BACK to main Project Xiphod 386 Summary
Evolving from DIP DRAM to SIMM Memory
There is a long history of stored-memory in computing, roughly going back to the early 1950s.
Fast forward to around 1970, Intel was originally most well known for making DRAM chips. While they had the resources and equipment for making DIP (dual in-line chips), in fact initially they weren’t too interested in getting involved with the microprocessor idea (see the story of Datapoint and the 8008).
During the days of the “trinity” (1977), all microcomputers were using DIP DRAM – including the original IBM PC 5150. By around 1983, during the time of the 80286 era, systems were starting to migrate towards SIMMs (essentially a different configuration of DRAMs, but easier to swap “in bulk” for end users). It was well past time for the industry to move past 64KB systems, and so “memory slots” became a thing – starting with the humble 30-pin SIMM found in many 286 and 386 era systems. And the concept essentially remains to this day, but with denser and longer slots of RAM chips.
[ TBD close up of memory slots and identifying individual chips ]