Drum vs. Core

[Christian Corti]

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007, Jules Richardson wrote:
> Hmm, I stand corrected :) The big 50's and 60's machines this side of the 
> pond always seemed to come with core as the main memory; drum stores weren't 
> uncommon, but only as 'off-line' storage. Even the smaller desk-sized stuff 
> (BCL Susie etc.) were as far as I'm aware [1] core machines.

The big 50s machines were mostly drum/disk based as core memory wasn't 
available. See IBM 650, Zuse Z22, Ferranti Pegasus etc.

> [1] We've got a couple to pick up at some point, both with drums - but 
> without getting hold of the hardware and manuals knowledge about BCL 
> equipment is pretty thin on the ground!

Old, especially desk-sized drum computers are quite easy to understand if 
you spend some time investigating [I know that of experience with our 
LGP-30s]

Christian