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The Joker Behind the Signetics 25120 Write-Only Memory Chip Hoax
New submitter st1lett0 writes: Now and in years past, electronic engineers and hobbyists alike have enjoyed the classic 1972 April Fool's joke by Signetics of the Signetics 25120 Write-Only Memory chip. Now it seems that the previously anonymous practical joker has identified himself and stepped forward with new information to correct and complete the story.
These days used for cheap knock-off memory sticks.
From TFA:
I had always admired an EIMAC high powered vacuum tube spoof data sheet put out by Eitel-McCullough,Inc. I saw it when I was a teen Ham Operator and must have memorized it. That was in the late 1940â(TM)s.
So far I havenâ(TM)t relocated a copy of the EIMAC spoof data sheet. You need it to see the relevance. It pictured a melted EIMAC power tube and offered humorous specifications. If you know where there is a copy, let me know ...
Anyone here got a copy of the EIMAC Spoof Data Sheet?
Wanna share with us?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Jeez, I know we've all got super-fast broadband and the like, but is there really any good reason to have a 31 megapixel background image?
Remember, every byte transmitted hastens the heat death of the universe!
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I just knew that the Jocker was behind all this! It's about time we locked him back in Arkham and threw away the key!
Oh, wait...
They are easily recognised by the colour code "three black bands on a black background".
They are normally used to supply the "magic smoke" required by electronic systems to operate at full power, but I believe there are other uses.
I had a data sheet for a Motorola WOM as well - I believe from about the same date.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
There was a time when some of Intel's EEPROMs (1702As, IIRC, but, maybe, 2048s) were write/read-maybe. Seems some materials guy got a really good deal on some clay to make the ceramic carrier. Only problem was that the clay was radioactive enough for the emissions to change the stored data. Back in those days (1702s were only 256 BYTES), the storage cells weren't all that robust, so enough decay particles hitting the cells could flip them.
Think THAT didn't take a while to track down?
Bumming...I invented the Write Only Drive while at college. Now, it looks like I infringed on the Patent. Mine, however, used the Pauli-Exclusion and Heisenberg Uncertainty Principles to store information on each atom. Problem was, we hadn't figured out how to get the data back out (it was just a s SCSI cable going into a black box. I think we just needed Heisenberg Compensators.
Even though we published our "Announcement" it during our April's Fools edition of our Newsletter, we received one call from a company wanting to commercially build it. We had to explain it was a joke.
There is a second story on that site. He wrote the spec and they ignored him on wikipedia. He can even produce the original draft copies. They told him to pound sand and 'just go make a blog about it'.
That is sad.
Unlike WOM, write-only languages are all too real.
I can't even read my own PERL scripts if they are more than a week old.
How do you think /dev/null is implemented?
In older times companies were proud of their real leaders (NOT referring to management necessarily). That included engineers who had major accomplishments and who had earned respect for a lifetime of work. Those are the kind of people who could make such a joke and client's customers would know it was that person's joke, because they trusted that leader and had long success with their work.
Now companies only brag about their C?O people, everyone else is nameless faceless disposable droid
Most of my DVR contents are stored using WOMEN (write once maybe erase never) memory.
My fault for installing a 12TB RAID Array.
Now my wife records everything, but watches almost none of it.
I can see the fnords!