johnhuson Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Can someone enlighten us as to what the core store is?? I'm aware of the pin patch from my days operating a Galaxy but thats about the oldest board I've used, that and an M24, both hi-tech compared to the MMS I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Core stores were one of the first solid state memories. Take a pile of tiny rings made of a ferrite (metal loaded ceramic) material and thread a network of wires through them. By sticking pulses down certain combinations of wires you could magnetise each ring individually. By playing with other wires you could read the magnetic state of each ring. Each ring could therefore store 1 bit. A core store had a load of these rings arranged in a rectangular matrix to make a memory. A good picture is here. Don't they teach such things in school now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Core stores were one of the first solid state memories.{snip}Well described, Brian. The MMS used one (or more, depending on the number of channels) of these core stores as its main form of cue data storage. They were limited to, I think, 120 cues' worth of data, so if you had more than 120 cues in a show you had to load act 2 from tape in the interval! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 I remember the magnetic core memory on our local college computer 2x 16 K/bytes, each taking up over 1.5 inches square :blink: More on Core StoreAnd moreAnd more still Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bunting Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 If you want to see what happens to old desks when they 'die', then do visit www.etprojects.org. NEET is an organisation that aims to set up a museum with working lighting desks, dimmers, and fixtures, so the industry can see where it all started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Richard's link should be www.neetproject.org or click here. [EDIT] and if you poke around the site you can find a really bad picture of yours truly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 found the pic!! not that bad, Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahame Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Oooh, the MMS! My first memory desk too, in Eden Court in Inverness, where they had one of only two (AFAIK) button mimic panels to select channels instead of the keypad. The other one with button mimic was in Hong Kong...can't remember the name of the theatre offhand... not the Arts Centre though.There used to be an MMS in Lisbon too...Great desk to operate and very robust - I once accidentally spilled a bottle of acetone over the core store in the Theatre Royal Glasgow during an opera performance, and the desk didn't miss a beat. I wouldn't like to bet on a 500 surviving such treatment! Anyone remember the "briefcase" remote with the legendary "K 9 0" clear command? Ah, memories...I recently came across a briefcase remote on display in Castle Howard in Yorkshire as part of a 'Brideshead Revisited' display. Sad old git that I am, it was the most interesting thing in the display for me!! ~Grahame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 I recently came across a briefcase remote on display in Castle Howard in Yorkshire as part of a 'Brideshead Revisited' display.The link being ..... ? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahame Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 The link being ..... ? :blink: That's where they filmed Brideshead, and the display was about the filming. They had a few lights and other telly bits & pieces too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 The link being ..... ? :blink: That's where they filmed Brideshead, and the display was about the filming. They had a few lights and other telly bits & pieces too.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Yeah, I got the link between Castle Howard and Brideshead, I just couldn't quite picture where the MMS fitted in. I guess they must have had one as their location console. Bit of an odd thing to put into an exhibition which would, I imagine, mainly be visited by people who neither know nor care about television lighting, but I suppose it filled a gap in a display case ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahame Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Bit of an odd thing to put into an exhibition which would, I imagine, mainly be visited by people who neither know nor care about television lighting, but I suppose it filled a gap in a display case ......I guess they would have had an MMS in the OB van with the briefcase remote controlling stuff from the set. Maybe the crew forgot to pack the remote when they left? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 A Lighting desk in an OB van????? :blink: :D :huh: :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 Don't they teach such things in school now? Obviously not anymore! I did a BTEC in Electronic Engineering and spent lots of time doing microprocessor stuff, but we didn't delve back in time to core stores, very interesting to hear about them tho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted October 26, 2004 Author Share Posted October 26, 2004 I used this lovely piece of engineering again yesterday, and I'm still dribbling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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