware accelleration card for /dev/null.


      Many years ago, I used to go to DEC Users Group meetings. In the evenings, we'd have "sessions" where the operating system developers would come around and tell war stories. I remember one time that one of the RSX-11 (one of the PDP-11 operating systems) developers was telling us that writes to the Null device (NUL:) was found to be considerable slower than writes to real hardware. Therefore, they had begun development of a null hardware device to be plugged into the system. It was to be called the NUL-11 board, and they had developed quite a bit of specification material for it, unfortunately lost (this was in the early '80s). Very fun stuff.

      --

      ...phil
      "For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
  3. Just what the MPAA and RIAA ordered by Brynath · · Score: 5, Funny

    Something they can sell that has Perfect Copy Protection!

  4. 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.
    1. Re:In the Jargon Lexicon by tswinzig · · Score: 5, Funny

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

      I must have missed the part on this site where it says, "YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE JARGON LEXICON BEFORE READING SLASHDOT."

      --

      "And like that ... he's gone."
  5. Write only memory? by vidnet · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean like the windows registry?

    Crap goes in, but doesn't seem to go out until you have to reinstall a month later :)

  6. Re:wow by Ted+Maul · · Score: 4, Funny

    First posts are write only.

    --

    The Day Today - Game Warden to the Events Rhino
  7. '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
  8. Advances in cooling by rhysweatherley · · Score: 5, Funny
    It took Intel 30 years to acheive a chip that has the same cooling requirements:
    The 25120 is easily cooled by employment of a six-foot fan, 1/2" from the package. If the device fails, you have exceeded the ratings. In such cases, more air is recommended.
    Signetics were way ahead of their time.
  9. Write many, read never... by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd rather thought that /dev/null was the most elegant WOM out there...

    Heck, they even coded it such that it has infinite capacity, or a very high capacity in any case.

    Could someone dedicate a machine for a few years with a shell script running an infinite loop writing data to /dev/null? I personally think it's about time we found out how much you can stash in there.

    --
    Blearf. Blearf, I say.
  10. Re:wow by malkman · · Score: 5, Funny

    The real question is, why would someone make a first post in the first place?

    However, through the use of simple mathematics I've deducted a formula that explains this habit-
    sP + aF / P = Need of being the first poster
    You see, the persons small penis (sP) factor is added to his annoyance factor (aF) and divided by any real personality this poster may have (P), creates the probability of having a first post, as well as the need to be the first poster.
    Therefore, the average first poster believes that by being the first poster, he will enlarge his penis size. Unfortunately, this is most opposite of what *really* occurs.
    fP = P / sP - wFOP = First poster's penis size.
    As you can see, the first post has the effect of actually *shrinking* his penis, as the personality factor is divided by his existing small penis, minus an additional amount based on the annoyance factor of the first post itself. So, in reality, these people are causing long-lasting damaging effects to their genitals.

    And to answer your question, no, I DON'T have anything better to do than post nonsensical, offtopic garbage on a message board.

    --

    Robort knows all.
  11. The original Bill Gates Quote: by Bazman · · Score: 4, Funny

    "640k of Write-Only Memory ought to be enough for anybody".

    Baz

  12. 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.