[Info-vax] OT: book from George Dyson.

[Neil Rieck]

Attention Computer Technologists. George Dyson (son of Freeman Dyson)
just published a book titled "Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the
Digital Universe" which appears to be a must-own gem.

book: http://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-Universe/dp/0375422773

video: http://ww3.tvo.org/video/173792/george-dyson-origins-digital-universe

I've been working in the computer industry since 1976 and had not
heard the story about Williams Tube memory (1024 lighted areas of war-
surplus oscilloscope cathode ray tubes). You connect 40 of these
together to make 5 KB of memory. As the bits (screen phosphors) begin
to fade they need to be refreshed. This is not much different than
what goes on in modern DRAM where charges leak away from internal
capacitors.

Neil Rieck
Kitchener / Waterloo / Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/