Add SSE GPIMM to Spec List

[sctjkc01]

Retry of #10. Listed device intended for small but wicked fast longer-term data storage, like a RAM module or data that's to survive power cycles.

[Zardoz89]

If I understand correctly, this is some kind of pluggable flash storage unit ?

[Zardoz89]

Interesting, you have two type of cartridges. On "Volatile", are you thinking on some kind of RAM unit with a small battery (NVRAM) ? On this case, these units should be fast of read/write (they are RAM) On "non-volatile", you are thinking on EEPROM or a early primitive flash memory ? On this case should (Like I said on #16 ) :

• Making more slow writing on it. Writing on a EEPROM is a slow process (~8ms per word!) and requires some extra energy. On a real world EEPROM, usually they have an extra power supply pin (around +12/15 Volts), for writing.
• They have a limited write endurance. Like 100000 cycles per word cell. I don't know if this would be a good idea from the viewpoint of gameplay. ( @paultech should have a word about this )
• An command to Clear/Reset to initial value. "Formating" using write command would be too slow, and EEPROMs chips have a pin reserved for this task.

[sctjkc01]

Odd, I thought my previous email went though.

If I understand correctly, this is some kind of pluggable flash storage unit ?

The idea behind this item is integrated memory – a flash storage chip that’s soldered onto the PCB of devices. This isn’t intended for removal from the device it’s housed in.

( Most recent comment )

As far as volatile memory goes, the idea is that they lose whatever’s stored inside when the power connection is severed – a sort of DRAM. NVRAM is (by definition) non-volatile. Basically, all I was looking for was a way to allow for greater memory space than a typical DCPU has; 131 072 bytes / 16 KiB might sound like a lot, but as soon as the DCPU starts taking on multiple tasks at a time, that space will shrink quite a bit.

In the case of non-volatile memory (EEPROM would be a good example) I can understand where you’re coming from. For the ability to store information for the longer term, there should be the balancing factor that being able to write to it should be slower than reading. I’m a little wary of using 8ms per word – considering the use of Mackapar sectors, that would mean a write command would take roughly 4 seconds (and a bit) to perform.

I've read through the Pull Request you've linked (explicitly not linking to prevent a double callback) and I might have a counterpoint to balancing the fact that these modules are so large - rarity. Sure, these modules exist, but that doesn't mean that they're plentiful. I would highly suggest that the larger the module, the rarer it is to find, and non-volatile memory be an order of magnitude harder to find.

Additionally, I'm not certain how @paultech or anyone else plans to have us get these parts in real play, but I'm expecting we'll have to scavenge these parts from defunct ships we find floating about places, which offers another challenge that increases rarity: the chance that we might lose a module from the desoldering process. These modules, more likely than not, would be found soldered to PCBs, as they were previously in use for some time before you happened upon them. To use it for yourself, you'll have to remove them from the PCB, which offers a chance for loss due to ineptitude.

In tandem with finding these chips on defunct ships, that might offer a means of getting lore into the game - finding NV modules in random ships which has valuable information on them. Imagine grabbing a small NV module and reading its contents, finding out a small part of (remember, rare as hell and tiny storage more often than not) what the hell happened on that ship. Immersion!

[Zardoz89]

For reference the typical Atari 2600 cartridges was of 2/4/8 KiB . I don't think that could be too abusive, on special if large units are rare.