The competition poster tipped a hat to other interesting small-capacity flash storage card entrants, but several were disqualified from the final list. Formats like PS1 memory cards, ‘bubble memory,’ USB thumb drives, and battery-backed flash RAM cards didn’t make the grade. Some of these were out of bounds as they weren’t ‘general-purpose’ flash memory cards.
Nevertheless, the rejects pile offered up some very interesting artifacts from earlier computing eras. Probably the most remarkable small-capacity entry that didn’t make it was the Casio 2KB battery-backed RAM card. This was a type of memory card exclusively for the Casio ‘Pokecon’ (ポケコン) range of pocket computers from the 1980s and 90s.
Another entry that didn’t quite make the grade was a 1MB PCMCIA card that was produced before it became a standard – that was a near miss.
Last but not least, it was interesting to see pictures and information about a 1.44MB ‘Flash FDD’ stick. This was a flash drive with the same capacity as a standard HD floppy. Moreover, it was designed with firmware to emulate a real floppy disk and could be booted from, like a floppy, by Windows and Linux users.
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Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/microsd-cards/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/microsd-cards/the-small-capacity-memory-card-championship-japan-results-are-in-a-0-5mb-smartmedia-card-won-but-a-2kb-casio-battery-backed-ram-card-lost-due-to-a-technicality#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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