[Coco] 30 years...time flies

[Gene Heskett]

On Wednesday 22 March 2017 14:12:27 Dave Philipsen wrote:

> Yes, I suppose that would do it over a period of time.  An interesting
> fact: did you know the window on erasable PROMs is made out of a
> special fused quartz glass?  This allows the necessary UV rays to pass
> more readily.  So practically anything, even regular glass, would
> impede the wholesale penetration of UV rays. Some EPROMs called
> OTPROMs are electrically identical but don't have the glass window. I
> remember Marty Goodman once stated that EPROMs could also be erased
> with the next higher frequency of electro-magnetic radiation, X-rays.
>
> Dave

I've heard that too, Dave, but it was always followed by the caution that 
x-rays are energetic enough to actually damage the oxide, resulting in 
short retention times when reprogrammed.  Never tried it myself.

> On 3/22/2017 12:39 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> > ________________________________________
> > From: Coco [coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] on behalf of Gene Heskett
> > [gheskett at shentel.net] Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2017 11:34 AM
> > To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> > Subject: Re: [Coco] 30 years...time flies
> >
> > On Wednesday 22 March 2017 11:07:35 Dave Philipsen wrote:
> >> Bit rot with EPROMs? I'll have to hear the story on that one! 😂
> >>
> >> Dave
> >
> > I've had it happen. Took years though.  Whomever programmed it
> > didn't put a sticker on the window, and it was in a well lit,
> > daylight FL room with a vented cover the light could shine right
> > thru.
> >
> > I've erased them on purpose by putting them out in the sun for 10
> > days or so too.
> >
> > ___________________________________________
> >
> > Trust me, they will do it in the dark sealed inside their devices,
> > too. It's what happened to my DECTalk box.  Took the EPROMS out and
> > tried to verif ythem against HEX files using my programmer and none
> > of them verified.  EPROMS were still good as I was able to erase and
> > reprogram them.
> >
> > EPROMs are as permanent as putting something on the Web.  :-)
> >
> > bill


Cheers, Gene Heskett
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