May 01, 2008

• I know nothing about computers. But one thing I do know is that they are the only things I am aware of that take a long time to turn off. This has bugged me to no end for years. How can it be difficult to turn something off? I am more excited about being able to turn the damn thing off than I am about it starting up more quickly.
• How can it be difficult to turn something off? There are more programs and services running in your OS than are dreamed of in your philosophy. They must all be properly shut down to ensure safe exit that doesn't break anything. If you ever watch a fully verbose Linux boot or shutdown, you get an appreciation of the scale of it. Line after line after line of stuff just rolls up the screen. Wasn't magnetic RAM supposed to come out like five years ago and solve most of these problems anyway?
• Not to diss the post, of course. This is a cool development. Just wondering what happened to MRAM -- vaporware?
• This also has potentially big security implications. A lot of current disk encryption software relies very much on the volatility of RAM destroying the keys after the machine powers down -- in fact, a recent way of capitalizing on this to crack disk encryption came out just a few months ago, using only some software and a can of compressed air. Crypto software's going to have to change to accommodate this.
• From what I understand, MRAM hasn't been able to "compete" because of the issue of density for mass storage.
• I just hope they come up with a better name than "memristor"
• Mr. BlueHorse was all excited about this earlier, and I'm afraid my reaction was all, like, "Meh." Guess I'll have to go tell him he's right. Although I still can't see exactly what this is going to do for me.
• Although I still can't see exactly what this is going to do for me. It'll be a long time before it's realized, but the potential here is stuff like this: A computer that turns on and off as quickly and easily as your television. Computing devices that use a fraction of the power of your current ones, meaning real savings on energy costs and pollution. Laptops, cell phones, smart phones, PDAs and internet appliances that go way longer between charges (maybe run cooler as well?), likewise meaning reduction in energy consumption. Power went out while you were in the middle of posting to your blog/writing code/doing your taxes? No worries, your computer will be in exactly the same state it was in before the lights went out in Georgia.
• I just hopped over to wikipedia looking for the math behind this thing, and I discovered it's also called a flux capacitor. How cool is that!
• Wasn't that what powered Doc Brown's DeLorean?
• Oh, yeah, fuck MRAM. I want me some flux capacitors.
• This is a pretty good article on the subject. The reason that the memristor is radically different from the other fundamental circuit elements is that, unlike them, it carries a memory of its past. When you turn off the voltage to the circuit, the memristor still remembers how much was applied before and for how long. That's an effect that can't be duplicated by any circuit combination of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, which is why the memristor qualifies as a fundamental circuit element. *is down with the flux capacitors*
• ... it carries a memory of its past. Well, hey! That's one of us then. Love, GramMa *fumbles around looking for her false teeth, ear trumpet, and undies
• So, memristers are nonvolatile, like magnetic core memory? Forward, into the past.