How is it possible?

[Spriddler]

I'm not especially computer tech savvy but recently bought a 32GB memory chip for 12 quid for my outdoor wildlife camera.
It's tiny; the size of my little fingernail and I was staggered to learn that just one GB is about 8 billion bits so my chip has 256 billion bits. Simply mind-blowing. How on earth can there be enough 'connections' to each bit enabling so many to be stored and given an address so that they can be retrieved?

 

[Winger]

Mind boggling but I just accept it as is !

 

[Burgo]

How on earth can there be enough 'connections' to each bit enabling so many to be stored and given an address so that they can be retrieved?

Actually it's dead simple, but if we told everyone how it all worked we wouldn't be able to get the salaries we do...

"I didn't get to where I am now by hanging around waiting for system testing to finish".

 

[BusyBuilder]

When I worked at ICI back in 93, we had a IBM PS2 computer that was running a bit slow so we asked the computer dept to do something. They doubled the hard drive from 20mb to 40mb.

 

[68c]

Open it up and you will find a tiny slice of bats wing soaked in virgins blood that has been exposed to the midnight moonlight. At least that explanation is better than the suggestion it contains a billion transistors, wiring etc. Of course if they told us the truth that it is black magic no one would use them

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[kevenh]

I'm not especially computer tech savvy but recently bought a 32GB memory chip for 12 quid for my outdoor wildlife camera.
It's tiny; the size of my little fingernail and I was staggered to learn that just one GB is about 8 billion bits so my chip has 256 billion bits. Simply mind-blowing. How on earth can there be enough 'connections' to each bit enabling so many to be stored and given an address so that they can be retrieved?

and in computer storage there are 1024 instead on 1000 in a Kilobyte

If you're still not staggered enough, your 32GB camera memory isn't troubling the max capacity available. The address range of a 64-bit computer architecture can address 16.8 million terabytes of memory, or 2^64 bytes.

 

[John Barrett]

Back in the late 80's I upgraded my Amstrad twin disc PC with a 10MB hard drive that slotted into the internal tray. I had to use a 12v fan powered by a scalextric transformer to cool it.
I knew someone in the trade so it was a mere £175.00...

 

[Revolvor]

I've posted this before:

In the early 70's, my girlfriend ( now wife) paid £75 for a memory upgrade for my ZX81 computer the size ........ 64kB !!

 

[Richard n Ann]

I've posted this before:

In the early 70's, my girlfriend ( now wife) paid £75 for a memory upgrade for my ZX81 computer the size ........ 64kB !!

Early 80s though?

 

[kevenh]

I've posted this before:

In the early 70's, my girlfriend ( now wife) paid £75 for a memory upgrade for my ZX81 computer the size ........ 64kB !!

Early 80’s
I had the wobbly Sinclair 16kB expansion
I can’t imagine what I’d do with the 3rd party 64kB expansion

Edit: I’ve posted this before https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/progress.255249/post-4832401

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[Richard n Ann]

Early 80’s
I had the wobbly Sinclair 16kB expansion
I can’t imagine what I’d do with the 3rd party 64kB expansion

I had the ZX81 1kilobyte ram. I could either save up for the 16k ram pack or put it towards a Spectrum 48k launching in 1982, I went for the spectrum option

 

[kevenh]

After a ZX81 I went to a Commodore VIC20
That was another few levels above what I had been used too.
There were other choices soon after I went with the Vic20. Spectrum 128, Dragon 32 or 64, BBC micro, & Atari 400 or 800 had something but maybe that was just a console.

Edit: some fixes on computer models…

 

[autorouter]

Open it up and you will find a tiny slice of bats wing soaked in virgins blood that has been exposed to the midnight moonlight. At least that explanation is better than the suggestion it contains a billion transistors, wiring etc. Of course if they told us the truth that it is black magic no one would use them

That may be true of the processor chips, but memory chips are different. The 0 and 1 memory 'bits' are represented by billions of black and white smoke particles, and in the manufacturing process they compress this smoke into the chip. If for some reason it is over-stressed, the seal breaks and the smoke is released, it's impossible to get the smoke back into the chip, and it's why the smoke looks grey when it escapes

 

[steve69]

There are trillions of cells in the human body. By and large they all seem to communicate with each other OK.
As suggested above, best not think about it.

 

[steve69]

Early 80’s
I had the wobbly Sinclair 16kB expansion
I can’t imagine what I’d do with the 3rd party 64kB expansion

Remember the original space invaders arcade game. They were everywhere and people were just wowed by them
16Kb apparently.

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[Coolcats]

I'm not especially computer tech savvy but recently bought a 32GB memory chip for 12 quid for my outdoor wildlife camera.
It's tiny; the size of my little fingernail and I was staggered to learn that just one GB is about 8 billion bits so my chip has 256 billion bits. Simply mind-blowing. How on earth can there be enough 'connections' to each bit enabling so many to be stored and given an address so that they can be retrieved?

It’s good to see someone marvel at current technology, it truly is amazing.

One thing people moan about is broadband and yet that technology in itself is also amazing, the theoretical maximum speed for a phone line is 33kbps and this soon drops off as you move away from a telephone exchange. Those in the past who paid extra for a 33kbps modem would never have had that speed. So if you get 2 to 50Mb on broadband you’re doing well.

Fibre is something else a single strand is capable of a voice call for every man woman and child on the planet @ 64kbs

Modern technology is truly amazing it is PFM (pure flipping magic)

 

[Lagotto]

I'm not especially computer tech savvy but recently bought a 32GB memory chip for 12 quid for my outdoor wildlife camera.
It's tiny; the size of my little fingernail and I was staggered to learn that just one GB is about 8 billion bits so my chip has 256 billion bits. Simply mind-blowing. How on earth can there be enough 'connections' to each bit enabling so many to be stored and given an address so that they can be retrieved?

You think that's hard to understand, Im still trying to figure out how all my data is being stored on a CLOUD somewhere.

 

[Lenny HB]

You think that's hard to understand, Im still trying to figure out how all my data is being stored on a CLOUD somewhere.

It's safe until it rains then it all falls out.

 

[Odd-no-more]

The tech we have now was not even the stuff of science fiction when I was growing up and we take it all for granted now. Well until it goes wrong

 

[kevenh]

Remember the original space invaders arcade game. They were everywhere and people were just wowed by them
16Kb apparently.

There were a lot of firsts for that game. Destructible barriers, multiple enemies firing and player lives, etc.

But 16kB sounds sloppy programming for the time - based on a flippant comparison to the ZX81 full chess game that worked on the base 1kb computer.
That factoid was from the ZX81 Wikipedia page. The chess reference is the last “Features” paragraph
More on Space Invaders on its Wikipedia page.
^^ worth a look for info on things like the smaller aliens speeding up being an early bug that became a feature.

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[Nanniemate]

I like my chips with salt and vinegar, that's the extent of my knowledge

 

[U.Toadifact]

Open it up and you will find a tiny slice of bats wing soaked in virgins blood that has been exposed to the midnight moonlight. At least that explanation is better than the suggestion it contains a billion transistors, wiring etc. Of course if they told us the truth that it is black magic no one would use them

The use of virgin's blood explains the current shortage of microchips.

 

[Odd-no-more]

I like my chips with salt and vinegar, that's the extent of my knowledge

Me too

 

[Maudy]

Now if only there was a storage box that could hold an infinite amount of ‘stuff’ it would have saved us a fortune in building costs
Extra garage , annexe , large porch , huuuge garden shed (no tools in it ) they’re in the wagon body at the bottom of the garden

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

I can remember having to load 40 floppy disc for a sage business account program took me 2 day's I had to load in order 1-40 if 1 didn't load correctly I had to start them all again I don't know their capacity

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[Lenny HB]

Then there were the 8" floppies.
It's your mind I'm talking about computers.

 

[Revolvor]

Early 80s though?

Yes, you're right Richard - I'd got my timeline mixed up.
In the 70s, it was a Sinclair Scientific Calculator that my girlfriend bought me for around £50. It came in kit form, and all the components had to be soldered to a circuit board.

The Sinclair Scientific first appeared in a case derived from that of the Sinclair Cambridge, but it was not part of the same range. The initial retail price was £49.95 in the UK (equivalent to £478 in 2016), and in the US for US$99.95 as a kit or US$139.95 fully assembled.

She got me a ZX81 a decade later.

 

[jockaneezer]

In the early 70's, my Secondary school gave us the chance to buy our first electronic calculator (We were still using slide rules and log tables). They were at a reduced price, but I do remember eating bread and dripping for a couple of weeks after I got one !
I think the most "scientific" thing they did were square roots ? A couple of years later, the prices had dropped and I got a Texas Instruments scientific calculator that took me through tech college.

 

[autorouter]

You think that's hard to understand, Im still trying to figure out how all my data is being stored on a CLOUD somewhere.

See my post #13. It's why clouds vary all the time, between black, white and grey.

 

[SpeedyDux]

There were a lot of firsts for that game. Destructible barriers, multiple enemies firing and player lives, etc.

But 16kB sounds sloppy programming for the time - based on a flippant comparison to the ZX81 full chess game that worked on the base 1kb computer.
That factoid was from the ZX81 Wikipedia page. The chess reference is the last “Features” paragraph
More on Space Invaders on its Wikipedia page.
^^ worth a look for info on things like the smaller aliens speeding up being an early bug that became a feature.

Atari's Star Raiders game (a fast 3d Star Trek shoot-em-up) was written in machine code and only needed 8kb RAM.

How memory and processor hoggy are modern games!

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