Path: utzoo!dciem!client2!king
From: king@client2.dciem.dnd.ca (Stephen King)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Bubbles (was Re: Solid State Secondary Storage)
Message-ID: <1373@client2.dciem.dnd.ca>
Date: 16 Jan 89 13:20:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: client2.1373
References: <248@vlsi.ll.mit.edu> <2409@garth.UUCP>
Reply-To: king@client2.dciem.dnd.ca (Stephen King)
Distribution: comp
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 23

In article <2409@garth.UUCP> phipps@garth.UUCP (Clay Phipps) writes:
>
>The price may not have been right at the time, but 
>technology advances were expected to take care of that.  
>The major concern, as I recall, was that in the late 1970s,
>the error rate for bubbles was decimal orders of magnitude 
>worse than disks.  And disks kept getting better and better.
>
>What ever happened to bubble memory, anyhow ?

Intel sold its bubble stuff to MemTech, who are still in business. I
started with bubbles a few years ago and read that the error rate was (is)
orders of magnitude BETTER than hard discs. Anyway, I built an S-100
interface for 2 fixed bubbles and a removeable pack to replace an old 8"
disc drive. The equipment still performs flawlessly after several years of
being kicked half way around the world and back (quite literally). I think
that the only other player in the bubble world is Fujitsu, although there
is a Canadian company (Ottawa area) that still markets bubble systems. One
thing is for sure: seek times and data rate are MUCH faster than floppies.

-- 
  {utzoo|mnetor}!dciem!zorac!dretor!king  or  king%dretor@zorac.dciem.dnd.ca
  Stephen J King   =-=   DCIEM Human Factors Division   =-=   (416) 635-2149