Eric Richards wrote:

> What ever happened to bubble memory that disappeared faster than it
> came?

  It seems - the bubble burst!?

  I suspect the actual problem was that it required just too much
engineering per bit - a material with a pattern on it designating the
bits.  And I would say the domains couldn't be made small enough.  Just
too complex.

  On a hard disk, the disk is a uniform surface, the mechanics whilst
moderately complex, define a HUGE data array on this simple surface.
With bubble memory OTOH, bigger memories meant more complexity of the
wafer, bigger wafers etc.

  Now while this is certainly true of silicon memory (DRAM), I'd say
there was just no way they'd ever get the cell size for bubble memory
anywhere near the scale of silicon memory, despite what they may have
originally imagined.

  So you have a structure that has the internal complexity of silicon
memory, *plus* the external complexity (magnets, coils, shielding) and
more of magnetic memory.

  Purely conjecture on my part of course...
--
  Cheers,
        Paul B.