2014-03-16 00:40:30.015715+01 by Dan Lyke 2 comments
The mystery of the Zombie RAM.
It all started one bright morning when I wondered: Can the RAM memory on an AVR chip continue to store data after power is removed? If it can hold the data even just for a brief moment, then that could be very useful in a project I am working on.
I'm doing hardware design this afternoon, using an AVR as the core processor. Hopefully I don't have to deal with this sort of stuff, but...
[ related topics: Hardware Hackery Interactive Drama Work, productivity and environment Graphic Design ]
comments in descending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2014-03-16 18:35:31.716535+01 by: Dan Lyke
I think the surprising thing here was just how much current the LED was generating. I got this from Mark Vandewettering, who had noticed that you can use an LED as a light sensor..
#Comment Re: made: 2014-03-16 02:41:34.110792+01 by: TheSHAD0W
Not just AVR. Dynamic RAM can hold its data for quite a while. Not 100% reliably, but to a significant extent.
This isn't necessarily a good thing, though; it means you can shut down an operating computer, reboot it with a different OS, and recover data that was stuck in RAM. That includes unencrypted private keys. Even if some of the bits are flipped, it takes a relatively small amount of work to recover the key.
We will not edit your comments. However, we may delete your comments, or cause them to be hidden behind another link, if we feel they detract from the conversation. Commercial plugs are fine, if they are relevant to the conversation, and if you don't try to pretend to be a consumer. Annoying endorsements will be deleted if you're lucky, if you're not a whole bunch of people smarter and more articulate than you will ridicule you, and we will leave such ridicule in place.
Flutterby™ is a trademark claimed by
Dan Lyke for the web publications at www.flutterby.com and www.flutterby.net.