Computer Punch Cards Making a Comeback?
Kirt's Cogitations™ #142

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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Computer Punch Cards Making a Comeback?

IBM researchers have gone back to the pioneering days of computers to create a novel method of storing data. A miniaturized version of the punch cards used in some of the earliest computers has helped the company store the equivalent of 25 million pages of text in a space no bigger than a postage stamp. The technology, dubbed "Millipede," records individual bits of data using tiny heated levers to make holes in a plastic film. The whole array of 1024 levers is only 3 mm square. Each lever is 0.5 mm thick and 70 mm long. A complex heating and cooling process is used to read the bits from the film.

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...