FABRI-TEK Mass Core "Moby" Memory

This memory unit was initially installed on the MIT AI Lab’s DEC PDP-6 computer in about 1967 and was later connected to the Lab's DEC PDP-10 computer (in both cases running ITS), until it was decommissioned in about 1986. It has 256k of 36-bit words (internally, 40-bit words) running at a cycle time of 2.75 μs. It was nicknamed “Moby,” after the whale Moby Dick, since it was considered an enormous amount of memory at the time. The front panel door contains a control panel , which has several indicator lights, switches, dials and a "Percent of normal gauge". The control panel is divided into four areas labeled, "Address register", "Data register", "power control", and "Test control". On the blue part of the door "Go Check" is handwritten in pen. There is a Mass. Inst. of Tech. (MIT) sticker as well as a sticker reading "PROP. of U.S. GOVT. USN". Taped in the Data register section there is a fortune cookie fortune reading, "A good memory does not equal pale ink." There are another two fortunes taped to the interior of the control panel. One reads, "Vanity plays lurid tricks with our memory". The other reads, "You will hear pleasant words which will remain in your memory". Taped to the lower section of the interior door there is a paper with a matrix regarding quick-latches and cable and pin connections. On the power supply the is a partially filled in table reading "Measure with machine stopped".There are five repair tags from A.I. laboratory. The machines is densely wired and populated with circuit boards of various sizes.