[Coco] Coco and airport xray

[Dave Philipsen]

I read and article by Dr. Marty Goodman once that stated that EPROMS 
could be erased with xrays.  I think he mentioned that this could be 
used as a way to erase a one-time programmable EPROM which normally 
cannot be erased since it has no window.  I also assume that, being a 
doctor, he had access to equipment that allowed him to test/try this.  
But I think the strength and exposure time of airport xray machines 
would probably not be enough to cause a problem.  With UV erasable 
EPROMs it takes somewhere around 10-15 minutes exposure to a fairly 
strong UV light to erase the EPROM.  I experimented with using direct 
sunlight to erase an EPROM and it took some weeks of exposure during the 
summertime when UV exposure is higher to erase the EPROM.

As a side note, many people including myself, regularly fly with 
notebook computers and we've never had problems (that I know of) with 
floppies, EPROMs, or any of the internal electrical components of the 
computer.

Dave


On 4/7/2018 3:31 PM, rietveld rietveld wrote:
> Hi. I have to fly to thunderbay. I am bringing a Coco with me for my son. Will the airport xray have any negative effect on the ROM or RAM or floppy disks?
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry Passport Red Edition.
>